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Re: Doors Open
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Rare chances to see abandoned subway station
'Lower Bay' will be part of detour and doors open event
James Cowan
National Post
Friday, February 23, 2007
Torontonians intrigued by the ghost subway station under Yorkville are finally being given a chance to explore it.
Commonly called "Lower Bay" or "Bay Lower" station, the phantom stop was only used for six months in 1966.
Since then, it has served as a set for many big-budget Hollywood movies and has become a point of curiosity for public transit buffs and amateur historians. Some have even risked arrest by sneaking into the fabled station. Now, curious members of the public have two opportunities to visit the decommissioned site.
On May 26, the station will be part of the city's annual Doors Open event for the first time. The two-day program grants visitors access to buildings normally closed to the public. Lower Bay has been a top request for inclusion since Doors Open started nine years ago, according to project manager Jane French.
"It feels like we've landed a big fish," Ms. French confirmed in an interview. "I've been with this program since day one, and every year when we ask people to suggest buildings to visit, the station is mentioned. It seems to be something that is part of an urban mythology."
Plans currently call for the station to be open to the public for just three hours, but Ms. French said she hopes the hours can be extended. "I honestly believe people will be lined up around the block to say that they've been there, even if it just looks like a TTC station, which I gather it does," she said.
The curious will also have a chance for a sneak peek at the station on the coming weekends. Transit officials intend to detour trains through the abandoned stop for the next seven Saturdays and Sundays to allow for maintenance work. Scott Haskill, a senior planner with the TTC's service planning division, said service is being diverted to allow crews to complete repairs of a tunnel roof located under the Park Hyatt hotel.
"The work is being done at a fortunate location because we can take trains around the closed section, which is quite unusual," Mr. Haskill said.
The trains will divert along a rarely used piece of track that connects the Yonge and Bloor- Danforth subway lines. The detour will close Bay station and see both eastbound and westbound trains terminating at Museum station instead. It will be as trains head westward from Museum that they will pass through Lower Bay.
"The closed track is located on a 'wye,' or a triangle of track," Mr. Haskill said "Fortunately, we have the other two sides of the triangle to get trains through."
Mr. Haskill said Lower Bay will be illuminated but subway trains will not stop -- or even slow down -- as they trundle through it.
When Lower Bay station was built, plans called for some trains to run "interline," or switch between the Yonge and Bloor-Danforth routes while still carrying passengers. Under this system, a rider would have been able to catch a train at Union station headed north, have the train switch tracks to travel west and then depart at Bathurst station. Bay station was originally going to serve as a transfer point and was constructed as a mirror image of nearby St. George station. However, the interline system only lasted for six months. Passengers found it difficult to navigate, and the wye proved difficult for the TTC to manage.
Now accessible through a service stairwell, the derelict station has become a popular location for shooting movies and commercials. Among the films shot at Lower Bay are 16 Blocks, starring Bruce Willis, Chow Yun- Fat's Bulletproof Monk, Johnny Mnemonic with Keanu Reeves and New York Minute with the Olsen twins.
Post
Link to article
Rare chances to see abandoned subway station
'Lower Bay' will be part of detour and doors open event
James Cowan
National Post
Friday, February 23, 2007
Torontonians intrigued by the ghost subway station under Yorkville are finally being given a chance to explore it.
Commonly called "Lower Bay" or "Bay Lower" station, the phantom stop was only used for six months in 1966.
Since then, it has served as a set for many big-budget Hollywood movies and has become a point of curiosity for public transit buffs and amateur historians. Some have even risked arrest by sneaking into the fabled station. Now, curious members of the public have two opportunities to visit the decommissioned site.
On May 26, the station will be part of the city's annual Doors Open event for the first time. The two-day program grants visitors access to buildings normally closed to the public. Lower Bay has been a top request for inclusion since Doors Open started nine years ago, according to project manager Jane French.
"It feels like we've landed a big fish," Ms. French confirmed in an interview. "I've been with this program since day one, and every year when we ask people to suggest buildings to visit, the station is mentioned. It seems to be something that is part of an urban mythology."
Plans currently call for the station to be open to the public for just three hours, but Ms. French said she hopes the hours can be extended. "I honestly believe people will be lined up around the block to say that they've been there, even if it just looks like a TTC station, which I gather it does," she said.
The curious will also have a chance for a sneak peek at the station on the coming weekends. Transit officials intend to detour trains through the abandoned stop for the next seven Saturdays and Sundays to allow for maintenance work. Scott Haskill, a senior planner with the TTC's service planning division, said service is being diverted to allow crews to complete repairs of a tunnel roof located under the Park Hyatt hotel.
"The work is being done at a fortunate location because we can take trains around the closed section, which is quite unusual," Mr. Haskill said.
The trains will divert along a rarely used piece of track that connects the Yonge and Bloor- Danforth subway lines. The detour will close Bay station and see both eastbound and westbound trains terminating at Museum station instead. It will be as trains head westward from Museum that they will pass through Lower Bay.
"The closed track is located on a 'wye,' or a triangle of track," Mr. Haskill said "Fortunately, we have the other two sides of the triangle to get trains through."
Mr. Haskill said Lower Bay will be illuminated but subway trains will not stop -- or even slow down -- as they trundle through it.
When Lower Bay station was built, plans called for some trains to run "interline," or switch between the Yonge and Bloor-Danforth routes while still carrying passengers. Under this system, a rider would have been able to catch a train at Union station headed north, have the train switch tracks to travel west and then depart at Bathurst station. Bay station was originally going to serve as a transfer point and was constructed as a mirror image of nearby St. George station. However, the interline system only lasted for six months. Passengers found it difficult to navigate, and the wye proved difficult for the TTC to manage.
Now accessible through a service stairwell, the derelict station has become a popular location for shooting movies and commercials. Among the films shot at Lower Bay are 16 Blocks, starring Bruce Willis, Chow Yun- Fat's Bulletproof Monk, Johnny Mnemonic with Keanu Reeves and New York Minute with the Olsen twins.