The Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore: An Illustrated History of Railway Stations in Canada

by Ron Brown

Overview

Brown celebrates the survival of our railway heritage in stations that have been saved or remain in use.

Despite the "green" benefits of rail travel, Canada has lost much of its railway heritage. Across the country stations have been bulldozed and rails ripped up. Once the heart of communities large and small, stations and tracks have left little more than a gaping hole in Canada’s landscapes. This book revisits the times when railways were the country’s economic lifelines, and the station the social centre. Here was where we worked, played, listened to political speeches, or simply said goodbye to loved ones.



The landscapes that grew around the station are also explored and include such forgotten features as station hotels, restaurants, gardens, and the once-common railway YMCA. Railway companies often hired the world’s leading architects to design grand station buildings that ranged in style from chateauesque to art deco. Even small-town stations and wayside shelters displayed an artistic flare and elegance. Although most have vanished, the book celebrates the survival of that heritage in stations that have been saved or remain in use. The book will appeal to anyone who has links with our rail era, or who simply appreciates the value of Canada’s built heritage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459717794
Publisher:	Dundurn Press
Publication date:	04/21/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Ron Brown is a Toronto writer and geographer. His passion for Canada's vanishing heritage landscapes have carried him form the remote outports of Newfoundland to the ghosted mining camps of British Columbia. His books have brought Canadians, and especially those in Ontario, closer to their unusual landscapes and heritage features. His titles have included books on ghost towns, back roads, unusual wonders of the landscape, and a vanishing railway heritage. He lectures, guides tours, and advises business groups on the heritage which lies in their own back yards. He is also past chair of the Writers Union of Canada.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Chapter One — What is a Station?
Chapter Two — Stations and the Canadian Landscape
Chapter Three — “Miserable Shanties”: Canada’s First Stations
Chapter Four — The Station Builders: The Architecture of Canada’s Stations
Chapter Five — Urban Monuments: Canada’s City Stations
Chapter Six — The Masters of the Station: The Railway Station Agents
Chapter Seven — The Station as a Place to Play
Chapter Eight — The Station Was Their Stage: The Railway Station in Small-Town Canada
Chapter Nine — “The Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore”: Decline of the Railway Stations in Canada
Chapter Ten — “Boarded-Up Shacks”: The Fight to Save Our Stations
 
Bibliography
Index
List of Colour Plates

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Ron Brown has provided a glowing history that gets more informative with each edition. It is a great bit of nostalgia to see the stations as they were in their glory days, over a century ago."

Editorial Reviews

Ron Brown has provided a glowing history that gets more informative with each edition. It is a great bit of nostalgia to see the stations as they were in their glory days, over a century ago.

From the Publisher

A handy volume…

Branchline

The simple fact that Ron Brown’s lovingly penned and illustrated history of Canadian railway stations is now in its fourth edition is evidence of how we continue to be fascinated by our rail heritage.

OHS Bulletin

The Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore both celebrates and mourns railways in Canada. Author Ron Brown…toasts rail stops across the country that have been saved or remain in use…

Canada's History