Trackside observations in Toronto

So our house is packed and the waiting game nears an end. We are officially ready to move, but we don't have possession of our new home yet. I'm at my work desk in the basement and there's a lull in my day. I figured it was a good time to go over some of my observations from Toronto on June 1, when my family made a quick visit to the city to take our kids to a Blue Jays game (they lost) and the Ripley's Aquarium. You can read about the westward rail journey to Toronto in my previous post.

In that post, I detailed some interesting observations from our train journey from Ottawa's Fallowfield Station all the way through to Cobourg. Our ride included a meet with two CN freight trains, a westbound container train parked in Belleville and another westbound mixed that had stopped for us around Brockville. This was the best shot I could get of the front end of that train from my small window in the ex-CP HEP car. I think the clouds and the trees make this image more interesting. I would have liked to get more of the cab, but this is what you sometimes get when you take photos while in motion.

But let's focus on Toronto. As our train pulled into Oshawa, I was able to get a quick shot of a parked GO Train with the power facing east. Oshawa is usually a busy station, with a yard that holds autoracks for a nearby automotive plant and other freight cars on any given day. I like the fact that these are images I could not otherwise get trackside.

As we headed west, we passed the Metrolinx GO Train maintenance facility in Whitby. It was not easy to get a proper image of the yard, since the glare from my window and the narrow vantage point made it a challenge. I had to touch up this image quite a bit to account for the glare and reflections on our window. I like how this one turned out. There are a lot of trains visible.

This shot also had to be touched up to account for the fact that it was taken behind a narrow window in our passing HEP car. I liked how this one turned out as well. Most of the quick shots I took passing by didn't turn out. But it's always cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at railway facilities from a vantage point that you could never get from public property.

When we entered the home stretch of track leading to Union Station, I didn't expect to see much, but I still kept an eye out for anything. I did make sure to get a shot of this trackside building on Cherry Street. I remember always seeming to notice this building when I rode the train in my university days. It brought back a lot of good memories seeing it again. It's nice to know that, despite all the changes in Toronto over the last few decades, a few old vestiges of its gritty past remain. You can see some light rail (street car?) right-of-way in the bottom right corner of the image.

The tracks leading into Union Station are the exclusive domain of GO Trains, Via Rail intercity corridor trains and the Union Pearson Express. But once in a while, you might catch a few freight cars that are being used for maintenance of way purposes. This was an unexpected catch.

A few ties were on this flat car, but I wasn't sure if they were old ties that had been removed or new ties that were awaiting placement on one of the lines. My guess is they are old ties, given they seemed to be thrown onto the car without any thought to organization. I would expect new ties to be in a neat bundle.

End of the line for us as our train pulled in under the now brightly lit platforms of Union Station. This is quite the contrast with Montreal's platforms, which I was also able to see later in the summer on a quick trip to Montreal with my daughter. The windows and lighting makes for a better first impression of Toronto than travellers had from the old platform. A gleaming GO Train awaits its next run east as we pulled in.

In my brief time in Toronto, I managed to get a bunch more material but I will save that for another post. It has been a really rewarding summer for me as a railfan, as I have taken three trips and acquired a fair bit of new material. It's always good to have too much, for a change.