Misplaced Pages

#866133

107-726: The railway consisted of two separate loops, both starting and ending at Union Station . The larger Don Loop went east on the tracks of the Grand Trunk Railway via The Esplanade to the Don River . It then turned north, following the river passing the Don Valley Brick Works on its west side before journeying up a steep grade through the Moore Park Ravine (called "Spring Valley" in Belt Line brochures). It then turned west at

214-444: A "Metro Centre" development on the south side of Front Street on the site of Union Station and proposed to demolish the structure (which was costing an increasing amount of property taxes but not bringing in revenue). The proposed Metro Centre development was strikingly similar to what occurred with New York City's Penn Station and would have consisted of an underground fourth Union Station (the terminal trackage would have been buried),

321-464: A Torontonian developed an air brake for streetcars. Initially, streetcars did not carry an air compressor; thus, air recharging stations were required along streetcar routes. Later, on-board air compressors were installed. After the TRC completed electrification, some horsecars were converted into trailers where one or two would be hauled by a motor car. However, horsecar trailers were found to be unsuited for

428-595: A central heating plant at the corner of York and Fleet streets (now Lake Shore Boulevard West) to replace the original Toronto Hydro plant on Scott Street which had been expropriated by the TTR to build the approach track viaduct to the new station. It was fuelled by coal delivered by a CNR siding and was the largest such facility in Canada when it opened in 1929; it produced 150,000 kilograms (330,000 lb) of steam per hour and 270,000,000 kilograms (600,000,000 lb) annually to heat

535-547: A convention centre, a telecommunications tower, along with complementary office and retail developments. Local opposition to the proposal was successful in having the city council's decision to support the Metro Centre development overturned and Union Station was saved. Although it was converted from coal to natural gas , the Central Heating Plant built in 1929 was decommissioned in the 1980s, and demolished in 1990. It

642-647: A direct connection from the GO Concourse to the Path pedestrian tunnel system, a new eastbound platform for the Union TTC station , improved access to streetcars at Union TTC station, and improved capacity for inter-city railway passengers. These developments were part of a $ 100   million initiative announced by the city and its transit authorities, along with the Government of Ontario and Government of Canada. On August 5, 2009,

749-440: A green roof installed, reducing the urban heat island effect and stormwater runoff; however, with the project being almost eight years behind and multiple times over budget, along with the fact that plant-watering logistics would clash with the planned overhead wiring for electrification, the addition of a green roof was cancelled. The central portion of the original train shed, totalling 30,000 square metres (320,000 square feet),

856-527: A platform a short walk west of the main station building, accessible by the SkyWalk . Toronto's Union Station is located at 61 Front Street West, between Bay and York Streets in Toronto's business district, with Toronto's Entertainment District beginning across Bay Street. It is roughly at the city's east-west centre. It is also close to Lake Ontario , which marks Toronto's southern boundary. The southernmost part of

963-544: A preserved heritage feature of the platform 3 area; these were restored. The decorative, cast-iron columns along the platform were restored and reinstalled. Other structural renovations were done along the length of the platform. Once the north tower of the CIBC Square is completed, stair and elevator access will be reinstated between platform 3 and the Bay East Teamway. The 23 platforms are numbered from 3 to 27, but there

1070-430: A profit. There were a number of reasons: the fare prices were too high at the time (5 cents per station to a maximum fare of 25 cents), there were insufficient population and ridership, and the country was experiencing a financial depression in the 1890s. The success of the enterprise depended on the rapid development of suburban properties and a monopoly of transportation service to the developing areas. The drive to develop

1177-467: A railway to service these proposed suburban residential developments. The company would promote properties in Moore Park, Forest Hill, Fairbank and Fairbank Junction, areas along the Belt Line. As a result of a booming real estate market in the late 1880s, two related companies were founded. The Toronto Belt Land Corporation was incorporated on July 16, 1889 to subdivide and sell land in the new suburbs, and

SECTION 10

#1732855813867

1284-402: A referendum during the 1910 election, but also elected a mayor who opposed it. Thus, this proposal died. By 1912, there was a second city proposal to build three underground routes: streetcar tunnels under Queen and Bloor Streets, and a rapid transit subway along Yonge Street. These routes would have connected with surface streetcar routes and radial railways. The idea died after voters rejected

1391-425: A referendum earlier that month. This was controversial at the time; churches feared Sunday streetcar service would lead to other activities inappropriate for a Sunday such as sporting events and the sale of alcoholic beverages. The referendum, which had been preceded by two prior unsuccessful attempts, was won by a narrow margin of 0.7 per cent out of 32,000 votes cast. There came to be problems with interpretation of

1498-507: A ribbon-cutting ceremony, using a pair of gold scissors. In attendance were Prince George , Lieutenant Governor of Ontario William Donald Ross and his wife, Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Stanley Baldwin and Mrs. Baldwin, Premier of Ontario George Howard Ferguson , and other members of the government of Ontario and government of Canada . Prince Edward

