Dave, thank you for reposting this impressive travelogue. Toronto is on my 'wish list' and LGA reads like a version of Dante's Inferno.
daveklepperIn trying to locate the problem, is everyone having difficulty with all the pictures? Is anyone else besides me able to see them?
Unfortunately NO ONE can see the pics, as you are linking to Private (yahoo) Email attachments somehow.
Since you have a Yahoo account, use of their free Flickr service is possible. Save the attachments to your computer, then upload them to Flickr; perhaps Yahoo has a shortcut but I don't know it. Once the pics are in a Flickr album they will have Public (share) URL links. Unfortunately you will have to edit the posts in this topic to replace the old with the new.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
In trying to locate the problem, is everyone having difficulty with all the pictures? Is anyone else besides me able to see them?
I must be missing something. Instead of the pictures, I get
{"error":{"code":"ET-5006","requestId":"02193d10-8e5d-11e6-c000-1cd9a833b87d","resource":"/ws/ya/download"}}
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
The one I'm having right now. (hic)
And what is your very favorite beer?
Sounds like a good time in Toronto. Two things, I live on Roncesvalles avenue above a shoe store and I was at the Brewerianist's convention at the Bond Place hotel. I don't collect beer stuff but I do enjoy emptying the containers that it comes in.
: Two views at Spadina Avenue and King Street. The first is looking east toward the city center, showing a CLRV and some of the skyscrapers that have made the 504-King the heaviest surface route in Toronto. The lower photo shows a Flexity on the 510-Spadina coming to a halt at King. It features a stanchion that was a winner in a public art competition that led to a whole series of poles along Spadina Avenue that bear sculptures by local artists.
: Two views of ex-TTC Peter Witt car 2894 at the ends of the museum's operating railway. The line runs over the right-of-way of the former Toronto Suburban Railway, one of the interurban lines that was acquired by the Mackenzie and Mann interests in the process of building their Canadian Northern Railway empire. The Rockwood station shown in the upper photo originally served the Grand Trunk Railway in that town, and was moved to the museum property after the Canadian National discontinued passenger service at that stop (Via and GO Transit still run passenger trains past the site of the old GT station). The Meadowvale shelter shown in the lower photo was actually built by the TSR, and similarly restored and moved to the museum for preservation. The Canadian National, successor to the Canadian Northern, abandoned the interurban line in 1931, eliminating the need for the structure. No. 2894 was one of Toronto's large fleet of iconic Peter Witt cars. Some 575 cars (350 motors and 225 trailers) were constructed by three carbuilders: Canadian Car & Foundry, Ottawa and Preston (Brill). Small Witt 2894 was built in 1923 by Ottawa as part of an order for 50 units. In addition to this car, the museum also owns three CCF-built units: large Witt 2424 and two other shorter ones, 2786 and 2984. A total of 12 TTC Peter Witts are extant, with one, No. 2766, still on the Commission's roster for special events.
CLRV 4179, operating outbound on the 514-Cherry line, has just ducked under the viaducts that connect Richmond and Adelaide Streets with Eastern Avenue. At this point Sumach Street becomes Cherry Street. The tracks are embedded in concrete along at the side of the "road." Southbound Flexity unit 4406, en route to Distillery Loop, is pulling out of the Front Street stop, the only intermediate station on the 514-Cherry line. Cherry Street is at left while the "Presentation Centre" for new condominiums and town houses is at right. Like Queens Quay, Cherry Street has many traffic signs and signals at this intersection.CLRV 4130 has rounded Distillery Loop and is about to stop to board inbound passengers at the end of the 514-Cherry line. The roll sign still indicates an eastbound destination of Parliament Street, which is about the closest to its actual location, but the operator will soon change it to Dufferin Street. The big question is when the TTC will modify its linens to show the correct route number.
Part 4 to follow
Further thought as to the reason: Possibly because I am in the Mideast, and your server thinks the likelyood of my being a hacker and having malwear embedded in the photos is high?
I know one former client of mine whose website won't take responses or comments, so I must use regular mail.
Is there any reader who CAN access the photos?
I don't know. But you can contact Jack May directly and get the report and photos directly:
"Jack May" <jackmay135@gmail.com>
Why do I get an ACCESS DENIED message when I try to open the photos?
Since the charter was supposed to begin at 11 a.m. Rich and I decided to sleep in a bit and so we didn’t meet for breakfast until 9 a.m. By now we were in elevator oblivion, so we had to deal with long waits and very crowded conditions (Rich’s room was on the 13th floor). A beer collectors convention was taking place at the hotel and participants with large tubs of beer bottles were also competing for valuable space in the single operable elevator. Here’s a blurb about that affair: “Collectors of Canadian Brewery Advertising (CCBA) has announced details of a Brewery Collectibles Show & Sale that will be running during its upcoming annual convention in Toronto. Taking place on Saturday August 6th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Bond Place Hotel (65 Dundas St. E., Toronto), the show will feature brewery memorabilia – ‘bottles, cans, labels, openers, coasters and more’ – from collectors from across the country, as well as experts who will be on hand to appraise any ‘brewery treasures’ brought in by attendees.” I guess “diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks,” and I hoped they noticed that a number of TTC streetcars are wrapped in beer advertising.
