Summary

Cherrywood Station was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1913 as construction on their lakeshore line, now known as the Belleville Subdivision, was progressing eastward to Smiths Falls. This line was built as a diversion of their original mainline to the north. In the vicinity of the small community of Cherrywood it ran parallel within 70 metres of the Canadian Northern Railway, which itself had been built through the area just a couple of years earlier. The goal of this new CPR line was to serve the larger communities closer to the shore of Lake Ontario and do so with reduced inclines compared to its predecessor. In contrast, Cherrywood Station was located in a rural area along Whites Road just over a kilometer from the community it was intended to serve. The station itself was a relatively large wood-frame structure with a second floor containing the station agent’s living quarters. This was a common design feature in rural areas where doing so was more cost efficient than building separate accommodations. On the first floor was the waiting room and station agent’s office, as well as a freight room extending outward from the west side of the building. The opening of the lakeshore line was delayed until June 29th, 1914, which is when the first train arrived at Cherrywood. A total of eight passenger trains were stopping at Cherrywood on a daily basis by 1921.

The effects of the Great Depression on passenger ridership led to the pool train agreement in 1933, discontinuing or rerouting several Canadian Pacific trains over the Canadian National route between Toronto and Montreal. The number of trains to stop at Cherrywood per day had dropped to four by 1940. The popularization of automobiles combined with the station’s rural location contributed to a further decline in ridership, which was only intensified with the completion of Highway 401 south of Cherrywood between 1947 and 1952. Service was reduced to a single train in each direction per day by 1959, and trains stopped calling there altogether within the next couple of years. Despite its closure to passengers, the station remained in use by Canadian Pacific to facilitate Train Order Operation until it could establish Centralized Traffic Control over the entire Belleville Subdivision a few years later. The station was torn down in 1964 and little trace of it remains today, though the telegraph poles that remain there still weave around its former location.

Condensed Station Info:

Location:	Served By:	Current State:	Date Built:	Date Demolished:
Rosebank Road near Rougewalk Drive	Canadian Pacific Railway (1914 – 1960)	Demolished	1913	1964