1605-405: A total of 28 bays. The structures at either end have an additional ten bays. Three rectangular windows fill each bay, lighting the interior hall with plenty of natural light. However, the building's external profile is hard and flat, with a line of huge columns, heavy ornamentation and strong symmetry. The recessed main entrance is framed by two sets of four columns, with relief wreaths carved into

1712-452: Is a major railway station and intermodal transportation hub in Toronto , Ontario, Canada. The station is located in downtown Toronto , on Front Street West , on the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street. The municipal government of Toronto owns the station building while the provincial transit agency Metrolinx owns the train shed and trackage. It is operated by

1819-703: Is a partial list of sales: About that time, the Toronto and York Radial Railway, the Toronto Suburban Railway and the Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company were all affiliated with the owners of the Toronto Railway Company. According to a source, the Monterrey Railway, Light & Power Co. was founded in Toronto. The following is a list of preserved TRC passenger and work cars. All except car 327 were built by

1926-532: Is also connected to the subway and streetcar system of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) at its adjacent namesake subway station . GO Transit's Union Station Bus Terminal , located in CIBC Square , is connected to Union Station by a 40-metre (130 ft) enclosed walkway above Bay Street. The Union Pearson Express , which provides train service to Toronto Pearson International Airport , has

2033-675: Is considered part of the Path network, and connects Union to the CN Tower and Rogers Centre . It is also the location of the Union Pearson Express station. The current Union Station's history can be traced to 1858, when the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) opened Toronto's first Union Station west of the present Union Station. The wooden structure was shared with the Northern Railway and the Great Western Railway . This structure

2140-406: Is laid out in an ashlar pattern, constructed with smooth beige Indiana and Queenston limestone. The colonnaded loggia which faces Front Street features 22 equally spaced Roman Tuscan columns made from Bedford limestone, each 40 feet (12 m) high and weighing 75 tons. Fourteen three-storey bays, each with severely delineated fenestration, form the façade on either side of the central colonnade for

2247-422: Is no platform 1, 2, 23 or 24. The platforms were renumbered in 2008 for the benefit of operational staff in order to provide a correlation between platform numbers and track numbers. (Prior to the renumbering, the platform numbers had an A or B suffix that proved to be confusing for both customers and operational staff.) Tracks and platforms are each numbered from north to south with track 1 being beside platform 3 on

SECTION 20

#1732855813867

2354-433: Is now site of The Ice condo towers. In 1978, CN and CP transferred responsibility for their passenger rail services to Via Rail, a new federal Crown corporation ; however, CN and CP retained their 50% ownership shares of the TTR. The GO Transit commuter rail agency which was established on May 23, 1967, had been undergoing unprecedented expansion which was seeing Union Station see passenger levels that outstripped some of

2461-423: Is what makes it look from the front as though a second building were rising behind the colonnade, is made of coffered Guastavino tiles . The walls are faced with Zumbro stone from Missouri, and the floors are constructed of Tennessee marble laid in a herringbone pattern. Below the cornice surrounding the "Great Hall" are carved the names of many Canadian destinations, from the east coast to Vancouver, accessible by

2568-460: The Beltline Trail is a 9 km walking and cycling trail. All the stations listed below were used by the Belt Line, but those marked "(TBL)" (and perhaps a few others along other GTR lines) were used exclusively by Belt Line trains. The stations built for Belt Line passengers were of a standard design with two variations, large and small size. The station size if known is indicated. None of

2675-569: The CN Tower are all close by, and are visible from some parts of the station. Like Union Station, these structures were built on former Railway Lands . All of them can be accessed directly from Union Station via the Skywalk. The land around the CN Tower has been converted to a public park. Union Station will soon be linked via a Path bridge on the east side to the Backstage Condominium building at

2782-593: The Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National, were reducing their services to the bare minimum mandated under the Canadian Transport Commission, largely as a result of unsustainable losses caused by increased competition from new, subsidized four-lane highways and airports. The third Union Station's future was looking bleak by 1972, when both railways sought to increase return on their underutilized waterfront rail classification yards which

2889-543: The Gardiner Expressway , which lies between Union Station and Lake Ontario, provides easy core access to GO Transit buses. Union Station's columned façade and main entrance faces north, towards downtown Toronto. The Fairmont Royal York Hotel , a former railway hotel, is directly across Front Street from Union Station and can be accessed from the station both at street level and via an underground passageway called Path . The Dominion Public Building , another building from

2996-727: The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and the National Transcontinental Railway ) and the Canadian Northern Railway was undertaking an aggressive expansion across the prairies and into southern Ontario. On July 13, 1906, the Toronto Terminals Railway (TTR) was incorporated to "construct, provide, maintain and operate at the City of Toronto a union passenger station ". The TTR was jointly owned by

