Rail around Toronto (from the Gathering)

[MARC Rider]

A few pictures from our three days in Toronto.

I arrived the day before and stayed at a Mariott Courtyard Hotel at Younge and College, a 10 minute ride by the subway to Union Station. Surprise, my Presto card from last year had 9 bucks of credit on it. Not sure where that came from, unless I had to put value on the card when I bought it, and didn't end up suing it because I also bought a day pass.

Back to Union Station on Friday and a ride on Go Transit to Kitchener and the ION light rail between Kitchener in Waterloo. A full day.


Cab car end of our very long GO train.


Kitchener train station. It's also used by VIA for its Toronto-Sarnia trains.


ION light rail that connects Kitchener to Waterloo. We had to walk about 10 minutes from the GO station to the light rail stop, but according to a sign near the light rail stop, they will be building a new train station right nearby. The ION service is mostly light rail but runs as a streetcar through downtown Kitchner and downtown Waterloo.



No Macy's or Nordstroms in Canada! We had lunch in a food court in a mall right out of the 1980s or 1990s. Nearly all the stores were occupied, and business traffic seemed decent. Obviously retail trends in Canda are a bit different than those south of the border.



The war memorial in downtown Kirchener. While other conflicts are mentioned, the focus seemed to be on World War I. Kitchener's name has an interesting history. The area was originally settled by Germans and the town was called Berlin. I imagine things got a little uncomfortable after 1914, and after some discussion the name of the town was changed in 1916 to honor Lord Kitchener, who was a famous British General and the Secretary of State for War until 1916, when he died after the ship he was traveling in hit a German mine.


Seating accommodations aboard the GO trains. They were reasonably comfortable, though I though the seat cushions were a bit hard. But I guess most GO rider don't travel the 2 hours it took us between Toronto and Kitchener. The trains cruised at ~100 km/hr, though they went faster after we left Guelph. In any event, we got back to Toronto at about 4 -4:40 PM.


A quick stop at the Library Bar at the Royal York Hotel for a very good, if expensive martini.



Toronto Union Station. The subway back to College, and then a nice dinner at a Persian restaurant where I enjoyed borani bademjoon, a grilled eggplant and yoghurt appetizer and Fesenjoon, chicken stewed in pomegranate and walnuts.



And that was it for the first day of the Gathering.

 

[PVD]

Thank you for posting, wish I was there!

 

[MARC Rider]

Our itinerary for Saturday was to ride the streetcars, subway and the UP Express airport train in the morning, and then have a ride on the VIA corridor to Belleville. E ended up taking also taking a GO train ride to the Exhibition Loop, as the streetcar from Union Station was out of service due to track work.

From Exhinition Loop, we rode the 511 streetcar up Bathurst St. to its end at Bloor. We got to pass by Fort York, part of the original British settlement of Toronto, which was attacked and destroyed by the Americans in 1813. This provided the excuse for the British to come attack Washington and Baltimore in 1814, in which they did occupy and burn down a lot of government buildings in Washington, but were unable to capture Baltimore. Also, our ride up Bathurst covered some of the rougher areas of Toronto, included some encampments of homeless people, as Toronto, like every other large North American city, seems to have a problem of unaffordable housing and other conditions that result in concentrations of the homeless.

At the Bathurst Loop, we transferred to the number 2 subway line, which we took to Bloor.






The cars are a bit older looking than the ones used on the 1-Yonge line.

We got off at Bloor and had a 5-minute walk to the Bloor GO/UP station.




The UP (Union-Pearson) express that provides service from Pearson International Airport to downtown Toronto.

These were about the most comfortable seats I encountered on my sample of VIA, GO, and UP Express trains.

The train is well set up for luggage storage.

This was a quick ride back to Union Station, and then Lunch in the food court.


A Loaded Pierogi, a multicultural treat with Mexican-style toppings on pierogies.

That was the morning, now off to ride the VIA Corridor in coach. I had already ridden this route in business class on Thursday, let's see what VIA class difference are like.

 

[MARC Rider]

On to the VIA concourse

The GO trains have two concourse on the east and west sides of the station. The VIA concourse is in the middle. Toronto Union is a little unusual in that the concourses are below the tracks, so you tide an escalator up to the platform. The only other station in North America that I know of with this arrangement is the one in Wilmington, Delaware, a station that I ride through, not get off at.


Here's some CN power, it think in the yard at Oshawa.


Along the shore of Lake Ontario, near Port Hope.


The new Belleville train station

.

And the old one.

We had over an hour layover in Belleville. I walked down the road to the war memorial and a riverside park, but didn't make it into the downtown.



And here's train 67, about a half hour late ready to take us back to Toronto. A P42 pulling LRC coaches.


