Comments on: Art is imitating life as a VIA Rail Turbo Train set moves from Toronto Union Station to the Spadina Avenue maintenance facility on an overcast early fall 1976 afternoon. The painting of a steam engine, diesel locomotive and a Turbo Train once adorned the poured concrete retaining wall at the base of the CN Tower. The waterfront skyline in the background, and most of the automobiles in the foreground are unrecognizable today. My brand new 1976 Plymouth Road Runner is hiding in the trees at the lower left corner of the photo. My brand new CN office at 277 Front St. W. along with the Metro Toronto Convention Center are almost a decade away from being completed on the very spot where I took this photo. Almost 40 years later, the Turbo Train, the wall painting, the Road Runner, and the CN office are all gone.

By: Paul O'Shell

Paul O'Shell — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 13:25:51 +0000

Thanks Stephen. Time sure has gone by quickly since I snapped that pic. I was five plus years into my full-time CN career at the time of the photo. Now I am five plus years retired from that lifetime of railroad work.
Here are a couple of more pics taken on that same day creating a trilogy of Turbo train scenes in the downtown Toronto corridor.
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=20260 http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=20324

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 02:37:33 +0000

Great work.

By: Cdntrainphotog

Cdntrainphotog — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 13:25:53 +0000

Great shot! A Road Runner? Very Cool…I bought a Gremlin that year. It wasn’t misnamed.

By: pierre fournier

pierre fournier — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 23:30:13 +0000

As a CN employee,we had been invited to visit it in june 76,it wasn,t quite finished yet.

By: JP

JP — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 22:39:29 +0000

Very cool idea to shoot the turbo with the mural.

By: Eric May

Eric May — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 17:59:24 +0000

Wow. Thanks for sharing this one.