York Street railway station
Encyclopedia
The York Street Railway Station is a former Canadian Pacific Railway
station located on York Street in Fredericton
, New Brunswick
, Canada
.
The station opened in 1923 and is a brick structure with sandstone trim; it is distinguished by a tapestry brick patterning which is rare in Fredericton. The station has a hip-roof profile typical of CPR stations of the era and is one of the few brick railway stations remaining in New Brunswick. A covered portico at the west end of the building faced York Street, while the east end contained baggage rooms and freight offices.
ended on April 28, 1962, forcing Fredericton residents to travel to Fredericton Junction
to use the The Atlantic Limited service on the Saint John
-Montreal main line. The York Street Railway Station was used as office space for employees with CP Rail's freight services in the Fredericton area, although the passenger waiting areas, ticket counter and baggage areas were unused.
and in 1981, Via Rail cancelled the Atlantic service on CP's Saint John-Montreal main line. In its place, Via Rail implemented a daily RDC Dayliner from Fredericton to Halifax
via Saint John and Moncton
. This required significant track upgrades to the CP Fredericton Subdivision as well as re-opening the York Street Railway Station for passenger use by Via Rail. The resumption of the Atlantic service in 1985 saw the RDC Dayliner service from Halifax-Fredericton cancelled and the York Street Railway Station once again returned to office space for CP Rail freight employees. In 1988, all CP Rail operations east of Montreal were grouped under a new business unit called the Canadian Atlantic Railway
.
, a subsidiary of regional industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited.
The Canadian Pacific Railway began operations on July 1, 1890, by leasing the New Brunswick Railway
for a period of 999 years. The NBR Co. had been granted massive land holdings by the provincial government during its construction in the 1870s but CPR had little use for such property aside from the NBR Co's rail corridors. The timber lands were frequently leased to forestry companies, however in the 1940s, industrialist K.C. Irving (then-owner of J.D. Irving Ltd.) made an offer to CPR to purchase the NBR Co. for the timber rights and that CPR's lease for the rail corridors could be maintained with NBR Co. as a J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiary.
When CP Rail abandoned rail service to Fredericton in 1993 and removed the tracks, ownership of the rail corridor and structures on former railway property was left with the NBR Co., a J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiary. And the other J.D. Irving subsidiary, the New Brunswick Southern Railway - an operating railway company which took over providing rail service on remaining unabandoned CP Rail lines in the province in 1995 - operates its track through rail corridors owned by fellow subsidiary NBR Co.
(1985). This act prevents the station's destruction by an active railway company or a railway holding company (such as the NBR Co.). However, the act does not stipulate that a railway company owning such a heritage railway station must maintain the structure, therefore it has been allowed to degrade over the years.
In the years since the 1993 abandonment of CP Rail service to Fredericton, the York Street Railway Station's structure has degraded significantly, primarily through holes in the roof and lack of heat in the building during the winter months where the freeze/thaw cycle has proven damaging. The brick exterior appears to be structurally sound, however the roof has collapsed in some areas, allowing precipitation to enter the building.
Trespassers have entered the structure at will since its abandonment, with extensive graffiti markings on the walls and even small fires being set inside. The dilapidated condition of this heritage railway station has resulted in numerous calls upon local municipal officials as well as federal and provincial authorities and owner J.D. Irving Ltd. to maintain the structure, or at least allow preventative maintenance to prevent further deterioration.
J.D. Irving Ltd. has been attempting to sell various parcels of the former CP Rail yard in Fredericton, such as the large parcel at the east end of the yard fronting Regent Street which now houses a Sobeys
supermarket. These properties are considered to be prime real estate by the company and it has indicated that the York Street Railway Station will not be restored unless J.D. Irving Ltd. receives an economic return on the property. As of 2007, the parcels surrounding and including the York Street Railway Station have not been sold for development and J.D. Irving has refused to spend what it estimates to be a $2.1 million renovation to restore the structure without a business case.
