In my experience, there is a MAJOR overlap between rail advocates and rail history enthusiasts. It's not absolute, but in my many dealings with rail advocates, nostalgia trumps modernization improvements. The logic is simple... the golden age of rail and transit was in the past, so in order to move forwards we must move backwards.
So you end up with completely serious proposals for "improving" rail transportation and transit such as:
- Put streetcars back on Yonge Street
- Start building PCC streetcars again
- Run some GO trains with steam locomotives
- Placing a greater importance upon "bringing trains back" to rural Ontario towns where they one ran than on improving service where there is currently great demand
- Claiming that bringing back some 1950s paint scheme that no one else remembers will improve ridership
Fans of architecture may lament the loss of many great buildings in this city, but I don't know of any who believe that the wholesale reconstruction of these lost buildings would be a positive move; but this is exactly the belief that is common in the railfan community. Nostalgia is fine and all... until you place some of these nostalgic people into a position of influence. When what is driving people's decisions is something other than a solid desire to make the travel experience as good and efficient as possible for the greatest number of people, it is trouble. This is what seemed to happen with the Union Station advisory committee.
I'm all for preservation, but we need to be a bit more pragmatic about it. The train shed does not provide an example of quality workmanship or innovative design. If anything it presents itself as being a cheap and temporary solution to a problem. I have no doubt in my mind that if we could travel back in time to the 1920s and speak to the engineer who designed it, he would state that it was not designed for posterity. It provides an unpleasant environment, somewhere to get out of as quickly as possible. It makes transit use less desirable, not moreso. It makes the worst subway station in Toronto look like Downsview station.
The best comparison in my mind is old Terminal 1 at Pearson. To me, it was a fantastic building. It showed innovation and care in its design. It was designed by one of Toronto's most celebrated historical architects. It provided a wonderful glimpse of the architecture and optimism of the period when it was built. And other than those unfortunate times when it was run beyond its designed capacity, it provided a pleasurable and efficient experience for the departing passenger. If old T1 was located anywhere other than the airport, it should have been (and possibly would have been) preserved. But we have only one airport (just like we have only one train station) and even though it was a historical loss, it simply had to go in order to provide a pleasurable, professional, and modern travelling experience.