The coffee shop off the hotel’s lobby provided a good breakfast at a reasonable price and its service was quite efficient. We saw a few members of the group in the lobby afterward and introduced ourselves. Apparently a similar charter was operated the year before, but unfortunately the PCC broke down, and of the trip had to be completed aboard a substituted CLRV. We hoped that wasn’t an omen, as at 11 a.m. there was no sign of the PCC that was supposed to pick us up on the rails connecting Victoria Street with Dundas (which duck under a building). Soon we learned that the trackage on Victoria was out of service (temporarily, I hope) and our PCC, No. 4500, had to detour further west to get onto Dundas going east. Finally, at about 11:15, the streamliner arrived and “the sight for sore eyes” was boarded by a lot of happy people.
Already on the car were a few stalwarts who traveled to Russell Carhouse, including the weekend’s host, Don Freukes. Don is partly mobility impaired so he was not able to get on and off at photo stops, which took place at almost all of the loops we encountered. The group consisted of about 20 rail enthusiasts, which meant there was lots of room to ride comfortably in any portion of the car. They hailed from locations including Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Michigan, upstate New York and Sarnia, as well as the Toronto area. A cooler with bottles of water and soda, plus some excellent cookies and packaged snacks, were available to quench thirst and relieve hunger. The weather was just like the previous day’s--a mixture of clouds and sun with temperatures eventually reaching the high 80s. Despite the continuous breeze coming through the PCC’s open windows, the cold beverages were welcomed.
Here is the routing of our trip, which included some of the TTC’s newest trackage, serving Distillery Loop and the new Leslie Barns. Unfortunately I was unable to find an internet track map that shows these lines--so these are the best links I was able to come up with to allow you to follow along: http://transit.toronto.on.ca/archives/maps/ttc-streetcar-2011-03.jpg andhttp://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/TTC_Streetcar_Track_Map. Actually Al Holtz sent an updated hard copy version of an overhead wire map to some of us showing the new lines, which had been published in Whistle Talk, the monthly newsletter of the St. Louis Railway Enthusiasts edited by Dave Neubauer.
From Dundas and Victoria: east to Church, south to King, east to Sumach, then south on Sumach, which becomes Cherry, to Distillery Loop (eastern end of new line 514). Back north on Cherry/Sumach to King, east onto Queen to Leslie, south over (new) non-revenue trackage to the new Leslie Barns. Around the loop through the yard and then back north on Leslie to Queen, east to and around Neville Loop, back on Queen to Kingston Road and then east to and around Bingham Loop. Back west on Kingston Road, then through Woodbine Loop onto Queen and west to Coxwell. Then north to Upper Gerrard and east to Main Street and around Main Street Loop at the Bloor-Danforth subway. Back on Main Street, west on Upper Gerrard, then the jog south on Coxwell to continue west on Lower Gerrard. Jog again north on Parliament to Carlton and then west on Carlton and College through downtown to Spadina. North on Spadina into the underground Spadina/Bloor Loop. Then south on Spadina, west on King and north on Bathurst to Wolseley Loop. After a break for refreshments back south on Bathurst, west to Long Branch Loop via King, then Queensway (past Humber loop) and Lake Shore. Back east via Lake Shore briefly to Kipling Loop and then, after rounding the loop, east again on Lake Shore and Queensway to Roncesvalles. North on Roncesvalles to Dundas West Loop and then back on Roncesvalles to Dundas and finally east to Victoria (whew).
As you can see this was rather intensive. Photo stops were limited to the loops, as for a long time it has been the TTC’s policy to not allow pausing for pictures on either street trackage or prw. Here is a short description of some of my observatons as we passed through a large number of Toronto’s neighborhoods.
Center (or Centre) City: Construction cranes are everywhere; Toronto is booming. High-rise residential and office buildings continue to sprout up. And the streets are loaded with pedestrians, even on a Sunday. Eastern end of Queen approaching Neville loop: On a previous trip I noticed how Toronto’s “Beach” neighborhood had taken on a “hippie” look, with storefronts looking much like New York City’s Greenwich Village thirty or forty years ago. That seems to be changing and buildings are being renovated, with the neighborhood starting to take on a gentrified look with upscale chain stores, sidewalk cafes and the like. (This seems to be a natural progression, which also occurred in NYC’s “Village,” first in the western portion and then in the east.) The western end of Queen Street, which we did not traverse on the charter, but which I rode through on Saturday night, seems to have retained its “funky” atmosphere--at least for now.
