During my short morning layover before heading west on VIA's Super Continental on June 12, 1980, I walked over from Toronto Union Station to take in the sights and sounds of scintillating Spadina Shops. The trip west and the trip east.
Equipment I observed: GO 907-1007-1068-9559-1093-9969-9366-702, 706, 506, 904; CN Tempo 3152-3154, 8519N, 8518, 8517, 8232N, 8236, 8514, 8516N, 3117N, 4574-3649-3115, 4016, 4017; cabooses 79715, 79491, 79613; VIA 6541-6621-6529, 6771, 6625, 6637, 6763-6859, 6869, 6858, 6771, 15302, 6623, steam generator 15456V (in VIA paint); VIA RDC's 6204-6005-6101, 6106, 6114V, 6209V, 6104; CP 8921, 8785-8798-8769, 8142, 6529, 7063; CP business car Mount Stephen; CP vans 437482, 437238, 437270, 437138 end-cupola, 434420, 434124; CP Jordan spreader 402891; Tempo train 3150-321-340-368-363-376 and 365-370-341-323; ONR 1508.
On this visit to Spadina, I didn't venture down to track level, as I did on subsequent visits. Heading south toward the shops on the Spadina Avenue bridge, I could see six steam generator units - 3 each in CN and VIA paint, and trackwork in progress:
What are the chances CP's one-of-a-kind 'Empress of Agincourt' RSD-17 8921 would head west on a transfer while I was up on the bridge? Apparently, pretty good!
Looking west at the coach yard, we can see VIA blue & yellow and CN-painted cars, storage cars, the ONR Northlander, Cushman carts, Turbo and Tempo cars as CN S-13 8518 burbles past beneath me and the bridge:
Near the former CN coaling tower, CN-painted Tempo units 3154-3152 await their next assignment:
GO Transit train passing the Globe & Mail building at 444 Front Street West, the paper's home since 1974:
Running extra...
If I was thinking about modelling Spadina, I would listen to guru Lance Mindheim. Spadina is so huge, and our trains are so small. (Emmerson Case has done a good job in N-scale, though.) Perhaps it's really not possible to faithfully replicate in HO-scale, though. Here's a wise excerpt from Lance's Brooklyn Terminal article in October's Model Railroader magazine.
"For many years I would have categorized myself as a prototypical purist. Over the years, I've come to realize that the disparity betwen the space the real railroads occupy and how little space we have in which to build our models makes such an approach very limiting. I now take more of a proto-freelance approach, where I ty to capture the feel of the prototype while giving myself permission to take the liberties necessary to accommodate the realities of limited space."
Also now available from Kalmbach, my second-favourite magazine of the year - GMR 2022. Grab a Danish when you read it; there's a guy modelling Pelle Soeborg's layout in there!
4 comments:
Thanks for this blast from the past. June 1980 is my modeling era, and it's great to have photos and reports of what colours equipment was in at the time, particularly with the transition from CN and CP paint schemes to VIA Rail. The spottings of various Canadian consists from your trip have also been very useful in allowing me to select Budd cars for my era in the proper paint schemes. Much appreciated!
Thanks, A. Another 1980 modeller!
Glad to help,
Eric
From your pictures Eric, it looks like there was quite a lot of activity around Spadina while you were there. It must have been a really busy place in the days of steam power.
Hi Brian,
Yes, it looks like non-stop action in 1980, and perhaps it wasn't, but it's the variety that was so interesting! Steam era likely saw many more trains and certainly to more varied destinations!
So glad I took the opportunity to check it out rather than just hang out in the concourse of Toronto Union. Not that that wouldn't have been....interesting.
Thanks for your comment!
Eric
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