Summary

The community of Malvern was established in the 1800’s around the present-day intersection of Sheppard Avenue and Markham Road, and it was promoted by local Senator David Reesor as the future “Capital of Scarborough”. It was anticipated that the Toronto & Nipissing Railway would bolster development of the community in 1871, but instead the railway was routed through the neighboring village of Agincourt. Three decades later, the potential opportunity of a railway passing through Malvern returned with the construction of the Canadian Northern Railway eastward from Toronto in 1910. Malvern Station was built just east of present-day Sheppard Avenue and Malvern Street later that year, located just over a kilometer west of the community it was meant to serve. The two-storey building was one of several instances of a standard design used extensively by the Canadian Northern in rural areas across its system. The upper floor housed the station agent and their family, while the lower floor contained the waiting room, freight room, and the station agent’s office. The first train from Trenton arrived on October 9th, 1911, with service to Ottawa becoming available two years later in 1913.

Unfortunately, train service to Malvern was short-lived due to the worsening financial state of the railway. The struggling Canadian Northern was nationalized in 1918 and informally managed by the newly-formed Canadian National from 1919 onward. After it was formally merged into Canadian National in 1923, the same would happen to the rival Grand Trunk Railway as a result of similar financial circumstances. While the two had nearly duplicate routes between Toronto and Napanee, the Grand Trunk route was the more desirable of the two. Canadian National was authorized to replace the station agent at Malvern with a caretaker on September 3rd, 1925, which was a sign of things to come. The segment of the former Canadian Northern line between Todmorden and Greenburn, which included Malvern, was one of the first to be abandoned in 1926. The station was likely dismantled shortly thereafter, and the remaining segments of the line were gradually removed over the next decade.

Condensed Station Info:

Location:	Served By:	Current State:	Date Built:	Date Demolished:
Sheppard Avenue and Malvern Street	Canadian Northern (1911 – 1919) Canadian National (1919 – 1926)	Demolished	1910	1926