Toronto, Ontario

[NS VIA Fan]

Toronto Union Station: Technically not an Amtrak Station as the Maple Leaf is a VIA train between the Border and Toronto…..but there are always questions here from those connecting to and from VIA's Canadian about accommodation and things to do……so here goes:

Union Station is located downtown in a busy area. It opened in 1927 and is currently undergoing a $640 million restoration so be prepared for lots of construction. One of the major new features will be the "day lighting" of the train-shed with a new glass Atrium over (fly-thru video here).

http://www.gotransit.com/UnionStation/en/default.aspx

http://www.toronto.c...ation/index.htm

The former Canadian Pacific Railway - Royal York Hotel (now a Fairmont) is across the street and for someone wanting to experience the total classic railway journey…..it's perhaps the place to say before or after a ride on the Canadian.

Royal York in upper-left with the Canadian just ready to leave:

But for the railfan looking for a room with a view…..my favorites are the Intercontinental and the Marriott Renaissance in Rogers Place (Skydome). Both overlook the Union Station Rail Corridor which is constantly busy with VIA and GO action. For a good outdoor place to view the action….walk to the end of the Skywalk accessed through the west end of the Union Station "Great Hall"

Viewing Platform at the end of the Skywalk (these photos are taken from the Intercontinental hotel)

Restored CPR Roundhouse (middle right)

Union Station Rail Corridor (that's the Renaissance Hotel under the retractable stadium roof)

Intercontinental Hotel (middle):

Union Station from the Intercontinental:

.....and a shot of the Maple Leaf from the Viewing Platform:

 

[NS VIA Fan]

The TTC (Toronto Transit) has an extensive network of Subways, Streetcars and Buses. A Day-Pass is $10 so do some exploring. About half the Subway is above ground so there is a view and the large streetcar network…..unlike the newer LRT systems…..has tracks within the streets: North-south lines meet east-west lines at intersections.

http://www.ttc.ca

And GO Transit has several lines radiating out of Union Station:

http://www.gotransit...les/sysmap.aspx

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Great write-up and pics! ...As seems to be the usual for you!

Looking at the picture of the restored CPR roundhouse, it reminded me of my 2001 visit to Steam Whistle Brewing Company, which is located in the roundhouse. A great place for some refreshment!

 

[PA Traveler]

Great photos and information. We were in Toronto a few years ago and stayed at the Fairmont, so we walked across the street to see the station. It's a lovely old station. We are hoping to do VIA RAIL from Toronto to Vancouver later this year, and we would definitely stay at the Fairmont again. And we absolutely love your subway system. We parked the car in the hotel and got around totally on the subway system. Since there's access to a station from right inside the hotel, we didn't even have to go outside to get it. Great city!

 

[MARC Rider]

Just a few thoughts on my recent visit to Toronto. I came up on the Maple Leaf and spent 2 nights in the city to connect to the Canadian.

At Union Station, the tracks are above the concourse, then you go up a ramp to the Great Hall. Below the concourse level is an underground level of shops and restaurants. I went up and turned left (west) towards the enclosed Skyway to take me to the Delta Hotel, where I was staying. After getting turned around by a confusing sighn, I finally found the hotel, and went to my room, which had this great view.


Union Station and the Royal York surrounded by glittering skyscrapers right out of Star Trek city.

The next morning I went out around the corner to Roundhouse Park, location of the old CN Roundhouse.






A nice view of the CN Tower. I didn't go up.


I walked down to the harbor and got a view of the Billy Bishop Airport.



I found a streetcar and rode it across town to find breakfast.

The St Lawrence Market. A little like Reading Terminal Market. I later found similar markets in Vancouver and Seattle.


My choice was St. Urbain Bagels, who claim to have brought Montral style bagels to Toronto. Maybe one day I'll get back to Montreal to see how they compare to the original, but I enjoyed my lox, bagel and cream cheese sandwich, which cost only $10 Canadian, which is a bargain for us from south of the border even without the exchange rate. I* stopped at a cheese stall and got a wheel of Epoisses (a French soft cheese that's not available in the USA) for the train. Thus fortified, I continued my flaneur around the city. More to come.

 

[jiml]

Nice shots! I haven't lived in Toronto for many years but did work in that area until 2006. The Delta is my hotel of choice if overnighting after a ballgame, hockey game or concert.

 

[MARC Rider]

One thing I noticed while I was walking around central Toronto was the relative lack of buildings from the 18th and early 20th centuries. As I've said before, a lot of the city looks like something from Star Trek, even outlying neighborhoods are full of new hi-rises.


I went back into the central part of the city and checked out Union Station.




My next stop was the Royal Ontario Museum. This was really for purposes of geology geekery. I read that they had the definitive collection of samples from the Burgess Shale, which contain some of the oldest invertebrate fossils in the world. Since they don't have that at the Smithsonian or the American Museum of Natural History in New York, I thought it was worth a look.

