Summerville Station
If you browse through the Summerville section of Etobicoke Historical Society’s website image gallery, you might notice a photo of a lonely but attractive little railway station. The caption indicates the 1907 picture is of the Summerville train station, looking east along the tracks and situated on the east side of Browns Line, south of Dundas St. At the time of the photo, the station was in rural Etobicoke surrounded by farm land, however today this locale has been completely covered by Highway 427. A remainder of Brown’s Line exists as a four-lane road in Long Branch between the QEW and Lake Shore Blvd. The rail line that the station served still exists as a part of CPR’s network and is used by the GO train Milton line between Kipling and Dixie stations.
One would likely assume the little wooden station disappeared after the decline of CPR’s passenger service. After an online search to see if I could find anything on the station’s history, it was a surprise to find this piece of Etobicoke’s railway heritage is in fact still very much alive in Niagara wine country – and still active as railway station (of sorts).
The website for Puddicombe Estate Farm Winery indicates they acquired the Summerville station in 1999. The station acts as a centrepiece for a small onsite railway museum that includes a narrow gauge replica steam train that gives visitors a tour through the winery’s vineyard and orchard. So how did this little station survive the many years since disappearing from Etobicoke?
The Summerville Station was built around 1878 to service the Toronto to Milton line of the new Credit Valley Railway (CVR). Summerville was a “flag stop” station between larger passenger stations at Islington and Dixie in Toronto Township (Mississauga). The train would continue past Summerville station unless a flag was raised to signal to the Engineer that a stop was necessary to pick up passengers. The CVR later fell into financial difficulties resulting in its acquisition by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1884. The station continued to be used by the CPR until the 1930s.
Diving into the Globe and Mail’s digital archives available online through the Toronto Public Library, I started finding clues revealing the station’s 60-year saga since leaving Etobicoke and reappearing in Niagara. An August 28, 1972 article announced The Toronto Live Steamers had acquired the Summerville station and relocated it to a farm in Milton where the group ran a model steam railway. The article stated the CPR Toronto-Guelph line was abandoned in 1934 and the station building had since been in use as a chicken coop. One week later, a farmer from Mississauga wrote the Globe and Mail editor saying the station building was located on his farm for many years before he donated it to the Live Steamers. It had been used as accommodation for farmhands and later storage – but never for chickens.
Diving into the Globe and Mail’s digital archives available online through the Toronto Public Library, I started finding clues revealing the station’s 60-year saga since leaving Etobicoke and reappearing in Niagara. An August 28, 1972 article announced The Toronto Live Steamers had acquired the Summerville station and relocated it to a farm in Milton where the group ran a model steam railway. The article stated the CPR Toronto-Guelph line was abandoned in 1934 and the station building had since been in use as a chicken coop. One week later, a farmer from Mississauga wrote the Globe and Mail editor saying the station building was located on his farm for many years before he donated it to the Live Steamers. It had been used as accommodation for farmhands and later storage – but never for chickens.
The Mississauga farmer was Benson Madill of Lot 7 of Concession 1 West, located today on what is the northwest corner of Highways 10 and 401. Mr. Madill’s letter revealed an interesting chronology:
An article in The Globe from 1931 gave a clue to the dangers of railways crossings before warning lights and gates existed. The article’s illustration shows the Summerville station as a backdrop to the aftermath of a fatal collision at the Brown’s Line crossing.
- 1942 - The station was moved from its original location in Etobicoke to the farm of Leslie Hughes on Highway 10 just north of Cooksville in Mississauga. Mr. Hughes used the station building as a temporary residence after his farmhouse had burned down.
- 1946 - The station was moved again further north on Hwy. 10 to Lot 7 of Con. 1 West, the farm of Alan Johnson, after his house had also burned. Mr. Johnson sold the farm in the same year to Mr. Madill including the station building.
- 1971 – Mr. Madill donated the building to the Live Steamers and it was moved to Milton.
An article in The Globe from 1931 gave a clue to the dangers of railways crossings before warning lights and gates existed. The article’s illustration shows the Summerville station as a backdrop to the aftermath of a fatal collision at the Brown’s Line crossing.
How the station ended up at Puddicombe Estate Farm Winery is a story involving a Murray Puddicombe, the winery's owner. After learning in 1997 that the Toronto Live Steamers were no longer interested in keeping the building, Mr. Puddicombe acquired and arranged for the structure to be disassembled into several parts for shipment. After careful reassembly at the winery, the original exterior was restored to appear as its previous incarnation as a working rail stop. Interior renovation required replacement of the wood floor and ceiling.
So if you are looking for an outing on a nice day and want to experience a piece of Etobicoke’s railway heritage, take a drive down the QEW just past Hamilton and visit Puddicombe’s winery. You can do wine tasting and take a pleasant tour of the vineyard and orchard on the model steam train. There are staff on site who are knowledgeable about the history of the station and the winery’s collection of vintage rail cars.
Researched and Written by Neil Park
So if you are looking for an outing on a nice day and want to experience a piece of Etobicoke’s railway heritage, take a drive down the QEW just past Hamilton and visit Puddicombe’s winery. You can do wine tasting and take a pleasant tour of the vineyard and orchard on the model steam train. There are staff on site who are knowledgeable about the history of the station and the winery’s collection of vintage rail cars.
Researched and Written by Neil Park