The Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More: An Illustrated History of Railway Stations in Canada

Gerald J. Stortz is an assistant professor of history at the University
of Waterloo.

Broadview Press is gaining a deserved reputation for producing a limited
number of high quality titles. With this volume, that tradition
continues.

Brown may be Canada’s most prolific purveyor of nostalgia. His
previous works include Ghost Towns of Ontario and Backroads of Ontario.
This book trades on the unique emotional ties that most Canadians feel
with trains. While the illustrations in this coffee-table size volume,
many in color, are magnificent, this is more than a mere picture book;
it is a social history of train stations.

By exploring the various types and styles of stations, Brown is able to
illustrate how great a determinant the railway was not only in extending
the frontier but also in dictating lifestyle and, in more remote areas,
by acting as a link to the outside world, both as a means of personal
transportation and through mail and catalog deliveries. Brown is to be
congratulated for his exploration of the various architectural styles.
This book will be of particular interest to train buffs and to those
interested in heritage preservation, but it is also likely to appeal to
the general reader.