~1904-18 GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY STATION CHELTENHAM ONTARIO CANADA RPPC POSTCARD For Sale

GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY STATION CHELTENHAM ONTARIO CANADA RPPC POSTCARD
Stamp box style was used from 1904-1918. Has reinforced corner and was written on with red pen by a previous owner. Please see photos for details. Note lighting variations may alter colors of item in photos.
From the Toronto Railway Historical Association:

Cheltenham Station was built by the Hamilton & North-Western Railway in 1877 while construction of the railway was progressing northward from Hamilton to Allandale and Collingwood. It followed a standard design used extensively by the H&NW in most of the communities it served. It was a rectangular wooden structure with a board-and-batten exterior and a pitched roof with a bellcast gable. The community of Cheltenham had already developed a significant agriculture industry, and the H&NW erected a substantial grain elevator just to the south of the station to facilitate transshipment between farmers and mills. Just two years after the station was constructed the H&NW merged with its rival, theNorthern Railway of Canada, to form the Northern and North Western Railway. The N&NW was itself acquired by the much largerGrand Trunk Railwaynine years later in 1888.

Cheltenham’s station was slightly modified by the Grand Trunk in 1894, receiving a new bay window at the station agent’s office for better visibility. By 1913, a total of four trains stopped at Cheltenham each day which was typical for rural branch lines that served relatively unpopulated areas. The station ended up in the hands ofCanadian Nationalin 1923 after the Grand Trunk Railway encountered financial difficulties and was nationalized. As automobiles started to appear during the early 20th century, branch line passenger ridership was one of the first things to feel the effects. Several old stagecoach routes in the area were turned into provincial highways in the 1920’s, allowing for a higher amount of car traffic at faster speeds than before. As ridership was further affected by the Great Depression, Cheltenham’s station became an unmanned flag stop in the 1930’s. It remained in service for a couple more decades and even had a station agent reassigned to it in later years, but the last passenger train would depart in 1960. It would close the same year of the last freight train to use the line in 1964, though further small freight movements would occur until 1969. The station was saved from the wrecking ball as it was subsequently moved and converted into a residence. The line was officially abandoned south to Georgetown by CN in 1975, then north to Tottenham in 1984. The right-of-way now carries the Caledon Trailway, a mixed-use trail running from Terra Cotta to Tottenham.

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