3103-399: The Toronto Transit Commission opened its Union subway station adjacent to Union Station but buried beneath Front Street West. This subway station acted as the southern terminus of its new subway line . The subway station included a direct tunnel connection to the lower level passenger concourse. This passageway was closed and replaced by the direct connection between the railway station and

3210-623: The Town of North Toronto on September 1, 1890. (In 1912, the City of Toronto would annex North Toronto.) In 1891, the 30-year franchise with the Toronto Street Railway (TSR) for horsecar service expired. At the end of the TSR franchise, the city ran the horsecar system for eight months, but ended up granting another 30-year franchise to a private operator, a group involving railway entrepreneur William Mackenzie . The franchise, which involved converting

3317-455: The train shed , which contains 23 platforms (11 island platforms and one side platform) south of the Great Hall. On May 11, 2009, the last two platforms were opened, platforms 24/25 between tracks 12 and 13 and platforms 26/27 between tracks 13 and 14 on the south side of the train shed. In July 2022, Metrolinx was having platforms 24 to 27 and their three tracks demolished on the south side of

Toronto Belt Line Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

3424-719: The Bay and York concourses give access to GO train platforms. The Bay West Teamway provides access to platforms 4 to 13 and the Bay South Concourse. The Bay East Teamway provides indoor access to platforms 4 to 13 directly from the Union Station Bus Terminal . As of 2023 , Metrolinx is constructing the new South Concourse. This will connect the south ends of the Bay, Via and York Concourses, and span between Bay and York Streets. It will also provide access to Union Square and Scotiabank Arena. Trains arrive and depart from

3531-570: The GTR and the CPR who each held 50% of the TTR shares. The TTR supervised construction of the new station which began in 1914 and proceeded to 1920, having faced significant delays in the shortage of construction material and workers as a result of the First World War , as well as the GTR's deteriorating financial position due to its ill-fated transcontinental GTPR railway project. The resulting construction saw

3638-486: The Grand Trunk Railway or Canadian Pacific Railway at the time of the station's construction. Many remain destinations on Via Rail routes. While historically shared by many different services, the Great Hall is now occupied primarily by Via Rail, whose agents also provide services to Amtrak passengers. The hall is home to Via's ticket and baggage desks, business class lounge , and several small displays, as well as

3745-501: The Humber Loop from and returning to Union Station was approximately 24 km (15 mi). According to Lyman B. Jackes, there was a spur line north of St. Clair Avenue to link the two loops so that Belt Line trains could operate from one loop to the other. However, according to R.L. Kennedy, such a connection was proposed but never built. The entrepreneur James David Edgar led a group of investors to develop suburban lands and build

3852-596: The Humber Loop, which became the Lambton Spur, to service local industries until about 1960-1970, with the final segment from Weston Road to Symes Road closing on February 26, 1980. In the 1950s, the TTC subway yard at Davisville opened at Yonge Street. The Belt Line spur was used to deliver new subway cars on flat cars to the upper Davisville Yard until the Greenwood Yard opened in 1965. The service east of Yonge Street bridge

3959-623: The TRC roster at four points during its franchise: The TRC had several types of work cars, all built in the TRC car shops. Here is a brief description of some of the types of non-revenue cars the TRC had: The TRC sold a small percentage of the streetcars it built to other operators. The TRC had a subsidiary company, the Convertible Car Company of Toronto, that built cars for systems in Mexico, South America, and Western Canada. Some sales were for used streetcars that had run in Toronto. Here

4066-435: The TRC took control of the Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company along Lake Shore Road, and in 1895, the Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company along Kingston Road. In 1904, both suburban operations were turned over to the Toronto and York Radial Railway , thus ending the TRC's suburban operations. On May 23, 1897, Sunday streetcar service started after city voters gave approval in

4173-538: The TRC's surface streetcar lines. At this time the city was unhappy with the quality of TRC service and with the TRC's refusal to serve newly annexed areas. The TRC had an exclusive franchise for surface streetcars but competing subways would not violate the franchise. In 1909, a British syndicate proposed two lines, one under Yonge Street and a second from East Toronto via Queen Street East, Dufferin Street and Dundas Street West to West Toronto. Voters supported this proposal in

4280-518: The TRC, and all were used by the TTC. In all, the TRC had seven carhouses, although no more than six at any one time. They are listed here alphabetically by name: The TRC had several facilities near the intersection of Front and Frederick streets. Many of these facilities were inherited from the Toronto Street Railway (TSR), and the TRC repurposed them for the electric streetcar system. In 1924,

4387-425: The TTC retired 471 of the 830 streetcars the city accepted from the TRC, including the double-ended and Crossan-built streetcars. It retained only 351 single-end, double-track motor cars for longer term use, the last of which were retired in 1951. The TTC did retain one horsecar trailer and a single-ended streetcar from 1892, preserving them as relics ultimately to be given to a museum. The following are summaries of

