The Great Western Railway (GWR) built two stations in the town of Dundas in the mid 1800s
The original GWR Dundas station was built in the summer of 1853 and located at the Sydenham Hill Toll Road, today's Sydenham Road. Unfortunately no photos or drawings of the first station are known to exist, but it was built to the same pattern as other small town GWR stations, one of which still survives in Grimsby.
Northeast corner of the original GWR Grimsby station. The first and second GWR Dundas stations looked very similar to this. August 17, 2025.
Northwest corner of the original GWR Grimsby station. August 17, 2025.
Southeast corner of the original GWR Grimsby station. August 17, 2025.
Southwest corner of the original GWR Grimsby station. August 17, 2025.
Historical plaque on the east side of the original GWR Grimsby station. August 17, 2025.
Unforunately for Dundas residents the toll gate for the Sydenham Hill Toll Road was located just above Cayley St, between the station and the centre of Dundas. This put a significant damper on business between the station and town, so much so that in 1864 the GWR decided to close both the Dundas station and the little used Flamboro station located at Weir's Lane and replace them with a new station located at the west end of Dundas. There is no sign of a railway station at Sydenham Road in panoramic photos of Dundas taken during the 1860s, so the station was likely demolished or moved shortly after closing.
September 1855 map of Dundas showing the location of the original GWR station.
Announcement of the closure of Flamboro and Dundas stations, and the opening of the new Dundas station effective October 31st, 1864. From the October 31, 1864 Hamilton Spectator, pg 3.
Built during the summer of 1864 and opened for service on October 31, the second GWR station was a copy of the first and located next to the Dundas Waterloo road, today's Highway 8.
In 1882 the Great Western Railway was bought by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR). Starting in 1899, the GTR began a large scale upgrading of the infrastructure of the former GWR, with new stations, facilities, bridges and the double tracking of the mainline. In early 1901 the Dundas station was demolished and a new station was built on the same site, opening on May 13 1901.
A stereograph card of the GWR Dundas station grounds in the 1870s. In the background is the house where the stationmaster and his family would live. In May 1901 it was downgraded from a stationmaster's residence to a switchman's residence. In 1930 the CNR decided that Dundas no longer needed to be operated 24hrs a day, and so the house was declared surplus to the railroad's needs. The stationmaster at the time bought the house and moved it to the back of 55 Cayley St, where it sits today
Enlargement of a stereograph card of the GWR Dundas station grounds in 1875. From the Dundas Museum & Archives collection
View of western Dundas from Dundas peak circa 1890, with Dundas station on the right. (Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Local History & Archives, used with permission)
Postcards of Dundas station. The earliest postmark found on this card is July 2, 1907.
"Grand Trunk betterments, Etc" The Railway and Shipping World March 1900, pg 71
Guay, David R. P. Great Western Railway of Canada: Southern Ontario's Pioneer Railway Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2015
Hamilton Spectator
"Dundas News" May 8, 1901 pg 8
Hamilton Times
"G.T.R. Dundas Improvements" May 13, 1901 pg 8
Lomax, Philip M. Life on the Copetown Hill (2nd Ed) Self Published, 2016
