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Train Spotting

Here's something I meant to post a while back. A fairly large loading dock was constructed along CP's North Toronto Sub this past summer (between Davenport and Spadina), and about a month ago I saw this large flatcar parked there. I suspect this activity is related to ongoing work at the Macpherson Avenue electrical substation. Components like large transformers cannot be brought in by road, so rail is basically the only option.
IMG_1694.JPG
 
M636RF said:
Here's something I meant to post a while back. A fairly large loading dock was constructed along CP's North Toronto Sub this past summer (between Davenport and Spadina), and about a month ago I saw this large flatcar parked there. I suspect this activity is related to ongoing work at the Macpherson Avenue electrical substation. Components like large transformers cannot be brought in by road, so rail is basically the only option.
Click to expand...
Yes! I noticed that many times walking and cycling along Macpherson to the Dupont Station, but the wagon wasn't there whenever I looked, trying to figure out what the ramp was for. Now it becomes obvious!
 
M636RF said:
Here's something I meant to post a while back. A fairly large loading dock was constructed along CP's North Toronto Sub this past summer (between Davenport and Spadina), and about a month ago I saw this large flatcar parked there. I suspect this activity is related to ongoing work at the Macpherson Avenue electrical substation. Components like large transformers cannot be brought in by road, so rail is basically the only option. View attachment 163092
Click to expand...
I wonder if we will be seeing a Schnabel car going there at any point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnabel_car
 
Streety McCarface said:
Highly doubt it. Foamers from the US and beyond would come out to film that. It would have probably made the news as well.
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Ontario Hydro's schnabel car is currently in the Port of Hamilton awaiting a load. I don't have destination information just yet, but it seems plausible that it could be destined for Macpherson.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Years back, there used to be a siding that ran right into the xfrmr yard there and there used to be an old red-brick xfrmr gallery now gone, come to think of it. That was some forty years back. Probably the larger modern xfrmrs are too large to shunt down the slight incline and clear local objects like earlier ones did, not to mention that nowadays most xfrmrs are run outdoors, albeit with a wall around them in case of ...errrr....unfortunate occurrences, and to keep the core hum from emanating laterally as much. Should be interesting to watch the affair when it happens.
 
steveintoronto said:
Years back, there used to be a siding that ran right into the xfrmr yard there and there used to be an old red-brick xfrmr gallery now gone, come to think of it. That was some forty years back. Probably the larger modern xfrmrs are too large to shunt down the slight incline and clear local objects like earlier ones did, not to mention that nowadays most xfrmrs are run outdoors, albeit with a wall around them in case of ...errrr....unfortunate occurrences, and to keep the core hum from emanating laterally as much. Should be interesting to watch the affair when it happens.
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There are still a few rails left.
IMG_1196.JPG


The door on the original building looks large enough to fit a railcar inside (and I believe there are still rails at the foot of the door).

fullsizeoutput_2d6.jpeg
 
M636RF said:
There are still a few rails left.

The door on the original building looks large enough to fit a railcar inside (and I believe there are still rails at the foot of the door).
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That's the one! I started to second guess my memory on that. I'm really going to do a stretch now, and guess that there was another siding (or more) for that area besides that one. The pumping station, IIRC, had one too...oh Geez...forty years back? Might be time to get the old maps out. The latest xfrms now being used in the masonry 'enclosure' closer to Davenport (with an open top) wouldn't fit into the doorway, and inevitably, inside that old but glorious building as per fittings, feeds, etc.

There is still a building in use that is Toronto Hydro's next to the pumping station, had a long discussion with a tech there (i'm an electronic tech, we talk much the same language, albeit there are differences) and its future, even being the next step down in distribution voltage, is doubtful.

Many thanks for jogging my memory! I've been looking at that area, and thinking: "Hmmm...something's missing...".

I often walk Big Black Lab down from Eg West Station down the Nordheimer and to Dupont Station on the two hour transfer. I still get flutters walking past Cottingham and memories of living there and the Village. lol...oh stories....The Republic of Rathnelly lives!
Republic of Rathnelly
 
Most major electrical stations (power stations and transformer stations) either were located next to a railway corridor or had a spur line built to them (like the Bruce Nuclear complex or the transformer station near Highways 403 and 407) for this type of load. Of course, most branch lines were pulled out and spurs into these stations, even those adjacent to active railways are long gone.

I imagine it's easier now to simply truck things in, even large electrical equipment.
 
Within the last year there was a Hydro transformer dimensional load that was transported by rail up the Havelock Subdivision to Myrtle just north of Whitby. It was quite the sight to see that railcar sitting in the siding at Myrtle considering how poor the rail line is along the Havelock Sub.

http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=24650

Edit: I just read the date of the photo in railpictures.ca I guess it was May 2016. Time flies while you're having fun.
 
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ShonTron said:
I imagine it's easier now to simply truck things in, even large electrical equipment.
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Not necessarily true in some instances rail is still the better way to get things to the final destination. In New Hampshire a few years back they were building a new power station that required the movement of transformers that were delivered in Quebec and brought across a couple of railroads one of which is operated as a tourist railroad.
 
steveintoronto said:
^ I still view in amazement every time taking the 25 or 29 bus down the 407 at the CP spur to:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Mi...146cbed75966db!8m2!3d43.5890452!4d-79.6441198

That spur runs for kms, and I wondered who footed the bill for it? And CP? They get a deluxe shunt to store hundreds of wagons...for free?
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I don't know how long that TS has been there. Perhaps when it was built none of the local roads could handle the loads. Regardless of who paid for it (CP and/or Hydro), it is CP owned (as far as I can determine) and they get to use it as they see fit.
 
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