Toronto Belt Line Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

4494-483: The TTR and its owners. During this time in 1923, the bankrupt GTR was fully nationalized by the Government of Canada and merged into the Canadian National Railways (CNR), which would assume the GTR's 50% ownership of the TTR and thus the third Union Station. Although the station was incomplete, its building was complete and the station was opened by Prince Edward, Prince of Wales , on August 6, 1927, in

4601-560: The Toronto Belt Line Railway Company was founded on March 23, 1889 to build a commuter railway to connect these new suburban areas to the city. A pamphlet by the Toronto Belt Land Corporation described the railway's mission as: "to economize time by rapid transit, and to carry men, women and children with comfort, safety and speed beyond the cramped and crowded city to the airy uplands; whence having enjoyed

4708-630: The Toronto City Council approved an update of this plan which was projected to cost $ 640   million, with construction lasting from 2010 to 2014. Much of the work was undertaken by or managed by Carillion . The work also involved a complete overhaul of the GO concourses, deepening them to create two storeys of space. The lower level (the food court section of which opened in January 2019) will provide retail space and room for pedestrian traffic flow, and

4815-501: The Toronto Railway Company's operations were taken over by the Toronto Transportation Commission. Routes marked 1923 by TTC were TRC routes discontinued by the TTC as a result of a major reorganization of routes on July 1, 1923. The city built and owned some of the streetcar trackage operated by the TRC. The city-owned, TRC-operated tracks were: By 1909, there were proposals to build subways in competition to

4922-632: The Toronto Terminals Railway, a joint venture of the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway , which directs and controls train movement along the Union Station Rail Corridor, the largest and busiest rail corridor in Canada. Constructed in 1927, Union Station has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1975, and a Heritage Railway Station since 1989. Its central position in Canada's busiest inter-city rail service area, " The Corridor ", as well as being

5029-656: The York East Teamway, as well as an entrance to a Path tunnel leading across Front Street, between York Street and University Avenue. The York West Teamway is connected to Union Station via the Skywalk. Historically, the 3,700-square-metre (40,000 sq ft) Bay Street Concourse was the hub of GO Transit operations for almost 40 years. The Bay Concourse was closed on August 16, 2015, for revitalization, and reopened on July 27, 2021. The concourse features 72 departure screens, 30 Presto devices, seven ticket vending machines and six self-service Presto reload machines. Both

5136-465: The axial symmetry, classical detailing in both structural and decorative elements, heavy ornamentation, and formal setting is typical of the Beaux-Arts style. The station housed a gun range on the seventh floor from 1927 until 2008. The range was operated for "Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway police to practice their shooting skills. It eventually opened to members of the public". It

5243-539: The busiest airports in the world. The consolidated TTR trackage included a flyover west of the station to permit freight trains to cross CN's Oakville subdivision without blocking GO Transit's commuter trains. The flyover was constructed in 1982–83 and also allowed GO trains destined for the CN Weston subdivision to cross over the tracks used by GO and Via trains using the CN Oakville subdivision. The CN Tower had revamped

5350-577: The central hub of GO Transit's commuter rail service, makes Union Station Canada's busiest transportation facility and the second-busiest railway station in North America (behind New York Penn Station ), serving over 72   million passengers each year. More than half of all Canadian inter-city passengers and 91 percent of Toronto commuter train passengers travel through Union Station. Via Rail and Amtrak provide inter-city train services while GO Transit operates regional rail services. The station

5457-423: The city agreed to accept along with a number of work cars. It also had 18 open motors and 43 open trailers in storage which the city refused to accept due to the 1915 ban on open streetcars. In 1921, the TRC had twelve double-ended streetcars, three double-truck and nine single-truck; all other streetcars were single-ended. Two of the ten Crossan-built, single-truck streetcars survived to 1921. Between 1921 and 1924,

SECTION 50

#1732855813867

5564-459: The city granted the TRC an exception to purchase ten single-ended, single-truck streetcars from James Crossen-Cobourg Car Works in Cobourg, Ontario in 1893. The TRC streetcars were made of wood over a steel underframe. Cars had a clerestory roof with a destination sign fixed near the front edge of the roof. Seats were wood slat but the TRC provided each with a seating cushion. There was a stove at

5671-697: The corner of Esplanade and Yonge Street. Toronto's Union Station is Canada's largest and most opulent railway station. The Montreal architecture firm of Ross and Macdonald designed the building in the Beaux-Arts style as a joint venture between the Grand Trunk Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway, with help from CPR architect Hugh Jones and Toronto architect John M. Lyle . In 1975, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada cited its design as being of "national architectural significance as one of

5778-599: The eastern end of the spur. The tracks on the steep grade (4%) in the Moore Park Ravine were pulled up during World War I because of a shortage of iron . A 1921 engineering report noted that few sections of the Humber Loop had good track in place. Wooden bridges had deteriorated. Adjacent homeowners had extended their back yards onto the right-of-way. There were municipal seizures because of defaulting on tax payments. The Grand Trunk Railway went bankrupt in 1923 and became part of Canadian National Railways . The Belt Line

5885-415: The elimination of Lorne Street located between Simcoe and Bay from Front to Esplanade with tracks leading west of the new station now in place. Although the new station's headhouse and east and west office wings (the station building visible from Front Street West) were completed in 1920, it did not open to the public for another seven years, until the system of approach tracks was designed and implemented by

5992-552: The end of the franchise. By 1915, there were complaints of overcrowding due to a shortage of streetcars. In December 1916, a fire destroyed the TRC's King carhouse and 163 motor cars and trailers within it. Repeated court battles did force the TRC to build new cars, but far less than what the city was requesting, and the new cars were of an old design dating from 1906, or 1908 for the newest cars. Streetcars and track were not well maintained, and carhouses and shops were obsolete or deteriorating. The TRC franchise ended on August 31, 1921, and

6099-406: The entablature above the columns. These columns are composed of three separate segments on top of an incongruous octagonal plinth, implying an Ionic order or Corinthian order ; however, the capital is sculpted in a Doric order . Consequently, these columns appear to be unfinished. The original plan for the columns is not known. A wraparound dentil cornice and a recessed peaked hipped roof creates

6206-414: The finest examples of Beaux-Arts railway station design in Canada". The bilaterally symmetrical building comprises three connecting box masses facing Front Street West, with the main structure in the middle. Together, the three parts measure 752 feet (229 m) long and occupy the entire south side of the block between Bay Street in the east and York Street in the west. The exterior Front Street façade

6313-558: The franchise terms for the city. A series of annexations, especially in 1908–12, significantly extended the city limits to include such areas as Dovercourt , Earlscourt , East Toronto , Midway (formerly between Toronto and East Toronto), North Toronto , and West Toronto . After many attempts to force the TRC to serve these areas, the city created its own street railway operation, the Toronto Civic Railways to do so, and built several routes. The TRC system deteriorated towards

6420-426: The front of the car for winter heating. Early streetcars had open platforms; later cars had enclosed vestibules. The rear vestibule could have a single or double rear door. Cars with a double rear door could haul a trailer and had a two-man crew. One-man cars had a treadle-operated single rear door. There was a hook at the rear of each car to hang a baby carriage. At first, TRC streetcars had hand brakes, but in 1905,

6527-403: The higher speed of electric streetcar operation. Very early on, in 1894, the TRC decided on single-ended operation. Many of the early streetcars were "open" cars, where there was benches across the width of the car and thus no centre aisle. Passengers had to board on the curb-side of the open car, and for safety, there had to be a barrier along the length of the car on the opposite side. Before

SECTION 60

#1732855813867

6634-591: The horsecar system to electric operation, went into effect on September 21, 1891. The TRC made a one-time payment to the city of $ 1,453,788 for the assets of the TSR, the same amount the city paid for TSR assets when it took over the horsecar system in 1891. Each year, the TRC was required to pay the city $ 800 per mile of track, plus a percentage of the gross earnings. Fares were: five cents cash for adults, six tickets for twenty-five cents; three cents cash for children with school tickets at ten for twenty-five cents; ten cents cash for night streetcars. The fare entitled

6741-433: The horsecar system, the distance between the tracks (the devil strip) was 3 feet (910 mm); the TRC widened the devil strip to 3 feet 10 inches (1,170 mm). Until 1908, the city prohibited the TRC from making the devil strip wider. Because of the narrow devil strip, later cars were built with a taper to the roof on the passing side, and car bodies were offset to the right by four inches, sitting off-centre on

6848-438: The illusion of a flat roof, just like a palazzo. On either side of the main entrance, a blind arch with an ornamental keystone contains a set of three steel-framed doors, along with a large arched window. Decorative friezes separate the arched window from the doors. When these entryway elements are combined, they create a processional experience through the entryway into the grand interior space. The flat-roof illusion, together with

6955-463: The king pin. The offset allowed a wider car to safely pass another traveling in the opposite direction. From 1903, the TRC built all new track with a devil strip of 5 feet 4 inches (1,630 mm). In 1921, there was still 27 kilometres (17 mi) of double track with a narrow devil strip which the successor TTC widened as it replaced old TRC tracks to handle wider equipment. Routes marked to TTC were operating on September 21, 1921, when

7062-534: The line wished to buy the land to extend their backyards. A local citizen, Esther Carin, successfully lobbied city council to turn the section east of Allen Road into a walking trail. The land was purchased by the city in 1972 as part of a land swap with CN that included the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Front Street . Later, a trail on the west side of the Allen would be established as well. Today,

