[generalcanada]

Lots of track is laid. Have another look at the photos (#4/14, 9, 10, and 11). There are still sections to go where it's just track ballast (#6, 7 and 8) and through where people get from Atlantic Ave/tunnel to get to the current platform, but that will be done during the weekend closure.

I see "some" track ties laid. but maybe im unfamiliar with how long it takes to lay track ties.
dont they also need to spend like 3 weeks testing going over the track to break it in?

Feels like a week is ambitious

 

[Mount Dennis Resident]

From https://www.metrolinx.com/en/news/exciting-early-work-underway-at-exhibition-station

One of Toronto’s oldest stations is getting upgrades to improve transit for generations to come.

Exhibition Station has withstood the test of time.

Built in 1856 by the Grand Trunk Railway, the station has played a pivotal role in getting people to the Canadian National Exhibition for over a century.
Now, the station is set to become a vital transit hub that will help connect the existing GO Train station with the much-anticipated Ontario Line subway.
Throughout construction, Metrolinx will continue to keep people moving with features like a new platform, station entrance, and temporary pedestrian bridge.

 

[Richard White]

From https://www.metrolinx.com/en/news/exciting-early-work-underway-at-exhibition-station

Is it actually the oldest station?

No doubt stations like Aurora are older.

 

[Parkdalian]

Great photos!

Do we know if the TTC has plans to eventually route the Ossington and Dufferin buses to connect with this station?

 

[turini2]

Do we know if the TTC has plans to eventually route the Ossington and Dufferin buses to connect with this station?

We don't - unlike with planning of Eglinton and Finch, the TTC haven't worked up conceptual "future routes" to connect to the Ontario ine.
It would also need the building of Liberty Street past the station - this has an EA, but I believe there's no funding for it yet.
AFAIK, there's no plan for a bus loop at Exhibition station.

 

[Parkdalian]

We don't - unlike with planning of Eglinton and Finch, the TTC haven't worked up conceptual "future routes" to connect to the Ontario ine.
It would also need the building of Liberty Street past the station - this has an EA, but I believe there's no funding for it yet.
AFAIK, there's no plan for a bus loop at Exhibition station.

Cool! Thanks for the info.

This "South Liberty" street has been a wish-list item for years - but with the new station it seems like a necessity. Otherwise, it's jamming all the new traffic down Atlantic and Jefferson. I wonder if the province will pay for it, or if it will be pushed off to the city.

 

[Willybru21]

I see "some" track ties laid. but maybe im unfamiliar with how long it takes to lay track ties.
dont they also need to spend like 3 weeks testing going over the track to break it in?

Feels like a week is ambitious

Just went through, almost 100% of the rails are laid, it just needs to be straightened and whatever else has to happen before trains can run on it

 

[Willybru21]

Is it actually the oldest station?

No doubt stations like Aurora are older.

It’s not, there’s been multiple different stations and Metrolinx is considering them all one

 

[Mount Dennis Resident]

Is it actually the oldest station?

No doubt stations like Aurora are older.

Parkdale was founded as an independent settlement within York County in the 1850s. It was incorporated as a village in 1879 and amalgamated with Toronto in 1889. So if the station was built in 1856, it was when the area was farmland to the north, the "lunatic asylum" to the northeast, and the Fort York Garrison common to the south. The feds gave permission to the city to use the garrison common grounds as exhibition grounds.

Exhibition Park Toronto, 1906.

 

[rdaner]

Are we getting the swoopy roof any time soon?!

 

[kotsy]

Are we getting the swoopy roof any time soon?!

Loonnng way off.

 

[T3G]

Is it actually the oldest station?

No doubt stations like Aurora are older.

Aurora is not in Toronto...

 

[kotsy]

I see "some" track ties laid. but maybe im unfamiliar with how long it takes to lay track ties.
dont they also need to spend like 3 weeks testing going over the track to break it in?

Feels like a week is ambitious

The work did emphasize that 1 week is what they claim to be what's happening, meaning he has some doubts, but I don't think it's impossible. Lots of track replacement is done over weekend closures, which means it doesn't need anything close to 3 weeks of testing.

In the last photo I posted you can see 3 sections of track installed to concrete ties on top of each other, meaning two sections are ready to be put into place once the ballasts is all good. If they don't pull this off next weekend, I don't see it taking that much longer than that. I've been regularly checking the site and the progress I've seen in just the last week or two was really surprising to be honest.

 

[ShonTron]

The Metrolinx article on the history of Exhibition Station is bunk. Firstly, the CNE as we know it (originally the Toronto Industrial Exhibition) started in 1879.

Secondly, the railway through there wasn’t the Grand Trunk at first. It was the Great Western, which opened the Toronto-Hamilton line in 1855. The GWR merged with GTR in 1882.

 

[kotsy]

Demolition Work on the warehouse(s) West of Atlantic is progressing. This will make room for the new east/west street.

Trench dug out North of the new GO platform. Based on my uneducated calculations using the new station diagram as a reference, I think the south Ontario Line track will lie here.