Upper Gerrard Street: It remains residential and it always warms my heart to see a double track, traditional street-running carline passing blocks of single-family houses with front lawns. This neighborhood tickles my imagination about what it might have been like to live near the ends of carlines in small cities like Scranton, Louisville, Spokane, etc. Most of Toronto’s carlines operate on arterial streets through commercial areas supporting retailing, so this stretch of track is unusual. And commerce is certainly the rule on Lower Gerrard, where Kanji-style characters grace the front of store after store, indicating a strong Asian presence. Many of the other neighborhoods we traversed are ethnic, with areas that are noticeably Italian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Slavic and now, middle eastern. A traditional Chinatown radiates from the intersection of the Spadina and Dundas lines.
So, where didn’t we go on the charter? A number of lines, or substantial portions of lines, are currently out of service for either TTC or city construction projects. First and foremost among them is 512-St. Clair, which is running with buses because its “infrastructure is being modified” for the operation of the TTC’s new low-floor Flexity cars. [While a guest shouldn’t complain, I cannot help thinking that when the TTC issued its RFP (in 2007) for the low-floor cars, their dimensions, specifically their floor height (which determines the platform height for full accessibility), was known, and thus should have been applied to the St. Clair Avenue reconstruction project, which was completed in 2010. Thus I wonder how much money is being wasted six years later for retrofitting the line to insure the accessibility of the new cars. It must be a major reconstruction project if the TTC has to substitute buses for the streetcars for at least six months.] Anyway, streetcars will return to the western end of the line (St. Clair West to Gunn’s Loop just beyond Keele) in September, but buses will continue to run to the Yonge Street subway until December.
As mentioned earlier the 501-Queen line is being diverted from Queen Street between Spadina and Shaw because of a water main project. Outbound cars turn south on Spadina, and then continue west on King and north on Shaw to rejoin their regular route (the reverse of inbound cars). Our charter did not operate over Queen Street between the end of the Don Valley bridge and Roncesvalles carhouse (although Rich and I rode the detour on Saturday night). The western end of the 506-Carlton line is operating with buses, also due to a water main project. Weekday cars from Main Street are looping via Bay, Dundas and Spadina instead of running through to High Park Loop. On weekends the whole line is operated by buses--which was very fortuitous for us.
It allowed Jesse Goulah, our extremely knowledgeable and competent operator, to “put the pedal to the metal” while operating over the eastern end of the 506 route. We sailed along over the smooth track with rarely the need to slow down or pause behind other service cars--since there weren’t any! Also luckily, almost all the traffic lights were green as we approached them so he rarely had to let up. It certainly reminded me of how smooth and fast a PCC could be. I recall similar experiences when riding along the Queensway on Queen PCCs on my first visits to Toronto (starting in 1958), trips on routes 1, 8 and 9 in The Hague (where we lived in 1967-68), and out to Tervuren on the 7000s in Brussels. Swoosh.
Lastly, we did not have time to cover the Harbourfront or lower end of the Spadina line, or for that matter, most of the Bathurst line. So we did not go to the Exhibition, nor did we operate through the subway to Union Station. Oddly enough that was the last stretch of track in Toronto dominated by PCC cars, as they provided all service on the Harbourfront line for some four years after the line's 1990 opening. Because its initial operations were exclusively provided by PCCs, some TTC employees thought that the newer CLRVs could not safely clear the subway and the tight loop at Union Station. But that was incorrect as per Ray Corley, who was the TTC'sSuperintendent of Design and Development, who so indicated when I ran a CLRV/PCC charter at an E. R. A. Convention back in the early 1990s. While crossing over the CN tracks on Spadina Avenue, a TTC supervisor's truck caught up with us and its occupant waved us down. He told the motorman (not too politely) to back up, as didn't he know our car would get stuck in the tunnel. Fortunately Ray was aboard and told the supervisor a thing or two--including look at the official general order for the charter! We may have been the first CLRV with passengers to circumnavigate the loop.
Two photographic highlights for me were Kipling Loop, which I had never visited before and Wolseley Loop, where the sun was just right to photograph our PCC with the CN Tower looming behind it. It was a bit tricky, as the sun was going in and out, and I had to shoot from across Bathurst Street, where traffic would pile up when traffic lights were red. I had to wait for almost the whole 20 minutes of our stop, but finally I got the shot I wanted, which is displayed below.
Also of interest was our loop through Russell carhouse. TTC’s other PCC, No. 4549, was inside, and the consensus was that it wasn’t running on the 509-Harbourfront line because of brake trouble. The TTC had planned to operate one of its two remaining PCCs every Sunday afternoon starting in May.
Prior to the end of the trip, a collection was gathered to deservedly tip the TTC operator and supervisor, as well as to pay for the cool drinks and snacks. We were dropped in front of our hotel around 5:15. All in all, the charter was a great success--with everybody having a great time.
