diff --git a/tests/datasets/test_substation.py b/tests/datasets/test_substation.py
index 0ec61591c73..6022dca9ad6 100644
--- a/tests/datasets/test_substation.py
+++ b/tests/datasets/test_substation.py
@@ -87,9 +87,9 @@ def test_getitem_semantic(self, config: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
 
         x = dataset[0]
         assert isinstance(x, dict), f'Expected dict, got {type(x)}'
-        assert isinstance(x['image'], torch.Tensor), (
-            'Expected image to be a torch.Tensor'
-        )
+        assert isinstance(
+            x['image'], torch.Tensor
+        ), 'Expected image to be a torch.Tensor'
         assert isinstance(x['mask'], torch.Tensor), 'Expected mask to be a torch.Tensor'
 
     def test_len(self, dataset: Substation) -> None:
@@ -167,6 +167,44 @@ def test_not_downloaded(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
                 root=tmp_path,
             )
 
+    def test_not_downloaded_with_download(
+        self, tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+    ) -> None:
+        filename = 'image_stack'
+        maskname = 'mask'
+        source_image_path = os.path.join('tests', 'data', 'substation', filename)
+        source_mask_path = os.path.join('tests', 'data', 'substation', maskname)
+        target_image_path = tmp_path / filename
+        target_mask_path = tmp_path / maskname
+
+        def mock_download_side_effect() -> None:
+            shutil.copytree(source_image_path, target_image_path)
+            shutil.copytree(source_mask_path, target_mask_path)
+
+        mock_download = MagicMock(side_effect=mock_download_side_effect)
+        mock_extract = MagicMock()
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            'torchgeo.datasets.substation.Substation._download', mock_download
+        )
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            'torchgeo.datasets.substation.Substation._extract', mock_extract
+        )
+
+        # Create the Substation instance
+        Substation(
+            bands=[1, 2, 3],
+            use_timepoints=True,
+            mask_2d=True,
+            timepoint_aggregation='median',
+            num_of_timepoints=4,
+            root=tmp_path,
+            download=True,
+        )
+
+        # Verify the mocked methods were called
+        mock_download.assert_called_once()
+        mock_extract.assert_called_once()
+
     def test_extract(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
         filename = Substation.filename_images
         maskname = Substation.filename_masks
diff --git a/torchgeo/datasets/substation.py b/torchgeo/datasets/substation.py
index 89825d99af5..6df6ddcec05 100644
--- a/torchgeo/datasets/substation.py
+++ b/torchgeo/datasets/substation.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 from .errors import DatasetNotFoundError
 from .geo import NonGeoDataset
-from .utils import download_url, extract_archive
+from .utils import Path, download_url, extract_archive
 
 
 class Substation(NonGeoDataset):
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class Substation(NonGeoDataset):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        root: str,
+        root: Path,
         bands: list[int],
         mask_2d: bool,
         timepoint_aggregation: str = 'concat',
@@ -220,9 +220,7 @@ def _verify(self) -> None:
 
         # If dataset files are missing and download is not allowed, raise an error
         if not getattr(self, 'download', True):
-            raise DatasetNotFoundError(
-                f'Dataset files not found in {self.root}. Enable downloading or provide the files.'
-            )
+            raise DatasetNotFoundError(self)
 
         # Download and extract the dataset
         self._download()