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The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) Station was constructed in 1911
by GTPR crews racing towards the Yellowhead Pass in a bid to consolidate
the competitive position of their line.
The station was constructed by a company preoccupied with laying
track to fend off the threat of the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR)
being routed through the Athabasca Valley to Yellowhead Pass at the same
time. Opposing political parties of the day supported both railway
companies politically and financially.
The
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, operated by William Melville Hays,
president of the Grand Trunk Railway Line, was under the political favours
of Sir Wilfred Laurier's government.
An example of the Grand Trunk Railway’s architectural landmarks
in the west of Canada is the Hotel MacDonald in Edmonton. Examples of
this type of architecture are found where the rail lines headed west
across the prairies. The
vision of the developers of the time was a string of grand hotels and
resorts located along the rail lines all the way to the west coast.
The dream was began and the rail lines made it to the west coast,
but world economics and the death of Wm. M. Hays on the Titanic, changed
the western railways forever.
In
building the rail line in western Canada the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
built small, dual function residential/railway buildings.
The Hinton Station, located at track mile 978 west from Winnipeg,
was a way station located at the entrance to the Rocky Mountains.
The station was named for W. P. Hinton, GTPR General Passenger
Agent and later Vice-president and General Manager of the GTPR. Rail station houses in Canada were traditionally built on the north side of the tracks to utilize the southern exposure and the sunlight for additional lighting and warmth. The Hinton station was put on the “wrong side of the tracks” south of the main line due to a large drop off on the north side. The station is one of few built this way. At the time of its construction it doubled as a section house as well as housing the station master and his wife.
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Historical Time Lines of the GTPR Station House
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The
station, coal box and section tool house were erected on the station
grounds in 1911. The
following year a steel water tank complete with a detached frame pump
house was built about three-quarters of a mile west of the station.
The depot, a standard pattern known as a Design A Station, was one of
345 such structures erected by the GTPR in Western Canada.
Designed in 1909, it became the most common combination station
design (plan 100-152) employed by any western Canadian railway. Passenger service between Hinton and Edson was inaugurated by August 1911. Service through Yellowhead Pass was formally opened on April 2, 1912. CNoR fell into financial ruin and was taken over by the Dominion Government on Sept. 30, 1917. In June of 1917 GTPR tracks between Pocahontas and Obed were removed and sent to France for the war effort for the First World War. Passenger service to Hinton was no more. The GTPR fell into receivership on March 9, 1919 and was amalgamated with CNoR in 1920.
By 1925 a study commissioned by the Canadian National Railways,
recommended returning to the line going through Hinton. The decision to
reopen the GTPR through Hinton in 1926 was due to better grades on the
bed and less need of new bridges. On November 11, 1927 railway service
through Hinton reopened.
In 1927 the Hinton station was refurbished, its interior plastered and
repainted. The exterior
walls were insulated and the wood siding was refinished with roughcast
stucco.
In 1928, a new coal mine (Hinton Collieries) opened and with
anticipation of increased local traffic, a loading platform and stock
pen were erected.
In 1955, construction began on the Hinton pulp mill, increasing local
railway traffic. Washroom
facilities and a freight shed were added to the station in 1956.
At the same time the waiting room was expanded and the office
area was increased. The Station was operational with an agent that controlled ticket sales, freight and general operations until 1985. Via rail currently runs the Hinton passenger depot out of the building. |
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Of
the 345 Standard Plan A GTPR stations built in western Canada, Hinton
is the last to be used as a train station. |
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