Grand Trunk Railway Belleville
⎯⎯⎯
Le chemin de fer du Grand Tronc

Click or scan to see
this page online

Touch for directions.

Ontario

Ontario.

Canada.

America,

Hemisphere,

World,

Anglosphere.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 30, 2024

2. Grand Trunk Railway Belleville / Le chemin de fer du Grand Tronc Marker

The marker is mounted on the south/front facade of the 1856 Belleville Train Station, on the right side of the entrance.

colony,

France,

Confederacy,

Land.

From the Canadian Register Statement of Significance:
The key elements that relate to the heritage value of the Belleville Railway Station are:
• the well-proportioned, rectangular composition of its main storey, with six arched bays on the long sides, and two on each end;
• its relatively large size, in keeping

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 30, 2024

3. Historic Belleville Railway Station (southwest elevation)

with its status as a divisional point station;
• the picturesque, Italianate style of its main storey, including: the round-arched openings; the symmetrical placement and even sizing of openings; the rusticated stonework; the elaborate door and window surrounds; the corner quoins; and the deep eaves;
• its Second-Empire-style additions, including: a bellcast mansard roof; wide eaves; heavily moulded segmental dormers on all sides aligned with the bays of the main storey; and heavily articulated cornice mouldings capping the dormers and the roof;
• its fine stonework, consisting of: bluish-grey, Trenton limestone laid in narrow courses of small blocks; with lighter-coloured, sawn limestone accents at corners and openings; and
• the arrangement of stone accents at openings, consisting of alternating large and small voussoirs

Excerpt:  Built from bluish-grey Trenton limestone in 1856 by Thomas Brassey for Canadian National Railway predecessor Grand Trunk Railway, the station was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1973. It is the oldest of multiple

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 30, 2024

4. Historic Belleville Railway Station (northwest elevation)

Looking southeast along the active railroad platform. The busy, new railway station is in the left background. There are active tracks just to the left of this image.

buildings which were once part of Belleville's GTR station yard, a facility which employed 100 by 1864 and included one of the first three GTR locomotive shops. A new locomotive shop was built in 1867, increasing capacity to 24 engines. With over a thousand people at its peak, the railway became Belleville's largest local employer. The 220 Station Street waiting room, a mid-size "Second Class Wayside Station" at the October 27, 1856 inception of the Grand Trunk mainline, served until the adjacent modern station building opened on March 20, 2012.

Excerpt:  The Belleville Railway Station was designated a national historic site because it is representative of the larger stations for the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) and because it is an enduring monument to early Canadian railway enterprise. The Belleville Railway Station is a good example of the larger stations erected for the newly-formed GTR along the key Toronto to Montreal line during the mid-19th century. Built

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 30, 2024

5. Historic Belleville Railway Station (southeast elevation)

in 1855-56 by the noted English engineering firm of Peto, Brassey, Jackson and Betts, it is a variation on the standard GTR Second Class Wayside Station design developed by GTR Chief Architect Francis Thompson. The original one-storey, Italianate-style structure was altered in the late 19th-century by the addition of a mansard roof in the Second Empire style.

As a major divisional point on the GTR line between Montreal and Toronto, the Belleville station was a prominent part of a system which radically improved overland transportation and had a profound effect on the economics of the province. The railway was instrumental in the 19th-century growth of the town of Belleville.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 30, 2024

6. Via Rail Canada Station – Belleville

This busy modern passenger station opened in 2012, and is located on the east side of the historic building.