J.D. Irving Ltd. came into ownership of the McAdam railway station
, a massive stone structure that is at least four times the size of the York Street station (and the largest railway station in the province) in 1995. The NBR Co. owned the land that CP Rail operated upon in McAdam and this station was also prevented from demolition by the federal Heritage Railway Station Preservation Act. The tiny village of McAdam, with a flat real estate market, meant that the McAdam railway station property that the J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiaries inherited from CP Rail had little re-sale potential, therefore J.D. Irving Ltd. donated ownership of the entire structure to the village, something which it refused to do in Fredericton.
The legal dilemma for the York Street Railway Station has left the station building to deteriorate further and led to the creation of a lobby group named Fredericton Friends of the Railway Inc. which is attempting to coordinate public and private sector support for restoring the structure. A public lobby in local newspapers has been ongoing for several years, however municipal authorities claim to have no ability to enforce unsightly premises legislation on the station, since it is governed under federal railways legislation (despite the railway station now being physically cut off from any potential restoration of rail service as a result of the Sobeys development to the east).
The Fredericton Heritage Trust, Fredericton Trails Coalition, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Fredericton Friends of the Railway, as well as numerous other groups are continuing the lobby campaign to have the building restored to its former glory and repurposed as part of a comprehensive redevelopment of the former industrial district bordered by the York Street Railway Station, the Hartt Shoe Company factory and the Chestnut Canoe Company factory.
The Fredericton Friends of the Railway Inc. was formed around 2002. The original president, Bill Thorpe died and was followed by Tim Scammell.
Tim Scammell stepped down as president in 2008 following his election onto the Council of the Village of New Maryland.
Steve Boyko took over as president until May 2009 at which time he moved from the Fredericton area to Manitoba.
Currently Tim Scammell has returned as president.
The current lobby effort is upon the City of Fredericton to purchase the parcel of the former CP Rail yard from J.D. Irving Ltd. which would include the station, thereby transferring its ownership to the public and permitting restoration.
Recent interest has been expressed in the station by the New Brunswick Liquor Corporation and the Royal Canadian Legion Fredericton Branch 4.
The building was added to the Heritage Canada Foundation's list of the top 10 most endangered heritage places in the country.
. The interior brick walls will remain intact, and the historical detail will be incorporated in the interior décor. The new store will be a unique concept for Alcool NB Liquor.
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
station located on York Street in Fredericton
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by virtue of the provincial parliament which sits there. An important cultural, artistic, and educational centre for the province, Fredericton is home to two universities and cultural institutions such as the Beaverbrook Art...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The station opened in 1923 and is a brick structure with sandstone trim; it is distinguished by a tapestry brick patterning which is rare in Fredericton. The station has a hip-roof profile typical of CPR stations of the era and is one of the few brick railway stations remaining in New Brunswick. A covered portico at the west end of the building faced York Street, while the east end contained baggage rooms and freight offices.
1962 service discontinuation
Passenger service on the CP Fredericton SubdivisionFredericton Branch Railway
The Fredericton Branch Railway is an historic Canadian railway that operated in New Brunswick.-Incorporation:The Fredericton Railway Company pre-dated Confederation and was incorporated in 1866 to build a railway line from the European and North American Railway's "Western Extension" at Hartt's...
ended on April 28, 1962, forcing Fredericton residents to travel to Fredericton Junction
Fredericton Junction, New Brunswick
Fredericton Junction is a Canadian village in Sunbury County, New Brunswick.Located on the Oromocto River in the western part of the county, approximately 45 km southwest of Fredericton, the community was originally named Hartt's Mills but was renamed in 1869 when the European and North American...
to use the The Atlantic Limited service on the Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
-Montreal main line. The York Street Railway Station was used as office space for employees with CP Rail's freight services in the Fredericton area, although the passenger waiting areas, ticket counter and baggage areas were unused.