Here's the interior of the LRC coach. It's 2x2 seating with generous legroom, similar to that of the business class. Drinks and snacks were sold from a cart (credit cards only). The seat cushions were the same as business class (a bit hard). Aside from the ability to have a single seat and the complementary meal service, I'm not sure that the business class is necessarily worth it, unless you're doing the full 5 hours from Montreal to Toronto, and even then, it's marginal.

So, back to the hotel, then over a a pun at Church and Wood called "Hair of the Dog," where I had butter chicken (another popular Ontario menu item) and a pint of local Ontario Cider brewed in Kitchener-Waterloo. And that was Saturday.

 

[zephyr17]

Nice report, thanks.

The trains cruised at ~100 km/hr, though they went faster after we left Guelph.

Bit of useless trivia. While the highways in Canada are posted in kilometers, the railroads still use miles and mph.

Toronto Union is a little unusual in that the concourses are below the tracks, so you tide an escalator up to the platform.

Not all that unusual. LAUS uses a tunnel to access the platforms, but no escalator, just ramps and stairs. San Jose Dirdion uses a tunnel to get to the platforms CalTrain mostly uses, Amtrak usually stops on the track adjacent to the station. Detroit's Michigan Central used a tunnel. Sacramento had a tunnel, at least before they relocated the tracks. I don't know now, and the original wasn't used much in later years. Tucson shows evidence of having had a tunnel, but it's sealed up. I seem to recall Denver in its original configuration had a tunnel. Haven't been in Denver's station since it was redeveloped.

 

[PVD]

Denver you walk out at the end, or use a bridge. Syracuse, Rochester, Schenectady, are all below track level.

 

[BlackDiamond]

LAUS uses a tunnel to access the platforms, but no escalator, just ramps and stairs. San Jose Dirdion uses a tunnel to get to the platforms CalTrain mostly uses

Also as I recall, New Haven CT is also like this with the tunnel under the tracks.

Philadelphia 30th St. upper level also has stairs and escalators to the track level, which is not currently used by Amtrak, although in the early days I believe there were some Keystone trains that originated at Suburban Station and used the upper level for their 30th St. stop.

 

[railiner]

Newark, NJ is another. There were/are a whole lot of stations where tracks and platforms are elevated, and reached from concourses below. Some have sub tunnels and overhead bridges to reach platforms. Like LIRR’s Jamaica station..

 

[MARC Rider]

The third day of the Gathering was Sunday. I decided not to take the 4 hour round trip on GO to Barrie and spend some time in Toronto.

First, a full Candian breakfast.




Note the baked beans, an homage to Canada's British roots. I didn't realize you were supposed to eat them on the toast like they do in Britain, I just ate them with my fork. Satiated, I found a streetcar to take me across town to Kensington Market, an old immigrant neighborhood that borders on Chinatown.





I got there a bit early, the street vendors were still setting up, but I got a bit of the atmosphere. I was going to ride the streetcar down Spadina to the waterfront, but it turns out that streetcar route was not in service because of trackwork, so I rode the bus instead. Then, a nice stroll along the waterfront with an ambience reminiscent (but not exactly the same) of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.






I didn't have time to take the verry over to the islands and see the Lake Ontario shoreline, so I turned toward the city and headed to Roundhouse Park, which has an outdoor railroad museum.





This little locomotive runs on compressed air, useful for industrial operations where having a coal-fired steam engine might be a fire hazard.



Here's a Canadian National steam locomotive 6213.


This is a research project being jointly conducted by Amtrak and VIA to develop some ideas for alternative low cast passenger rail infrastructure and rolling stock.

It was getting to be lunch time, so I went over to Union Station to get some lunch and meet everyone else for the afternoon streetcar ride.



After the ride to the Distillery loop (no active distilleries anymore, alas), we returned back to downtown, then a subway ride back to the hotel, dinner, and off to bed for my return trip home.

 

[Asher]

Always enjoy your photos and descriptions. Interesting history about the three masted former cargo schooner Kajama shown in your photos.

 

[MARC Rider]

The Gathering was over. Time for me to head back across the border and home. The Maple Leaf mleave Toronto at 8:20 AM, so I had to be up early and out of the hotel. I stopped at a Tim Horton's at the entrance to the subway station and College and Yonge to pick up a breakfast sandwich for later consumption. I figured I'd avoid having to run around Union Station under time pressure looking for breakfast, and the offerings on the VIA cafe car are a bit limited. This worked pretty well, and also put me at the station entrance that had an escalor, which made manhandling my suitcase a bit easier.

Upon arrival at the VIA concourse at Union Station, I found VIA attendants passing out the border crossing tags to those of us heading to the States. The train was called, and up the escalators we went, where the Amfleets, pulled by an Amtrak P42 was ready.