There are a large number of Asian restaurants along Dundas Street west of Bay. Rich and I chose a Japanese place for our Sunday dinner, and were quite satisfied. By the time we went for ice cream at the Eaton Centre’s food court everything had closed (it was a Sunday), so the possible increase to our respective girths was mitigated.
Part 3 of the report will cover our Monday trip to the Halton County Radial Railway in nearby Rockwood, Ontario.
A brief history of our car (some details not included).
No. 4500 was the first of fifty all-electric PCC cars ordered for Toronto from Canadian Car & Foundry/St. Louis Car in 1950 and delivered in 1951. The 4500s, or A-8s, were the last new PCCs obtained for the streetcar system. The TTC continued to obtain PCC cars thereafter, but subsequent purchases consisted of used cars from properties that were abandoning their streetcar systems.
Even prior to the 1972 decision to retain Toronto's streetcar system and order the CLRVs, it was decided that many of the streamliners would need to be rebuilt. Thus 173 of the TTC's newest PCCs underwent major overhaul, including all but one of the A-8s. These cars emerged from Hillcrest Shops in a new, subway-style red color scheme.
The fortunes of the PCC fleet varied with the ups and downs of TTC patronage. At one point the organization thought it would no longer need the cars once all the ALRVs had entered service, but by then patronage had begun to go up and it was decided to add two badly needed new routes to the network, Harbourfront and Spadina. Thus starting in 1986, the newest and best of the A-8s were overhauled again. This was more a reconstruction, and it was said that the cars were essentially stripped down and remanufactured. They were classified as A-15s, painted backinto Toronto's traditional robust colors of red wine and creamy yellow, and renumbered in the 4600-series. The exception was two cars, 4500 and 4549, the first and last of the A-8s, which retained their original numbers. In addition they were specially overhauled to "as delivered" condition and assigned to Toronto's Tour Tram operation, replacing the two Peter Witts in that service in 1989.
But in 1991 ridership steeply declined, and the powers that be decided the last of the PCCs were no longer necessary. As a result the latest major overhaul was stopped in its tracks (with only 19 of the planned 23 completed). In 1995 the edict came down to dispose of all the remaining PCCs other than cars 4500 and 4549, which would be retained for Tour Tram service and charters. I do not know when the sobriquet, "The TTC Welcomes You to Toronto," was painted above the windows, but it has been on both sides of the two PCCs for a number of years.
Here are the best of my photos from the day. Note that the trip organizers were very diligent to put appropriate route names and destinations on the linens.
Distillery loop, the terminal of the TTC's newest route, 514-Cherry, which began service on July 19, 2016, a few weeks before our charter. The roll sign pictured is not much different than that of the CLRVs that provide the service, as they do not show a 514-Cherry designation either (at least not yet). Bombardier Flexities assigned to the line are marked correctly. The new line ends just short of the Canadian National overpass.
Neville Park Loop, at the eastern end of the 501-Queen line. Our fantrip car pauses at the off-street entrance while a regular service car begins its journey and heads westward on Queen toward Humber Loop. Because of water main work between Spadina Avenue and Shaw Street, cars are detoured via King Street, reducing the line's reliability. As a result, until October 9, 2016 almost all daytime cars from Neville run only as far as Humber. In effect the old 507-Long Branch route has been resurrected to operate from there to Long Branch, but those streetcars carry the 501-Queen route number. The 507 route designation was retired in 1995, but at that time a new route 508-Lakeshore was created to operate a handful of rush hour trips through downtown between Long Branch loop and either Parliament or Church Street via King Street east of Roncesvalles Avenue. This route was a casualty of the slow delivery of Flexity cars and was suspended on June 19, 2015.
Woodbine Loop near the junction of Queen Street and Kingston Road. A TTC ALRV rests side by side with our chartered PCC car. The articulated car, which left before ours, was on a short turn trip between Humber and Woodbine. Most of TTC's ALRVs operate on the 501-Queen route, although I saw one running on Bathurst as well.
: PCC 4500 pauses for photos as it circles Main Street Loop. Eastbound cars of the 506-Carlton line terminate on the same track at this connection with the Bloor-Danforth subway. Buses were being substituted for the streetcars on Carlton this Sunday, so there was no rush at this photo stop. The upper blind side photo shows the sobriquet, "The TTC Welcomes You to Toronto." The author does not know when that was added above the windows, but it has been present on the PCCs for some years.
Wolesley loop along Bathurst Street between Queen and Dundas Streets. This was the former terminal of the Fort streetcar line in the days before the Bloor-Danforth subway opened. Until that time Bathurst cars ran to downtown during base and rush hours, and Fort cars covered the trackage from Adelaide Street to the Exhibition. In the background Toronto's skyline is punctured by the 1,815-foot high CN Tower, the city's tallest structure (and one of the tallest in the world).
