Northern Light
Superstar
There was a single rail track that crossed here. The rail yard itself was where Metro Hall and Roy Thomson Hall are located.
Toronto 400 Front Street | 195.75m | 60s | State Building Group | Kirkor
- Thread starter innsertnamehere
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There was a single rail track that crossed here. The rail yard itself was where Metro Hall and Roy Thomson Hall are located.
AHK
Senior Member
There was a single rail track that crossed here. The rail yard itself was where Metro Hall and Roy Thomson Hall are located.
The rail line came up from the area which is now the Bathurst GO yard, crossed Spadina just where the north end of the bridge is now, and then angled across Front Street over the the yards to the north. The former path of the track can seen along the curved property line between Fly Condos on Front Street and the 400 Front Street West project - the properties on either side of the rail line were, and even though the rail line is long gone, obviously still are in separate hands.
We arrived in Toronto in the summer of 1979. When driving along Front Street, we had to stop and wait when a small freight shuttle - several cars long - was going up the ramp to get to the yards. The rail line was lifted and the residual yards removed somewhere around thirty five to forty years ago.
Northern Light
Superstar
Yup, the link I posted above is to a photo of a train doing that crossing.
And I remember seeing a train crossing there as a child.
My father took me down to the Spadina Bridge over the rail corridor a few times as a kid to see all the trains, the roundhouse was still in operation and you had lots of freight movements in addition to GO and a lot more VIA than you see now as well.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
1970:
Red Mars
Senior Member
Jun 23, 2021
UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
I'm trying to figure how those rail tracks work and where did they come from. They seem to be in the wrong place there...
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Altough you'll see swift sales this wont rise till after it hits the market
Northern Light
Superstar
Nope, that's where they were.
I remember.
******
from: http://ccca.concordia.ca/artists/im...&cright=Isobel+Harry&mkey=74783&link_id=11543
C-mac
Senior Member
Google maps show this address as right across from The Well, but these pics don't seem to jive with that. Where is this location?
Northern Light
Superstar
Where Black meets Red is what you're seeing in the pic you're referencing.
You're facing south-east in that pic.
C-mac
Senior Member
okay got it. The issue I was having is I had to go deep into the parking lot then turn to face south east.
Thanks
UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
Okays...this may make a little more sense to me...Nope, that's where they were.
I remember.
******
View attachment 330101
from: http://ccca.concordia.ca/artists/im...&cright=Isobel+Harry&mkey=74783&link_id=11543
...the map in question is much older and perhaps a bit off scale, but it indicates there was a huge ass railyard just West of Front W and John. Which for variety of reasons is no long there.
Anywhoose, thanks for enlightening me on that. /bows
Koops65
Senior Member
Looking Southeast:
Northern Light
Superstar
Okays...this may make a little more sense to me...
...the map in question is much older and perhaps a bit off scale, but it indicates there was a huge ass railyard just West of Front W and John. Which for variety of reasons is no long there.
There was..........
Can't find a pic of that exact spot..........
But just to the north, here is the rail yard that used to exist at King and Simcoe, where Metro Hall and Roy Thomson Hall are today:
From the City Archives, as noted on pic.
Old Blog TO story w/this pic in it: https://www.blogto.com/city/2013/09/how_toronto_turned_a_rail_yard_in_to_roy_thomson_hall/
ProjectEnd
Superstar
The CP Express Freight Building was enormous and was the kind of thing the city would never allow to be taken down today. That said, there are surprisingly few pictures of it still existing:
You can see that building and how the tracks filter down over the 400 Front site to Front and Spadina in this image:
You can see that building and how the tracks filter down over the 400 Front site to Front and Spadina in this image: