Thousands pass below a busy Toronto underpass every day without paying much attention to an unassuming archway walled off with bricks — the sole remnant of a long-lost train station once used by daily commuters, and even by royalty at one point.

The 1898-built underpass at Queen and Dufferin, known as the Queen Street Subway, is home to the last vestige of the former Parkdale railway station (later known as North Parkdale).

Fareen Karim

You'd be forgiven for not knowing of the long-vacated train station at this site, as the last train serving the former stop on the Grand Trunk/Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways departed a half-century ago in 1974.

Fareen Karim

A small wooden station was first built along the east side of the rail line at this site in 1856, later expanded, and then growing again with the addition of a new building west of the tracks in 1879.

The station in 1900. Public domain.

In its early years, the station was crossed at street-level by Queen Street. This changed when the current underpass opened in 1898, allowing Queen Street traffic and streetcars to pass below converging rail lines and the multi-building station.

The station in 1898. Public domain.

It was during the construction of the underpass that a staircase was built, providing pedestrians access from the sunken underpass to the rail platform above.

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The station would fall out of relevance in the decades that followed, though the stop did see a high point in its final decades of operation, when it was visited by Princess Margaret during a 1958 royal tour, travelling from Parkdale to Stratford, Ontario.

The station met its ultimate demise after GO Transit started operating a new competing route, stopping nearby at a new station near the Line 2 subway along Bloor.

The building itself was destined for preservation and relocated to Queen and Roncesvalles in 1977, but it was sadly destroyed by fire later that year before any reuse plans could be implemented.

None of the buildings remain today. The original station's footprint is now occupied by a northerly extension of Sudbury Street to Queen, while a former CPR yard on the western lands was redeveloped with condos.

Fareen Karim

While the train station and associated structures are long since gone from this site, the walled-off staircase entrance dating to 1898 serves as a reminder of the area's largely forgotten rail history.

There are actually several such forgotten staircases in Toronto, detailed in an informative blog post by local geographer Sean Marshall.