The roller blind indicates that this is a Long Branch car being short turned at Kipling Avenue in New Toronto. New Toronto, located between Long Branch and Mimico, was an independent municipality until 1967. As can be seen by the settings of our PCC's roll signs in all of the photos above, Toronto's streetcar signs were unusual in that the destination appeared on the left side and the route name on the right. Now the blinds contain route numbers, followed by the destination, a common transit standard. Among the more notable combinations from PCC days were Jane Bloor, Vincent King and Neville Queen, and on occasion they were used as aliases by certain railfans. In that scheme of things, sometimes you could see the same notation on both sides, like Danforth Danforth (used for Danforth trippers running only as far as Danforth carhouse).
Great story so far Dave, but photo's will not open. Get an ACCESS DENIED when I try to open.
Toronto has an amazing transit system. And the quantity, frequency and ridership on the system is impressive. Takes one back to the hayday of streetcars. I recall some 4-way intersections where I could look in each direction and see 3 & 4 cars coming and going.
A group of members of the St. Louis Railway Enthusiasts spent the first weekend of August in Toronto. Their activities were centered around the charter of a PCC car on Sunday, August 7 and a visit to the Halton County Radial Railway, Toronto's trolley museum, the day after. A St. Louis friend (who ended up not going) invited me to join this private excursion. I made the last-minute decision to attend during the previous week and because I could not make air reservations early enough to get a decent airfare from Newark Airport, and did not want to make the long trip by auto, I ended up flying Air Canada to and from La Guardia--going on Saturday morning and returning on Tuesday afternoon. Clare and I had been to Toronto only a year earlier, but you never have to look far for an excuse to visit Canada’s largest city. My route involved riding Midtown Direct to Penn Station, the subway to Roosevelt Avenue and a Q70 bus to La Guardia--in both directions. Most of the traction devotees in attendance turned out to be from the midwest (with a few Ontario residents) and almost all stayed at the Bond Place Hotel on Dundas Street near Yonge, where I was able to obtain a single room.
With Clare driving me to New Jersey Transit’s Bay Street station, we left home on this cloudy morning at 6:48 a.m. She dropped me there five minutes later, in time for me to buy a Senior round-trip ticket to Penn Station. The 7 o’clock train to Newark Broad Street and Hoboken was waiting along track 2’s high-level platform with an all-Alstom consist. NJT PL42-AC diesel locomotive 4007 began pushing three Comet V cars exactly on time. Ridership on this sleepy Saturday morning was light, even after we paused to pick up more passengers at Glen Ridge and Bloomfield.
Unusually, upon leaving Roseville Avenue (no longer a station) where we joined the triple-track M&E mainline, we ended up on track 1, the center set of rails. Weekend Montclair branch trains normally operate on track 3, the line’s northernmost, to Newark, where passengers bound for Penn Station make an across-the-platform connection with a train from Dover on track 1. But track 3 was out of service, hosting a work train. Thus we crawled into Newark, stopping right behind the connecting Midtown Direct train. Passengers bound for New York were told to walk up the platform to the “next train;” no doubt passengers from that train who were bound for Hoboken were told to walk to our train. The long Midtown Direct train, pushed by ALP-46 electric locomotive 4606, was made up of multi-levels with about half the equipment stretching beyond the eastern end of the platform. This was a much better idea than putting our train on track 2, which would have forced all transferring passengers to go down, under and back up to reach their train.
We came to a stop at Newark Broad at 7:17 (7:13), and the connecting train, which had plenty of seats, departed at 7:21 (7:16). The ride to Penn Station was uneventful, with no wait on the Kearny Connection track leading to the ex-PRR high line, and a simple stop at Secaucus for connecting passengers from the ex-Erie Bergen County lines. We arrived at Penn Station on track 9 at 7:41, only two minutes late.
Since I was heading for the E train, I walked west along the platform (it is normally used by Amtrak and is wider than the usual NJT ones between tracks 1 and 2 or 3 and 4), and found that one of the two escalators on the 8th Avenue end was going down and the other was stationary. They never (well, hardly ever) get it right. But the elevator was working and I climbed aboard with a number of other people rolling luggage just as a North Jersey Coast train was pulling in on track 10. I wondered if either of the escalators on the eastern end of the platform were running upward, but will never know.
My next surprise was soon to come, as when I neared the 8th Avenue subway fare gates, I saw a sign indicating that E trains were operating via the F line for this weekend. Now a quick decision had to be made. Should I stay indoors and take the 1/2/3 up 7th Avenue to Times Square and then the 7 through the Steinway tunnels to 74th Street, or walk a block further, along 34th Street to Herald Square and take the E or F to Roosevelt Avenue. I chose the latter because I didn’t want to change trains with my bag, and didn’t really know if the 7 would actually be running. The wide sidewalk was relatively empty this early in the morning and there was no line at the turnstiles after I descended the stairway. As soon as I arrived at the northbound platform an F roared in; it was now 7:58. It opened its doors at Roosevelt Avenue at 8:17 and a minute later I joined a queue on the surface of Broadway waiting for the Q70. The express bus is scheduled to run every 10 minutes, 7 days a week, and it arrived at 8:23 with only one passenger aboard (it starts at the LIRR/IRT Woodside-61st Street station). We pulled away from the curb at 8:24 and operated via Broadway, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway to La Guardia, arriving at Terminal B (the first of three stops at the airport) at 8:35--a very quick, but bouncy, ride.
