I mean, sure, from an urban-planning/historical preservation standpoint the project would probably have been a disaster....but....I have to admit it had a super-cool, Logan's Run dystopian futuristic appeal to it and you really had to hand it to them in terms of sheer audacity of vision. I get the same reaction looking at Brasilia or the Albany government buildings.
 
nfitz said:
I think there's a street called Esplanade as well - just not as long.
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The Esplanade is actually a comparatively old street (in Toronto terms) and was the 'esplanade' along the Lake before the railways filled the lake in. I think the CN.CP project simply extended it further west (it used to run to Simcoe/York at one time.
 
DSC said:
The Esplanade is actually a comparatively old street (in Toronto terms) and was the 'esplanade' along the Lake before the railways filled the lake in. I think the CN.CP project simply extended it further west (it used to run to Simcoe/York at one time.
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Ah yes - odd they phrase it the way they did. I hadn't realised that it was still the same name back when it carried the tracks eastern out of Union.

Terminated at York in the 1924 Fire insurance maps - https://www.toronto.ca/city-governm...re-insurance-plans/fire-insurance-plans-1924/
 
mburrrrr said:
It looks like they were going to remove the train shed in 1969 but we decided to keep it in 2010/2021? How ironic.
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Well, they were going to remove the entire station!

So we went roughly from one extreme to the other.

Demo' it all; to save it all.

I happen to agree w/saving the entire head house and associated bits; but the trainshed should have been ripped down.
A new new, high-ceiling shed could also have fully enclosed the existing outside tracks, and still allowed the odd freight to pass through as needed.
It also would have made it just a bit easier (and faster) to carry out the widening of platforms at the same time.

Had we really been thinking ahead, we also might have bumped out the retaining wall another metre or two while were there.

We don't need more tracks, but it might have allowed more platform widenings without removing as many tracks.
 
innsertnamehere said:
Thankfully the only thing we got out of that scheme was the CN tower and nothing else..
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If you look at that original plan, and what they ended up building.....

They built virtually the entirety of their plan, basically with the exception of the new Union Station. They just did it more piecemeal than they had originally intended.

Dan
 
DSC said:
These areas are, I think, both 'commercial' and thus their fitting out is up to Osmington, the head leasee. I wonder if the one with the TD signage ("new home") is going to be their new bank branch?
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What is good to see is that the sheets from the ceiling to the hoarding to keep the dust contained have been recently put in for that TD branch location so it would seem construction is beginning there. Hopefully we see this occurring elsewhere along this new route soon.
 
EnviroTO said:
What is good to see is that the sheets from the ceiling to the hoarding to keep the dust contained have been recently put in for that TD branch location so it would seem construction is beginning there. Hopefully we see this occurring elsewhere along this new route soon.
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The VIA concourse is still a disaster. They are still using those signs with rollers to have people line up for trains. And then business class customers can randomly wait by the escalator.

Totally not acceptable. They should have proper gates or a pre check in area.
 
Yes, VIA has gone to reserved seats on most of its trains (of not all) so there is no reason they can't run the departures like an airport. Add seating, tell people to take a seat, call people up by some grouping that makes sense for managing platform crowding and seating people efficiently. People line up because they believe there is a benefit to being at the front on the line. Remove that benefit and people can sit and relax.
 
Ya know.............unless I missed it.............no one has posted that there is, in fact, finished retail in the Bay Concourse.
Clearly, people are unaware, because Stephen Del Duca isn't in government anymore............
There's a Tim's Kiosk! LOL (up at the level for accessing the tracks.)

It was closed tonight, but looks as though it's open (generally) in that its menu board is up and turned on and it looks finished.
I just happened to check the area out tonight and decided to take the train to Danforth rather than TTC it; an extra .45c is a splurge I can afford! LOL
While there I observed the retail, and was baffled as to why there had not been a parade announcing its arrival!
 
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Northern Light said:
Ya know.............unless I missed it.............no one has posted that there is, in fact, finished retail in the Bay Concourse.
Clearly, people are unaware, because Stephen Del Duca isn't in government anymore............
There's a Tim's Kiosk! LOL (up at the level for accessing the tracks.)

It was closed tonight, but looks at though it's open (generally) in that its menu board is up and turned on and it looks finished.
I just happened to check the area out tonight and decided to take the train to Danforth rather than TTC it; an extra .45c is a splurge I can afford! LOL
While there I observed the retail, and was baffled as to where there had not been a parade announcing its arrival!
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I was only in the Bay Concourse once since it opened and I wasn't impressed.

It was lackluster compared to York.
 
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