Melville station

Melville
Location Main St & 1st Ave, Melville, SK
Canada
Coordinates 50°55′35″N 102°48′26″W / 50.9263°N 102.8072°W / 50.9263; -102.8072
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 2
History
Opened 1908
Previous names Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
Services
Preceding station   Via Rail   Following station
toward Vancouver
Canadian
toward Toronto

Melville station is on the Canadian National Railway mainline in Melville, Saskatchewan, Canada. The station is served by Via Rail's The Canadian three times per week.[1] The station was declared a national historic site in 1992.[2]

History

Derelict former station building

The station building, built in 1908 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway makes use of a twin-gabled plan that is unique in Saskatchewan. This reflects the special status the station had when it was built as a division point and junction on the railway line.[3] The town was named after Charles Melville Hays, former president of the railway.[4]

The station and local railway buildings are featured in the 1956 National Film Board of Canada movie Railroad Town, showing when the station was used as a divisional point for steam locomotives and the transition to diesels. At the time, about half of the small community of 4500 people were dependent on the railroad for their livelihoods. The yard at the station could see 20 trains a day and handle as many as 1000 cars over a 24 hour period at that point in time. [5]

In 2010, the Melville Rail Station Heritage Association acquired the title to the station building. The group plans to restore both the interior and exterior of the station.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Melville train station". Via Rail. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  2. ↑ "The Directory of Designated Heritage Railway Stations in Saskatchewan". Parks Canada. 20 December 2010. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Canadian National Railways Station: Main Street (at First Ave. W. (Highway 15)), Melville, Saskatchewan, S0A, Canada". Canada's Historic Places. Parks Canada. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Melville, Saskatchewan (2006)". Communities. Canadian Railway Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
  5. ↑ "Railroad Town". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  6. ↑ Excerpt from The Melville Advance, May 12, 2010 Archived August 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

Media related to Melville railway station at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 50°55′35″N 102°48′26″W / 50.9263°N 102.8072°W / 50.9263; -102.8072

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