York Street Train Station

Fredericton, New Brunswick

Once a busy transportation hub, today Fredericton’s York Street railway station stands abandoned and dilapidated. Its windows are boarded up, its roof is in serious disrepair, the decorative brackets are rotten, and much of the brickwork has been vandalized with spray paint.

In response to such deterioration and the apparent neglect by its current owners, J.D. Irving Limited, the Friends of the Fredericton Railway, a small community group of architects, engineers and developers, was established to raise community support and financial assistance to restore the1923 Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station  – one of only two railway stations left on the Fredericton Branch Line and one of the last remaining brick stations in New Brunswick.

Working together with the Fredericton Heritage Trust and the Fredericton Trails Coalition the Friends have developed a business plan for the station that identifies a cost of $1.5 million to bring the station back to its former condition. The plan includes the involvement of J.D. Irving Limited but despite numerous communications with them over the last two years, the group is no closer to achieving its goal of restoring the station. The City of Fredericton has shown some commitment by purchasing portions of the right of way leading to the station.

Currently, the city is in negotiations with an undisclosed source and the Friends have not met for several months.

The Heritage Railway Station Protection Act of 1985, has done much to protect Canadian railway stations, but it cannot protect them from demolition by neglect. This station is deteriorating rapidly and needs the support of the community, the city, and most importantly its owner before it is too late.