But to get there, I had to ride on the Toronto Subway. I had taken a ride the night before to find a drugstore open after 8 PM, as I had accidentally left my toiletry bag at home. I purchased a Presto Card, adding to my collection of transit cards and loaded some money. Also, in my research, I found that I could get the card endorsed for a senior discount at any Shoppers Drug Mart, the Walgreens/Rite Aid/CVS of Canada, and Shoppers Drug Mart was where I was heading. I purchased my toiletries and, indeed, got my Presto Card endorsed for the Senior Discount, but it didn't really make any difference, as the Senior single fare was 10 cents more than a regular single ride using the Presto Card.

The subway rolling stock is actually pretty impressive. They're called "Toronto Rockets," made by Bombardier, they have full-open gangways between the cars, unique for heavy rail in North America, and they were the quietest subway cars I've even ridden in. They were also very quiet from the outside rolling into the station.



At the Museum I found a number of specimens that I swear were illustrations from my college paleontology textbooks.



Also a couple of dinosaurs, a mammoth and a lot of minerals.

After I was done, I walked back through the university campus ("philosopher's walk"), by the Ontario provincial assembly building and then to a statue of Kind Edward VI on a horse.



Black squirrels! The only other place I've seen them is in Ottawa, so they must be unique to Ontario, or at the farther north than places in the US, where are the squirrels are brown or grey.


Ontario Provincial Assembly Building



This statue of King Edward VI originally stood in New Delhi. At some point after Indian independence, the Indians didn't want it anymore, so they found a new home for it in Toronto, where, after all, Edward was also a King of Canada, and his descendant is still King of Canada.

Finally, after a lot of walking, I ended up at the Royal York, where I decided to have my dinner at Happy Hour at their fancy bar, which was really nice, but very crowded. I shared space at the bar with a couple who were in town for an Adam Sandler concert that night. A very enjoyable conversation, and they were actually pretty knowledgeable about Maryland having visited there often.

A very good (but expensive) martini.



And the lobby of the Royal York.


The next morning it was wake up, find a Tim Horton's for a breakfast sandwich and coffee, check out, and then off to Union station for an appointment with the Canadian.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Black squirrels! The only other place I've seen them is in Ottawa, so they must be unique to Ontario, or at the farther north than places in the US, where are the squirrels are brown or grey.

Or maybe they're only found in college towns.
I took this picture in College Park.

 

[jiml]

I think you managed to get the Maple Leaf tucked in on Track 10 that morning.

 

[Trollopian]

Or maybe they're only found in college towns.
I took this picture in College Park.

View attachment 34804

They're all over Northwest Washington, DC. "There was a squirrel exchange in 1902: the National Zoo received 8 black squirrels from Thomas W. Gibson, Ontario’s superintendent for parks. Smithsonian secretary Samuel P. Langley sent Canada an unspecified number of gray squirrels.

Instead of keeping the black squirrels in an exhibit, they were released in the northwestern part of the zoo. Since then, the squirrel population continued to grow – soon overtaking much of Washington. The zoo also released even more black squirrels into the wild back in 1906. Kelly says that in some areas of D.C., black squirrels compose up to 25 percent of the squirrel population."

Thank you, Canada! (No, I don't "blame" Canada for our black bushy rodents, I think they're delightful.)

https://dcist.com/story/11/04/02/blame-canada-for-dcs-black-squirrel/

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Wasn't Toronto more or less founded right around 1800 (and burned like Chicago, if later). They really have a lot of high-rise buildings (in fact, Canada seems to build up more than we do, as well as in more locations).

Ah, yes, Trilobites or their kin... Burgess shale is a term I haven't heard in years (child of an invertebrate paleontologist).

Well, we have white squirrels in Illinois which are even rarer!

 

[Trollopian]

Wasn't Toronto more or less founded right around 1800 (and burned like Chicago, if later). They really have a lot of high-rise buildings (in fact, Canada seems to build up more than we do, as well as in more locations).

Both Canada and the United States have very low population density, by the standard definition (people per square mile or kilometer) but high urbanization. Over 80 percent of people in both countries live in cities, roughly the same as in United Kingdom, France, and South Korea. (See full rankings by density and urbanization, respectively.)

Of course urbanization makes rail travel much more economical and efficient and environmentally friendly. But it helps to have the cities close together. I'm no expert but I think that in Canada that describes the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, in the U.S. the northeast corridor (NEC). Different challenge entirely when your cities are strung out like occasional beads on a long long necklace. Tough to run a transcontinental railroad in the jet age.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Both Canada and the United States have very low population density, by the standard definition (people per square mile or kilometer) but high urbanization. Over 80 percent of people in both countries live in cities, roughly the same as in United Kingdom, France, and South Korea. (See full rankings by density and urbanization, respectively.)

Of course urbanization makes rail travel much more economical and efficient and environmentally friendly. But it helps to have the cities close together. I'm no expert but I think that in Canada that describes the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, in the U.S. the northeast corridor (NEC). Different challenge entirely when your cities are strung out like occasional beads on a long long necklace. Tough to run a transcontinental railroad in the jet age.

That's all very true, but Canada seems to have more mid & high-rise residential, spread more throughout their cities than a similar American city would have. Their urban planning is also tighter than here - much sharper urban edges, particularly noticeable in places like Edmonton or Calgary.