Riding the TTC, April 2019

It's 9 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, you're in Toronto, you've checked out but train time is not until 5:40. What would you do? Faced with that prospect a week ago, I made the obvious choice. Buy a TTC Day Pass and get ridin'! I especially wanted to ride as many streetcar routes as possible.

I bought the $13 pass from the fare collector at St Patrick station, and began a one-day odyssey that would eventually comprise 17 different rides - getting my money's worth, here! And not once was I asked for Proof-of-Payment. And I only had to present my pass a time or two. From St Patrick, it was down Line 1 Finch heading for Union Station.

Having checked my baggage at the subtly subterranean VIA baggage counter, I was a free man with pass in hand and camera in pocket. The idea quickly dawned on me to document each ride photographically and with route and car numbers. Riding the 509 to Exhibition Loop aboard Bombardier Flexity 4434, I awaited the bus protecting the 511 Bathurst streetcar route. Bus 1139 appeared after a few minutes:

We were off, heading north to King at Bathurst Sts. I wanted to get on another streetcar as soon as I could - I can ride buses in Kingston, after all! I boarded Flexity 4483, realizing it was going to the Dufferin Loop. I disembarked at King and Dufferin to board a Flexity continuing farther along the King route. Flexity 4517 arrived wearing a Mr Clean wrap. Some wraps I would see this day included Ripley's Aquarium, Coke and a few others that remained undocumented.

With the Flexity, any of the car doors can be accessed, which makes for quick embarking and disembarking. Hence the change to Proof-of-Payment on the TTC, like GO Transit. I was in the front car, just behind the driver as we approached CLRV's outside Roncesvalles carbarns. One can speak to the driver through the holey oval in the middle of this photo, while reading the sticker about one TTC operator being assaulted every day - zero tolerance. I was well-behaved, being a country mouse among all the city 'mouses'.

My next ride was the longest-lasting: the Queen streetcar which runs all the way from Humber College Lakeshore campus in the west to the Beaches in the east end of Toronto. This trip involved two CLRV trips each way - 501 to Humber Loop aboard 4085, then Humber Loop to Long Branch Loop. Westward on 4085-4189, staying aboard 4189 back-tracking east to Humber Loop. Lots of stop lights! An interior CLRV view early in the eastward return trip, taken from my back-row seat:

At Humber Loop, I boarded Flexity 4498 but disembarked at Queensway and Ellis to catch the trailing 4496 (below) which was not as full, riding it to through downtown to Queen at Bellefair in the Beaches (or the Beach, as it is often referred to).

While in the Beach, I rode to the end of the line at Neville Loop before returning west as far as Bellefair, where I visited the neighbourhood Tims for a bagel break before boarding the 501 Humber, continuing west until disembarking at Broadview Avenue:

Continuing back towards downtown aboard CLRV 4089, I transferred to the King- Dufferin Gate route on Flexity 4477. This was a quick, fast-moving trip across downtown. At King and Spadina, I left the King car as it continued on to Dufferin Gate. Note the photographic impossibility of capturing the Flexity's digital route sign lettering!

Flexity 4477 headed west as Mr Clean headed east as I disembarked (above). My next two routes to ride were the 510 Spadina and 504 King. I would ride the subway between them a few stops west, eschewing the 511 Bathurst route, since it was likely buses.

Spadina-bound Flexity 4456 (above) paused for traffic before coasting to the stop at King and Spadina, flanked by northbound and southbound traffic on Spadina. The car interiors are interesting, letting in lots of light, with higher seating over the trucks, and lower, handicapped-accessible seating  by the doors. I even saw one baby stroller 'rolled' up to the low floor. Near the back of the five-section car, there were no standees on any of my trips:

Having ridden the Route 2 Kipling subway aboard car 5364 from Spadina Station to Dundast West Station, I came above ground to board the 504A King, heading back toward Spadina Avenue. There was a line of buses covering the 505 route, but Flexity 4457 squeaked its way around the loop departing Dundas West past a waiting bus:

Getting closer to train time, it was time to head back toward Union Station. At King and Spadina, I boarded another Flexity, 4491. It only went as far as the Queens Quay loop (below) so I had to hop off...

...and hop on to Flexity 4430 for the Harbourfront last leg of my extensive, but not expensive, trip:

All in all, a cost-effective way to ride a variety of equipment and see some interesting sights! Do you know how many Vape shops and Shoppers Drug Marts there are along my routes? I don't either, but there were a lot!! Here's a postscript showcasing some out-the-window views taken along the way.

Running extra...

Did you know Kingston Transit has a one-day pass for 8 bucks? Hmmmmm.

Aboard the TTC, not only was I channelling the Shuffle Demons' sax-saturated hit Spadina Bus, I was also channelling the Guess Who's straight-up rock'n'roll rollercoaster Bus Rider:

Get up in the morning, get on the bus/Get up in the morning like the rest of us

Places to go, important people to meet/Better not get up or you might lose your seat

I've heard of the Song that Never Ends, but this is the Car That Never Leaves. Click the link to read more. 

Springtime at the Station, March 2019

Day One of my new life phase/lifestyle found me starting off in a good place on March 27 - at Kingston's VIA station. Mixing pleasure with pleasure - a visit to Panera Bread then trackside. Arriving from the east was VIA No 63 Eng 6445-3464-3321Renaissance-3362R at 1147: 

Heading over toward Division Street, a stop at Lappan's Lane revealed some interesting cars at KIMCO Steel, one of CN's last two Kingston customers. MTBX 004 and 009 are Metrobec scrap gons for loading, mired behind the Utilities Kingston storage yard. The entire KIMCO property is fenced, unlike the CN-operated team track days!