7169-613: The new communities was blunted by the depression of 1893, and it took longer to open up the new neighbourhoods than the developers had hoped. Also, electric streetcars of the Toronto Railway Company along with radial railways such as the Metropolitan Street Railway were providing more direct routes to downtown. After passenger trains had stopped operating, parts of the Don Loop sat unused for several years. In 1906,

7276-512: The next day, the Toronto Transportation Commission started operating a system that combined the TRC system with the city-operated Toronto Civic Railways lines. In 1924, the city paid $ 11,483,500 for the assets of the TRC. The TRC ceased to exist when it was legally dissolved in 1930. In 1891, the TRC inherited 109 kilometres (68 mi) of horsecar track from its predecessor, the Toronto Street Railway. The TRC learned from

7383-514: The north edge of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery , along Merton Street. At Yonge Street , it turned northwest travelling through Forest Hill until just north of Eglinton Avenue West. There, it turned west again before returning to Union Station via the Grand Trunk Railway line (today's Barrie line ) west of Caledonia Road. A complete trip around the Don Loop was approximately 27 km (17 mi). The smaller Humber Loop headed west along

7490-504: The north side of the train shed. There is an island platform between all pairs of tracks except between tracks 1 and 2 and tracks 11 and 12. Odd numbered platforms are on the north side of a track while even numbered platforms are on the south side of a track. There is a formula to compute the platform number given the track number, with an exception for track 1: Occasionally, freight trains from both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific networks pass through Union Station using two tracks on

7597-624: The northwest rail corridor of the Grand Trunk Railway through Parkdale. It turned west just north of St. Clair Avenue and then turned south at Lambton Mills , just east of the Humber River . It ran south following the edge of the Humber River valley. It followed a route paralleled by the South Kingsway just west of High Park . It returned east along Lake Ontario via the tracks of the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway . A complete trip around

7704-402: The outside facade, enduring materials such as bronze, limestone, marble, tiles, and translucent glass create a sense of enduring quality. The entire space is lit with diffused natural light from clerestory windows refracted throughout the lobby. Each end of the Great Hall also features four-storey tall arched windows, based on those of Roman baths. The two-storey-high vaulted ceiling, which

7811-469: The platforms. A new southern entrance, adjacent to the Air Canada Centre, opened in 2010. The 2009 Ontario and Canada government budgets included financing to assist GO, Via and the city in redeveloping and restoring the station. Track has been upgraded with better signals and snow cleaning devices to reduce winter delays to train movement. In 2016, it was realized that the renovated train shed roof

7918-441: The previous operator of streetcar service in Toronto. The TRC was also a manufacturer of streetcars and rail work vehicles, a few of which were built for other streetcar and radial operators. On August 15, 1892, the TRC became the second operator of horse-drawn streetcars in the Toronto area to convert to electric trams, the first being the Metropolitan Street Railway which electrified its horsecar line along Yonge Street within

8025-402: The proposal out of fear of higher taxes. As part of the franchise agreement, the TRC was to build all its streetcars locally. Thus, almost all TRC cars were built in-house at their car shops at Front and Frederick Streets. However, the TRC felt it lacked the capacity to build enough streetcars to convert the horsecar system it inherited to electrical operation by the city-imposed deadline. Thus,

8132-488: The railway could be completed, which resulted in bankruptcy for the company. The Belt Line was then taken over by the Grand Trunk Railway . By 1891, 90 workers were building the Don Loop east of Yonge Street and 140 workers to the west. Passenger service first began on July 30, 1892 under the full control of the Grand Trunk Railway. Six trains per day (reduced to three per day in July 1894) were operated in both directions on each of

8239-502: The relatively short section in the Don Valley south of Winchester St. (across from Riverdale Park ) was used as part of a new line by the Canadian Northern Railway connecting Toronto to Parry Sound . In 1910, the Grand Trunk Railway rebuilt the portion of the Don Loop between Fairbank Junction and Mount Pleasant Road for freight service to support the delivery of fuel and building supplies by rail for use in residential areas neighbouring

8346-449: The rest and refreshment of commodious homes and spacious grounds, they can return on the morrow to renew, with quickened energies, the task of life." The railway was to support a suburban lifestyle. The cost of railway construction was $ 462,000, much higher than investors had expected. There were also lawsuits over land acquisitions and difficult negotiations with the City over access through the Don Valley. The real estate boom busted before

8453-542: The rider to a free transfer between routes. A key requirement of the franchise agreement was that the TRC had to electrify the first line within one year of the beginning of the franchise and the last line within three years. The TRC met this requirement. The first run of an electric car was on August 10, 1892. Car 270 ran from the Frederick Street stables at Front Street , up Church Street , along Bloor Street and Sherbourne Street to Rosedale . The first passenger

8560-611: The same era, is just to the east of the station, at the corner of Front and Bay Streets. Other major buildings near Union Station are Telus Tower , Royal Bank Plaza , and Brookfield Place . Brookfield Place is home to the Allen Lambert Galleria, a six story high pedestrian thoroughfare, as well as the Hockey Hall of Fame , which holds the Stanley Cup . Scotiabank Arena , Rogers Centre , Metro Toronto Convention Centre , and