1981-1985 service resumption
In 1978, CP passenger service was transferred to Via RailVIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....
and in 1981, Via Rail cancelled the Atlantic service on CP's Saint John-Montreal main line. In its place, Via Rail implemented a daily RDC Dayliner from Fredericton to Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
via Saint John and Moncton
Moncton, New Brunswick
Moncton is a Canadian city, located in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The city is situated in southeastern New Brunswick, within the Petitcodiac River Valley, and lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces...
. This required significant track upgrades to the CP Fredericton Subdivision as well as re-opening the York Street Railway Station for passenger use by Via Rail. The resumption of the Atlantic service in 1985 saw the RDC Dayliner service from Halifax-Fredericton cancelled and the York Street Railway Station once again returned to office space for CP Rail freight employees. In 1988, all CP Rail operations east of Montreal were grouped under a new business unit called the Canadian Atlantic Railway
Canadian Atlantic Railway
The Canadian Atlantic Railway is a historic Canadian and U.S. railway that existed from 1988 to 1994.The CAR was created in September 1988 as a business unit of CP Rail System to serve the Maritime Provinces and state of Maine...
.
1993 abandonment
In the fall of 1993, CP Rail abandoned CAR lines in the Saint John River valley, including the CP Fredericton Subdivision. The York Street Railway Station was left abandoned with the other railway properties in the area, such as the Burtts Corner railway station and the Woodstock railway station. The tracks were removed by CP Rail in 1994. On January 1, 1995, CP Rail's remaining CAR operations in New Brunswick (including abandoned branch lines such as the one to Fredericton) were sold to the New Brunswick Southern RailwayNew Brunswick Southern Railway
The New Brunswick Southern Railway and Eastern Maine Railway form a 189-mile railway system operating a former Canadian Pacific Railway mainline between Saint John, New Brunswick and Brownville Junction, Maine....
, a subsidiary of regional industrial conglomerate J.D. Irving Limited.
The Canadian Pacific Railway began operations on July 1, 1890, by leasing the New Brunswick Railway
New Brunswick Railway
The New Brunswick Railway was a historic Canadian railway operating in western New Brunswick. Its headquarters were in Woodstock.The original NBR lines were built to the narrow gauge of...
for a period of 999 years. The NBR Co. had been granted massive land holdings by the provincial government during its construction in the 1870s but CPR had little use for such property aside from the NBR Co's rail corridors. The timber lands were frequently leased to forestry companies, however in the 1940s, industrialist K.C. Irving (then-owner of J.D. Irving Ltd.) made an offer to CPR to purchase the NBR Co. for the timber rights and that CPR's lease for the rail corridors could be maintained with NBR Co. as a J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiary.
When CP Rail abandoned rail service to Fredericton in 1993 and removed the tracks, ownership of the rail corridor and structures on former railway property was left with the NBR Co., a J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiary. And the other J.D. Irving subsidiary, the New Brunswick Southern Railway - an operating railway company which took over providing rail service on remaining unabandoned CP Rail lines in the province in 1995 - operates its track through rail corridors owned by fellow subsidiary NBR Co.
Structure degradation
The York Street Railway Station is protected from demolition under the federal Heritage Railway Stations Protection ActHeritage Railway Stations Protection Act
The Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act was created in 1990 in response to a long-standing and widespread concern that Canada’s heritage railway stations were not being protected enough...
(1985). This act prevents the station's destruction by an active railway company or a railway holding company (such as the NBR Co.). However, the act does not stipulate that a railway company owning such a heritage railway station must maintain the structure, therefore it has been allowed to degrade over the years.
In the years since the 1993 abandonment of CP Rail service to Fredericton, the York Street Railway Station's structure has degraded significantly, primarily through holes in the roof and lack of heat in the building during the winter months where the freeze/thaw cycle has proven damaging. The brick exterior appears to be structurally sound, however the roof has collapsed in some areas, allowing precipitation to enter the building.
Trespassers have entered the structure at will since its abandonment, with extensive graffiti markings on the walls and even small fires being set inside. The dilapidated condition of this heritage railway station has resulted in numerous calls upon local municipal officials as well as federal and provincial authorities and owner J.D. Irving Ltd. to maintain the structure, or at least allow preventative maintenance to prevent further deterioration.