At this point, the train was not Amtrak 64 to New York, it was VIA 97 to Niagara Falls, ON. Same train, of course. When I booked my ticket, I was hoping to make the whole 13 hour ride in business class, but business class south of Niagara Falls was apparently sold out. However, for $1 above the TWO-NYP coach fare, I was able to ride in the Business class car to Niagara Falls. So I hoisted my bag up into the train and found a nice single seat with a good window view. We pulled out on time, and away we went. I got to see the scenery along the Toronto-Niagara Falls segment that I missed on my northbound trip last year because it was dark by the time we left Niagara Falls.



A view of Hamilton Harbour as we rounded the curve of the "Golden Horseshoe, the most intensely populated and industrialized part of Canada.


Crossing the Welland Canal that bypasses Niagara Falls and connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.



The exit from Canadian Customs for those driving over the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge.



The Niagara River. You can see why they needed to dig the Welland Canal to get ships to pass between the lakes. Canada is to the left, the USA is to the right.

Upon arrival at Niagara Falls, NY, we all had to leave the train with all of our luggage. The New Niagara Falls Station is great (with one exception.) First, it had a high platform, so getting the suitcase off the train was no problem. Then there was a nice gentle ramp to the customs inspection area.

The customs inspection was a breeze. I had my food and booze items in a separate bag (Thanks, Shopper Drug Mart!) so the inspector could just peek in and easily verify that I had the stuff I said I had. He had no problem with my 5-year old aged Canadian Cheddar cheese and turkey pepperoni bites, though the drug dog seemed a bit interested in the pepperoni bites. I had some assorted small bottles of alcoholic beverage that exceed the 1-liter limit, but the inspector just waved me through, as he said they had no way to collect duty at this station. I guess if I ever take this trip again, I should bring along a case of Crown Royal , which is slightly cheaper at LCBO than it is at my local big-box liquor store in Maryland. In any event it was one of the fastest Customs and Immigration inspections I've ever had, plus the agent was one of the most pleasant CBP agents I've ever dealt with.

The only problem was that when I was finished with customs, I had to go up a level to the waiting room and platform. There were no ramps, just an elevator and a flight of steps. I didn't want to wait for the elevator, so I had to haul my roller bag up the steps, never a fun task.

Soon, they let us board the train. Now I was a coach passenger, so I entered the first coach, and not only was it pretty full, but it was an Amfleet 1 corridor coach, and it seemed like the other 3 coaches behind it were also Amfleet 1s. I didn't want to be crammed into an Amfleet 1 for a 10-hour ride, so I moved forward and was rewarded by a nice Amfleet 2 coach with business class levels of seat pitch and recline and curtains on the windows. OK, I would have to pay for drinks, but this was excellent, and I also had both seats to myself all the way to New York.

The whole ride was pretty uneventful and we ran more or less on schedule. I had lunch from the cafe car, but I don't remember what I ordered. We got into Albany while it was still light, and we had a fairly long layover while they changed engines, so they let us get off the train and even go up into the station. I went up to see if I could find something to eat at the cafe, and I did. A nice ham and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread, it tasted like to was freshly made. The had more complete offerings, including some hot food, but I didn't be waiting, worrying about catching the train while they were fussing around preparing something. So, I got the sandwich, a bag of chips, and a bottle of Saratoga Water. This was a fine dinner to eat while enjoying the sun slip down behind the west shore of the Hudson.



Here we are arriving into Albany. After we left, a new conductor came to scan my ticket and was a bit surprised that I, a passenger coming all the way from Toronto, was in this particular car. "We usually save this car for the people getting on in Albany," he told me. What, they save an Amfleet2 long-distance coach for the people riding the shortest segment? Well, at least the Niagara Falls conductor had no problem with me sitting up there.



Sunset over the Catskills. We arrived into NYP maybe 5-10 minutes behind schedule at about 9:25 PM. It was easy rolling my bag out the door and across the street to the Fairfield Inn on 33rd. St., paying for the room with Marriott points, pretty nice getting a midtown Manhattan hotel room for free. The room was even a bit bigger than many of the closets that pass for hotel rooms in New York.

The Fairfield provides a nice full breakfast, which I enjoyed, and then, after I checked out, I was able to cross the street and enter Moynihan in the middle of the block, so I didn't even need to go back to 8th Avenue. It turns out that entrance is on the upper level and there's a direct door to the Metropolitan Lounge. I had reserved a mid-morning Acela to Baltimore, and after a short wait, we boarded, and I have back in Baltimore at about noon. I ordered a Lyft ride, and that was it, my trip was over, and I was home.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice trip report Joe!

Things have really changed @ the new Niagara Falls Customs Stop, and I see that Amtrak still hasn't figured out the Amfleet I / Amfleet 2 thing on this route!

I'm amazed that Crown Royal is cheaper in Toronto than in a Baltimore Booze Shop! Maryland must really Tax imported Whiskey!(used to be Most Alcohol was 50% more expensive on the Canadian side, and Canadians would come across to shop for booze on this side of the Border !)