Summary

Myrtle Station was built by the Port Whitby & Port Perry Railway in 1871 as its construction was progressing northward to Port Perry. It was a single storey wood-frame structure with a pitched roof and two gables above the platform-facing wall. The first train arrived in Myrtle on November 23rd of the same year, and service to Lindsay became available several years later in 1877. The railway struggled to turn a profit, and in 1882 it merged with several other nearby branch lines under the Midland Railway of Canada. Two “missing links” were completed in 1883 to allow trains to run directly from Toronto to Belleville entirely over the Midland Railway, a decision that would have consequences for the former PW&PP line in the coming decades. The Midland Railway was itself acquired by the much larger Grand Trunk Railway in 1884, and by 1886 a total of six trains stopped at Myrtle on a daily basis.

The Ontario & Quebec Railway, which was entirely owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway, was completed just north of Myrtle in 1884. It passed underneath the former PW&PP line approximately 1.3 kilometers north of the station, requiring the construction of a bridge to carry it over the O&Q line. This new railway provided a direct connection between Toronto and Ottawa, at the time being Canadian Pacific’s main artery between those two points, and as such the community of Myrtle Station began to develop around it. The Grand Trunk station was too far away for a convenient transfer between the two lines, and by 1899 all of its trains stopping at Myrtle would do so only if flagged down by the station agent to increase operational efficiency in light of the station’s reduced ridership. The Grand Trunk faced mounting financial issues into the 20th century, culminating in its nationalization and subsequent merger into Canadian National in 1923.

The popularization of automobiles during the early 1900’s combined with the Great Depression resulted in a significant decline of passenger ridership country-wide. Unprofitable branch lines like the former PW&PP were some of the first to go, and passenger service to Myrtle ended in 1937. Canadian National would handle remaining freight service with trucks. After sitting abandoned for a few years, an official “last train” made its way over the line in 1939. The rails were torn up soon after the beginning of World War Two to be melted down, and Myrtle Station was subsequently demolished.

Condensed Station Info

Location:	Served By:	Current State:	Date Built:	Date Demolished:
Myrtle Road West	PW&PP (1871 – 1882) MRC (1882 – 1884) GTR (1884 – 1923) CNR (1923 – 1937)	Demolished	1871	1939