Air Canada operates from Terminal B and despite the concourse being very congested (a third-world hole), TSA security theater was very quick and efficient, allowing me to reach the gate by 8:50. Boarding of the Embraer 190 began at 10:00 with the door closing at 10:19 for the 10:25 scheduled departure. Most of the passengers on this narrow body aircraft with 2-and-2 seating were children carrying passports from the People’s Republic of China. They were well-behaved and appeared to have arrived on an earlier flight from Disneyland. At about 10:30 our pilot informed us that only one runway was in service and there were 20 aircraft ahead of us. Oh well. We got in the queue, which was mainly made up of Delta, American and JetBlue planes, and finally took off at 10:54. I was quite comfortable in my window seat and took advantage of the complimentary cracker and beverage that were offered en route. The clouds began to dissipate at about 11:15 and the day turned out to be partly cloudy with lots of sunny periods. The temperature eventually rose to the mid-80s.
We hit the tarmac at 11:57 and reached our gate at 12:01 (06). Thus despite the delay at LGA, we arrived ahead of time; obviously Air Canada’s schedule makers take La Guardia’s chronic congestion into account. Canadian customs and immigration was perfunctory and I reached the Union Station-Pearson Airport Express (UPX) train platform at around 12:20 p.m. While I was adding 10 dollars to my senior Presto card (which I purchased the previous year) a DMU entered the station and discharged a handful of passengers, and then the one already at the island platform left, at 12:26. With service running every 15 minutes, my train departed at 12:41. Since I was heading to the Bond Place Hotel on Dundas just east of Yonge Street, I had considered three possible routes from the airport. One was the UPX to its Bloor station (near the Dundas West station of the Bloor-Danforth subway) and then the Dundas streetcar; a second was the UPX to Union Station and then the Yonge-University-Spadina subway to Dundas; and the third the TTC express bus to the western end of the Bloor-Danforth subway at Kipling, and then the subway to Yonge with a transfer to a Yonge Street train to Dundas.
I decided on the middle one, as I wanted to take a look at the construction at Union Station and also knew that I could buy a day ticket there for my afternoon travels on the TTC. Fares had been significantly lowered for UPX riders since my first trip on the DMUs last year, making them quite reasonable, as per the following table (not all fares are shown). If the old fares had still been in effect, I would probably have chosen the all-TTC route.
No Presto Card Regular Regular Senior Senior
Old New Old New
Airport-Union 27.50 12.00 23.40 6.00
Airport-Bloor 22.00 5.65 18.70 2.85
With Presto Card
Airport-Union 19.00 9.00 16.50 5.64Airport-Bloor 15.00 5.02 12.90 2.68
As you can see, for seniors traveling occasionally there is no longer a serious advantage to buying a 6-dollar Presto Card. Also, it appears that the new fares are in line with GO Transit prices for the same distances.
The platforms at the two UPX terminals are equipped with elevator-style screen doors, so photography is difficult, but the tracks are unprotected at the two intermediate stops, Weston and Bloor, which makes it simple to take pictures of the DMUs as well as GO Transit service and the occasional Via train. In 2015 I accomplished that at both those stops, and even at Union Station (from a GO Transit platform), so I didn’t spend time repeating my previous efforts. With a 25-minute scheduled running time, my 12:41 train arrived at Union at 1:08, only two minutes late. The dwell time at Bloor was quite long, which probably caused the minor tardiness. Few people were aboard and my Presto card was checked en route by a personable attendant. I had tapped it on the airport platform, but was told I wouldn’t have to do so at Union Station, as the through fare would be deducted automatically. If I were to get off at one of the way stations, I would have had to tap it in order to be charged the lower fare.
A two-car train of Nippon Sharyo-built DMUs at the Union-Pearson Express terminal at Union Station is ready to leave for the airport. This 2015 photo also shows the platform screen doors that help protect the terminal from the elements.
The inner terminal of the service is located a little west of York Street, so it was a bit of a walk (in an air-conditioned corridor) to the Yonge Street subway station near Bay Street. But this allowed me to take a good look at the reconstruction of the station, which appears to still be in full swing. The sides of the main hall, whose marble is engraved with the names of the major cities that were served by the CPR and CNR (and contained their ticket windows as well as a large central information booth in the old days) are covered by scaffolding and the whole atmosphere was dusty. But I suspect when the work is completed the station will be beautiful--modern with tribute to its historical background--at least I hope so.
