Summary

Orono had existed as a community since 1832 but it was bypassed by the Grand Trunk Railway when their mainline was built eight kilometers to the south in 1856. Nearly six decades later, the Canadian Northern Railway built Orono Station in 1911 while construction of their railway was progressing eastward which brought increased prosperity to the town’s agriculture industry. The station followed a standard design used extensively by Canadian Northern in rural areas, it was a large structure with a second floor that likely held the station agent’s living quarters. The first floor would’ve held a waiting room, baggage room and station agent’s office. The first train came west from Trenton on October 9th, 1911, and service to Ottawa was made available in 1913.

Service to Orono was short lived due to the poor financial situation of Canadian Northern. It was nationalized in 1918 and merged into the newly-formed Canadian National in 1923. The Grand Trunk had similarly fallen into federal ownership and was merged into Canadian National the same year. Its route was chosen as the more favourable of the two between Toronto and Napanee, which resulted in the removal of Orono’s station. The rails were torn up through Orono several years later in 1937. Today there is very little trace of the Canadian Northern in the area, though Station Street in Orono still runs parallel to the right-of-way and a culvert in the Orono Crown Lands is still engraved with “Canadian Northern Railway”.

Condensed Station Info:

Location:	Served By:	Current State:	Date Built:	Date Demolished:
Station Street	Canadian Northern (1911 – 1918) Canadian National (1918 – 1923)	Demolished	1911	1923