BTCX 613 is also mired - it's an 89-foot Browner Turnout Co. flat car being relieved of its load of I-beams by a KIMCO crew:

Down at the end of Rigney Street/CN Queens East, a westbound CN freight - likely CN No 369 - emerged from under the Division Street overpass. Lone CN 3150 was in charge, adorned with the Aboriginal nose logo.

Wheel-y interesting loads. I reinvented my interest in wheel cars as CN 48955:

and CN 618061, a former ingot flat car

Speaking of ingots, HPJX 52360-52234 were carrying aluminum ingots:

DPU 2943:

Then it was VIA's turn, with VIA No 45 powered by Eng 920 Forty Years-wrapped and six cars at 1238 (video capture):

Next stop, Kingston station - where this post started out!

Running extra...

As promised, the first pension cheque was direct-deposited on April 1! I've come across some humourous memes that seemed relevant:

 

The next day, it was off to the big city. Watch for an upcoming post on my TTC-riding adventure:

Amherstview Trainwatching, 1971-73

Trackside in the 70's! The embarrassent of riches that is the rich, railfan photographic legacy of my family requires more sharing. While sifting through Laura Second-slideboxes, my brother highlighted several slides that would interest me. Indeed! These L.C. Gagnon slides were recently scanned by David J. Gagnon, and I've brought several of these highlights together, showing Canadian National operations near our home in Amherstview, Ontario. This bedroom community just west of Kingston was home to well-paid plant workers, educators and prison guards and their families. Or, as I now call it, near Mi 182 of CN's Kingston Sub! 

As a planned community, Amherstview had stores, churches and schools nestled among the hundreds of suburban houses. And a sports field! Later named the Willie Pratt Sports Field, a soccer pitch, rudimentary ball diamond or two, and an outdoor rink (remember those?) were operated by Ernestown Township. The sports field provided a sweeping vista through which CN trains operated, blocked only by the pole line and minimal vegetation. In January, 1971 (top two photos) a westbound Geep-powered freight makes an appearance. Noteable are the third unit still in olive CNR paint, maple leaf-bedecked boxcar, and the complete absence of visible graffiti!

Two months later, in March 1971, I'm perched on a fencepost to better view and wave at another westbound, powered by an SD40-Century pair. My scribbling sensibilities would not arrive for another five years, so the particulars remain completely undocumented. The following spring of 1972 found us 'above the tracks' in the photographic shade but nonetheless able to capture the sweep of this eastbound freight, behind which multiple-unit dwellings would later be built as Amherstview continued to expand.

A good guess is three RS-18's, one GP-9* and an MLW switcher lead what could be CN No 318, a regular dimensional movement train that served yards all along the Kingston Sub. Jakob Mueller has kindly contributed that this is a leased Chesapeake & Ohio GP-9. But wait - there's more - right behind that interesting power:

My Dad must have known he had photographic gold here, because he kept a-snapping. Above - various farm implements and machinery. Two tractors and a baler, tank bottoms and crates, two boilers, a large storage tank and a CN passenger car! Below - welded rail cars made of old boxcar frames and Otis cars to hold strings of Continuous Welded Rail welded together at Belleville.

CN 8-foot door boxcar 575987, an aged wooden ice reefer then a marker-bearing wooden caboose on the tail-end. Goodness from start to finish!

'Above the tracks' photo taken from below the tracks. A true farm-lane that would later fall victim to removal of  'fence bottoms' to make larger cash-crop fields, it made for good walking:

During inclement weather, it was time to retreat to the basement to engage in what's now called 'Old School Model Railroading' in the fall-winter of 1971-1972:

Spring has sprung and a three-Century-led westbound freight passes the sports field.

No astro-turf here - unimproved grass for the footballers in the upcoming season! I am documenting the action as one of Uncle John's boxcars nears the end of the train:

From above the tracks in summer 1972 a three-unit westbound evening passenger train smokes it up:

To the west, near Ernestown, ON at Mi. 188 in the autumn of 1973, another three-unit CN passenger train passes at speed in this pretty good pan shot:

Another Dad-dynastic diesel discovery in late 1973! A Grand Trunk Western Geep leads three other units, including an F9B on an early-morning hot piggyback train. Perhaps this was a version of CN No 250/251 between Toronto and Montreal that often rated passenger power to maintain an overnight schedule - usually nocturnal and rarely photographed in these parts! Jakob Mueller has also added that this indeed was likely a 251, and that it's the only photo he's seen (he's seen a lot!) with GTW power east of Toronto - likely a surplus 4900 since Amtrak did not continue GTW passenger service after May 1, 1971.

Pastoral visit to Collins Bay station in the autumn of 1973. Located on Station Road just west of Collins Bay Road, this wooden station was a way-point between Queens and Ernestown interlockings.

 Looking west (above) and looking east (below):

Running extra:

Train-hopper Brave Dave passes through Collins Bay at the 17:32 mark of this video and shortly thereafter mugs while passing Ernestown station, ensconced in a scrap tie-gondola, eventually reaching BC! 

A neat picture of the Scherzer rolling lift bridge at Smiths Falls, ON complete with CNoR boxcar from the Rideau Canal archives. Here's CNR 6060 at the same location, 1974 Youtube video.