I also went to the new GO Transit concourse to pick up some timetables. It is bright, airy and shiny, and seems well organized. I recall the original ticket sales and waiting area as stuffy, crowded and congested, so this is a great improvement. Oddly, there were no schedules for GO’s Lakeshore East service so I went to a manned ticket booth and the clerk printed one out for me on her computer. The space has many ticket vending machines, but there were still a few live agents serving the public on this Saturday afternoon.
I followed signs to the subway, which is now numbered as TTC route 1 (route 2 is Bloor-Danforth and route 3 is the Scarborough ICTS line), and found myself in an unstaffed area with iron maidens and ticket/token machines, but with none selling day passes (they did offer weekly and monthlies, however). I had to leave the station and walk to another entrance to find the traditional turnstile area with attendants in booths. I noted that senior fares are $1.95, available by tapping my Presto card or by buying tickets in pads of five, but I chose to obtain a day ticket for $12.00, as I would feel more comfortable avoiding the bother of paying fares and using transfers each time I hopped on a streetcar. I suspect that if I tapped each time, my balance would not be reduced for a continuous trip or within a time frame, but I wasn’t sure of that. Plus I wonder if the system keeps track of the total amount it deducts from the balance for TTC trips on a specific day, and does not allow that to go over the $12.00 day ticket price. (I will have to send an email to the TTC to find out about that.)
The University Avenue portion of “line 1” was not operating between St. George (Bloor) and Union Station, which did not affect me directly. Bus shuttle service was taking its place, and the trains coming down Yonge Street were changing ends and loading passengers at the University line platform instead of their normal one. [You may recall that Union Station had a relatively narrow island platform that was very congested until the stop was redesigned, so now the old platform serves only University bound trains; a new platform was added to the east for Yonge-bound trains. Plus a wall (decorated with ‘art’) was installed between the two sides.] So it was not a problem, as non-uniformed (unless a T-shirt is considered a uniform) TTC personnel were directing Yonge passengers like me to the normal University platform (and University-bound passengers to the street for the shuttle bus).
A 2015 photo of an inbound "Rocket" train approaching the Rosedale station of the Yonge Street subway. These solid 6-car trains with open gangways were built by Bombardier in 2011 and now comprise all the rolling stock on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line (now route 1). Four-car versions also run on the all-underground Sheppard line (route 4).
I arrived at the hotel quickly and was pleased that my room was ready (check-in time is officially 3 p.m.), so I immediately rode up to the 14th floor. It was the only quick elevator ride of my stay, as for the next three days only one of the hotel’s three elevators were functioning reliably. The result was overcrowding and long waits. [This was déjà vu, as I used this hotel for one of the three E. R. A. conventions I organized during the years I was serving the organization in that capacity. We had the same elevator problem then and I received many complaints about it. For the other conventions we stayed at the Carlton Inn and a Delta hotel near the bus terminal.] Anyway, in addition to the queen-bedded room being clean, large and comfortably air conditioned, it also had the advantage of overlooking the Dundas streetcar line. So after unpacking and “freshening up,” I spent a little time focusing my camera on certain moving objects from the window.
Above and below: Two views from the 14th floor of the Bond Place Hotel on Dundas Street between Victoria and Bond Streets. Looking east in the upper view, a westbound Dundas car, having just passed an eastbound one, approaches Church Street. In the other direction, the lower photo shows an eastbound CLRV being dwarfed by an ugly metal fence wrap of a Rogers Communications skyscraper at 33 Dundas Street.
Above and below: Two more scenes of CLRVs along Dundas Street looking toward Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. The Canadian Light Rail Vehicles shown in these photos are part of a group of 196 cars built by UTDC from 1977 to 1981. (The first six were built in Switzerland by SIG.)
I finally began my rail activities a few minutes after 2 o’clock. My main objective was to photograph the eastern portion of the 509-Harbourfront and 510-Spadina lines near the subway portal, as I covered the other parts of these routes a year earlier. I rode the Yonge subway back to Union Station and when I got to the streetcar platform (on the very tight loop) I found it to be quite crowded. A new 5-section 100-percent low-floor Flexity almost immediately rolled in and the large vehicle swallowed the passengers in a flash. I waited for the next car as I wanted a seat and it came about three minutes later, as per the annunciator/countdown clock. It was a CLRV and I rode it to Harbourfront Centre, the first stop after the portal.
Cars were coming signed for both lines every few minutes, so I had ample opportunity to photograph the two different types of equipment emerging from the portal and running along Queens Quay toward Spadina Avenue. Many of my slides feature new skyscrapers in the background, both residential and commercial. The sidewalks were bustling with pedestrians, and the vendors of soft drinks, pastries and ice cream were doing a banner business. As you all probably know, Queens Quay was completely redesigned in the early part of this decade, and now consists (from south to north) of a wide sidewalk, a two-lane bikeway, a double-track streetcar right-of-way, a street with a single traffic lane in each direction (with left turn lanes where necessary) and then another sidewalk. It is quite attractively planted and creates an excellent impression.