J.D. Irving Ltd. has been attempting to sell various parcels of the former CP Rail yard in Fredericton, such as the large parcel at the east end of the yard fronting Regent Street which now houses a Sobeys
Sobeys
Sobeys is the second largest food retailer in Canada, with over 1,300 supermarkets operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than $14 billion CAD in 2009...
supermarket. These properties are considered to be prime real estate by the company and it has indicated that the York Street Railway Station will not be restored unless J.D. Irving Ltd. receives an economic return on the property. As of 2007, the parcels surrounding and including the York Street Railway Station have not been sold for development and J.D. Irving has refused to spend what it estimates to be a $2.1 million renovation to restore the structure without a business case.
J.D. Irving Ltd. came into ownership of the McAdam railway station
McAdam Railway Station
The McAdam Railway Station is a large railway station that dominates the village of McAdam, New Brunswick, Canada.The station is the largest passenger station in the province but since the December 17, 1994 abandonment of Via Rail's Atlantic passenger train, it no longer sees rail service and is...
, a massive stone structure that is at least four times the size of the York Street station (and the largest railway station in the province) in 1995. The NBR Co. owned the land that CP Rail operated upon in McAdam and this station was also prevented from demolition by the federal Heritage Railway Station Preservation Act. The tiny village of McAdam, with a flat real estate market, meant that the McAdam railway station property that the J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiaries inherited from CP Rail had little re-sale potential, therefore J.D. Irving Ltd. donated ownership of the entire structure to the village, something which it refused to do in Fredericton.
The legal dilemma for the York Street Railway Station has left the station building to deteriorate further and led to the creation of a lobby group named Fredericton Friends of the Railway Inc. which is attempting to coordinate public and private sector support for restoring the structure. A public lobby in local newspapers has been ongoing for several years, however municipal authorities claim to have no ability to enforce unsightly premises legislation on the station, since it is governed under federal railways legislation (despite the railway station now being physically cut off from any potential restoration of rail service as a result of the Sobeys development to the east).
The Fredericton Heritage Trust, Fredericton Trails Coalition, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Fredericton Friends of the Railway, as well as numerous other groups are continuing the lobby campaign to have the building restored to its former glory and repurposed as part of a comprehensive redevelopment of the former industrial district bordered by the York Street Railway Station, the Hartt Shoe Company factory and the Chestnut Canoe Company factory.
The Fredericton Friends of the Railway Inc. was formed around 2002. The original president, Bill Thorpe died and was followed by Tim Scammell.
Tim Scammell stepped down as president in 2008 following his election onto the Council of the Village of New Maryland.
Steve Boyko took over as president until May 2009 at which time he moved from the Fredericton area to Manitoba.
Currently Tim Scammell has returned as president.
The current lobby effort is upon the City of Fredericton to purchase the parcel of the former CP Rail yard from J.D. Irving Ltd. which would include the station, thereby transferring its ownership to the public and permitting restoration.
Recent interest has been expressed in the station by the New Brunswick Liquor Corporation and the Royal Canadian Legion Fredericton Branch 4.
The building was added to the Heritage Canada Foundation's list of the top 10 most endangered heritage places in the country.
New Development
On September 18, 2009, Details of the plan to refurbish Fredericton's York Street train station into an Alcool NB Liquor retail outlet were announced by Alcool NB Liquor, J.D. Irving, Limited and the Province of New Brunswick. The exterior of the station will be restored by J.D. Irving Ltd., as per the federal Heritage Railway Stations Protection ActHeritage Railway Stations Protection Act
The Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act was created in 1990 in response to a long-standing and widespread concern that Canada’s heritage railway stations were not being protected enough...
. The interior brick walls will remain intact, and the historical detail will be incorporated in the interior décor. The new store will be a unique concept for Alcool NB Liquor.