8667-486: The second Union Station for a new passenger terminal and in 1905 both the GTR and the CPR decided to proceed with the design and construction of a third union station. The decision to undertake the third union station was made against a backdrop of significant change in the Canadian railway industry. At the same time, the Government of Canada was encouraging the GTR to build a second transcontinental railway (what would become

8774-428: The south doors to the tracks located several hundred feet to the south while the new viaduct, concourse and train shed were under construction. Demolition of the second Union Station began almost immediately and was completed in 1928. The third Union Station project was not fully completed until 1930 when the train shed was completed; its construction was supervised by the TTR from 1925 to 1930. The TTR also constructed

8881-436: The south side of the train shed. Union Station's west wing is west of the Great Hall. Metrolinx is headquartered in the west wing at 97 Front Street. Across from these offices is an official tourism information centre that provides maps, visitor guides, brochures and tourism specialists to provide help to city visitors. A pathway known as the SkyWalk continues west from the west wing, overtop of York Street. The SkyWalk

8988-462: The spring, and re-connected in the fall, thus changing from an open car to a closed car. A dangerous feature of open cars was the running board where passengers could stand while the car was in motion. Because of safety concerns, the Railway and Municipal Board banned open cars from the streets on November 22, 1915. At the end of its franchise in 1921, the TRC had 830 streetcars on its active roster that

9095-626: The station in order to replace them with two new tracks and two new wider platforms to increase safety and capacity. The train shed was designed by A.   R. Ketterson and built between 1929 and 1930. It is a variation of the Bush train shed invented by Lincoln Bush . A reconstruction of the train shed began in January 2010. The east and west sides of the shed, totalling approximately 30,000 square metres (320,000 square feet) were renovated and restored with input from Parks Canada to help preserve its heritage character. This renovation came with plans to have

9202-571: The station to connect the Path with the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Rogers Centre. In 2000, the City of Toronto purchased the station building from the TTR, while GO Transit purchased the railway corridor and the Union Station train shed. On July 24, 2003, the City of Toronto agreed to lease Union Station to Union Pearson AirLink Group, a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin , for a term of 100 years. A subsequent announcement on May 24, 2006, addressed several issues for commuters including: constructing

9309-463: The station's grand clock, a Traveller's Aid desk, and Via's departure board. Passengers can connect with GO Transit services through the 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m ) York Concourse, which opened on April 27, 2015, west of Union Station. This new concourse supplemented the York South Concourse that provided access to platforms 24 to 27. The York and York South Concourses connect to

9416-550: The station; the passenger cars in the train shed; CNR and CPR yard facilities in the area now occupied by the Gardiner Expressway , Rogers Centre and Scotiabank Arena ; the CPR's Royal York Hotel ; the Dominion Public Building; the federal post office building adjacent to the station; and the CN/CP Telecommunications building on Front Street. The first major change to Union Station took place in 1954 when

9523-466: The stations exists today. Here is a list of stations along the Don Loop listed in counterclockwise order. None of the Belt Line stations exists today. Here is what is probably a partial list of stations used by the Humber Loop. Here is a list of bridges along the Don Loop in counterclockwise order. The linked photos come from the City of Toronto Archives . Union Station (Toronto) Union Station

9630-484: The subway station in 1979 when the subway station mezzanine was renovated and enlarged. In 1990, the TTC's Harbourfront LRT project added an underground streetcar loop now used by the 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina streetcar lines. TTC passengers using the Union subway and streetcar station may transfer between both modes without entering Union Station proper. During the early 1970s, Canada's two major passenger railways,

9737-419: The summer of 1893, there were double-ended open cars, which required two men to move the barrier to the other side of the car at the end of the line. Some open cars had one-man crews, requiring a helper to be stationed at the end of the line. Having single-ended cars with loops or wyes saved staff time. Also, both open and closed motor cars could pull one or two trailers; thus, single-ended operation eliminated

9844-411: The time needed to rearrange the consist at the end of the line. Open cars were popular in warm weather. When it rained, there were side curtains that one could unroll from the roof to keep one dry. However, the motorman would stand exposed to wind and rain on the front platform. To handle both warm and colder months, the TSR used the "convertible car" in which the nearside of the car could be removed in

9951-493: The troubled experiences of the Metropolitan Street Railway in North Toronto , which had previously done a horse to electric conversion. Thus, between 1891 and 1894, the TRC replaced all the horsecar track, using heavier rail that could properly support the faster, heavier electric streetcars. The TRC used 69-pound rail on some lightly used lines, and 71-pound rail elsewhere, including all downtown track. For parallel tracks on