One of Toronto's new Flexity Outlook streetcars is about to emerge onto Queens Quay on a trip from Union Station to the Exhibition over the 509-Harbourfront route. At the time of my August visit only 23 of these 100-percent low-floor single-ended streetcars had been delivered by the manufacturer, Bombardier. The order to replace the TTC's entire fleet with 204 new air-conditioned cars has been plagued by quality and delivery problems. With the carbodies made in Mexico and shipped to Thunder Bay, Ontario for final fabrication, the units have been slow to come off the final assembly line. By mid-December of 2014 the carbuilder should have delivered 43 cars, but now, almost two years later, only a little over half that number have been accepted. On the other hand, based on my experience riding the new cars during the past two years, I must say that I like them very much, with their smooth riding, comfort and capacity being much appreciated--not to omit their air conditioning on hot summer days. Eventually, when enough of the Flexities are delivered to provide full service on a significant part of the network, the cars' trolley poles will be replaced by pantographs.
The Harbourfront Centre station on Queens Quay, the first stop west of the subway portal. A Flexity on route 510-Spadina is right behind a CLRV on the 509-Harbourfront route. If I have to complain about something, it would be the sign pollution associated with Toronto's new center-of-the-road reserved trackway on both Spadina Avenue and Queens Quay. The TTC's signals are similar to traffic lights (red/yellow/green rather than the white horizontal, diagonal or vertical dedicated to streetcar operation in most cities all over the world) and can be a little confusing to motorists not familiar with the territory; thus the sign reading "Transit Signal."
An illustration of the waterfront skyline that came with the introduction of streetcar service along Queens Quay. A westbound Flexity approaches the Rees Street stop.
Some clouds were moving in so I decided to do some riding. I boarded a 510-Spadina Flexity and rode northward to Bloor. Just on the north side of the Gardiner Expressway, I saw someone with a camera who looked a lot like Rich Aaron, but it was too late to get off as my car just left a stop. I had been told that Rich, who lives in Chicago, would be here for the charter, and contacted him by phone earlier in the week. We decided to meet for dinner this evening, but I didn’t expect to see him before then. The streetcar traffic on Spadina was steady and unbroken, with at least one car passing mine between all the stops from Front to College. Among them were ALRVs assigned to the 501-Queen Street service, which since May was being detoured off Queen and was running on King between Spadina and Shaw because of water main repairs. The Queen cars now terminate at Humber, with the old Long Branch line from there to Long Branch effectively reinstituted for the duration. Spadina is not a fast line. With the stops being at the far side of the major intersections, and the left turn cycle for Spadina Avenue coming before traffic is allowed to move straight, it seemed that we always had to wait an extra long time to get through. I wondered if transit service could be speeded up if the left turn cycle came afterthe straight ahead one, at least when a streetcar is waiting.
Once inside the tunnel (the 510-Spadina has subway portals on both ends), we twisted and then screeched to a halt at Bloor, where everyone exited. The boarding area is just a few feet further (sort of like at Juniper Street on Philadelphia’s subway-surface lines). Lots of waiting passengers were lined up inside a roped off maze similar to what you see at multiplex theater box offices. I rode an escalator down to the westbound platform and soon a train of Toronto’s older subway cars, the traditional ones (as opposed to the new ones that have open gangways and operate on the Yonge line) came in. My car’s air-conditioning had failed so at the next station (Bathurst) I went forward one unit and soon cooled off.
I rode five more stops to Dundas West, where I transferred to a Dundas car for the ride back to the hotel. As you know in Toronto most subway to surface transfer stations are located within the TTC’s fare control, so there is no need to use transfers or go through turnstiles. I couldn’t help thinking how great that works, and how that concept was once also used extensively in Boston, and then thrown away! With the sun coming out again I stopped for a few slides en route to Yonge Street, noticing that between the CN and CP overpasses and Ossington Avenue, Toronto’s skyline looms above the Dundas tracks, thereby serving as an excellent backdrop for photos.
I arrived at about 5:15 and called Rich on the hotel phone. He also had just returned from a good day of riding and photography (yes, it was him I saw on Spadina) and we decided to meet in the lobby at 6 o’clock. It didn't appear that any others of the charter group were present so we went off to dinner on our own (Neubie--Dave Neubauer--told us later that he didn’t get back to the hotel from riding ‘til late in the evening). We ate at the York and Richmond Streets branch of the Keg, a Canadian chain of steakhouses that Rich, John Wilkins and I had patronized back in 2012, and were quite satisfied--except for one thing. We remedied that by riding a King car to 189 Roncesvalles Avenue, home of Ed’s Real Scoop, where we both had refreshing desserts. We returned to the hotel aboard King and Queen cars. It was a long day, but quite satisfying.
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