10058-546: The two loops. The heaviest usage was excursion travel on Sundays. The line used five 4-4-2 tank steam locomotives built at the GTR's Point St. Charles shops. According to an August 1892 article in the Toronto Mail , the passenger coaches resembled an improved version of those used on the New York elevated railway at the time. The railway ceased on November 17, 1894, after 870 days of passenger service. The railway had never made

10165-405: The upper storey will be dedicated to passenger traffic onto the platforms. This will expand not only the current GO concourse in the east of the building, but also open up the western end; GO Transit's presence in the building will nearly quadruple. Additional aesthetic points include glass roofs over the moat space around the north sides of the building, and a tall atrium over the central portions of

10272-407: The vision of Toronto's waterfront rail yards and proposals were made to construct what would later become SkyDome (1989) and Air Canada Centre (1999), resulting in further changes to the Union Station trackage. The Path pedestrian tunnel network was built to connect Union Station's passengers with many of the downtown office towers and the SkyWalk was constructed over the terminal trackage west of

10379-478: Was a half-sober gentleman who insisted he had the right to board the streetcar at the Metropolitan United Church and pay his fare. The first electric car ran in scheduled service on Church Street starting August 15, 1892, and the last horse car ran on McCaul Street on August 31, 1894. From 1893 to 1904, the TRC had suburban radial operations, often using vehicles resembling streetcars. In 1893,

10486-415: Was being viewed as valuable real estate. Both CN and CP began to abandon their extensive waterfront rail classification yards south of the passenger station to make way for urban redevelopment. The Gardiner Expressway project was constructed over part of the railway property and CN had proposed constructing a telecommunication tower (what would become the CN Tower later that decade). CN and CPR proposed

10593-609: Was eventually sold on December 31, 1943 to Canadian National Railway (CNR) for $ 410,000. Three of the five 4-4-2T commuter tank locomotives that had been built especially for the Belt Line were eventually used on the Thousand Islands Railway in Gananoque, Ontario . Part of the right-of-way of the Humber Loop was used by the Toronto Suburban Railway between 1925 and 1931. The Canadian National Railway used part of

10700-544: Was expropriated to build the Spadina Expressway , which terminated freight service east of Allen Road to Yonge Street in 1970. That split the remaining spur close to its origin at Caledonia, which was used to service light industry in the Caledonia Road area until about 1988. In the 1970s, CNR tried to sell the right-of-way of the former Don Loop for housing since the land was quite valuable. Most homeowners adjacent to

10807-517: Was known as the Canadian National Recreation Association (CNRA) handgun club. The city closed the range in 2008 as a symbolic gesture to its effort to reduce gun violence. The front entranceway opens on to the expansive Ticket Lobby, informally known as the "Great Hall". This part of Union Station runs the entire length of the main section. It is 250 feet (76 m) long and 88 feet (27 m) high at its highest point. Like

10914-444: Was presented with the first ticket issued at the station: one "valid for all time" and "between all stations". He proceeded to the Canadian Pacific Railway 's wicket, where he was given a first-class fare from Toronto to High River , Alberta , where his ranch was located. Prince George was given similar tickets. Four days later, the track network was shifted from the second Union Station. To get to trains, passengers would walk from

11021-438: Was removed and replaced with a glass atrium. The structure floats above the tracks and allows daylight to reach the platforms. Platform 3 is the northernmost platform at Union Station and is the only platform at the station serving just one track. It reopened for service on January 10, 2022, after a renovation of its heritage features. Allowing a lower, lighter shed roof in the age of steam, the smoke vents over tracks 1 and 2 are

11128-417: Was replaced by a second Union Station on the same site, opening in 1873. The Canadian Pacific Railway began using the facility in 1884 and it was completely rebuilt, opening in 1896. The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed the block south of Front Street West, immediately east of the second Union Station (bounded by Bay and York streets), but did not damage the station. The GTR acquired this land east of

11235-458: Was terminated in the 1960s, when that bridge was closed. The last commercial organization to use the spur east of Yonge Street was Dominion Coal, whose coal silos were built in 1928. The switch connecting the spur to the unloading siding was removed when the Mount Pleasant bridge over the Belt Line was rebuilt in 1976. The silos were demolished in 2001. Part of the right-of-way of the Don Loop

11342-512: Was the first person to step off of a train into Union Station; a mixed choir composed of soloists from the city's churches sang the royal anthem, " God Save the King ", as the royal party walked through the concourse. Once he was in the Great Hall, the Prince of Wales quipped, "you build your train stations like we build our cathedrals". He was then escorted to a nearby Canadian National Railway wicket and

11449-420: Was too low to allow electrification. The train shed roof is considered a heritage feature and cannot be removed. Remedies considered were raising the roof, or lowering the track level. Toronto Railway Company The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) was the operator of the streetcar system in Toronto between 1891 and 1921. It electrified the horsecar system it inherited from the Toronto Street Railway ,

#866133