Caption: CP dome-lounge-sleeper observation car Waterton Park brings up the tail end of train #12, the Sudbury-Toronto section of "The Canadian", as it rolls through the foliage in Woodbridge before crossing into the Metro Toronto area for the final few miles to Union Station downtown. The train's classy maroon letterbands had been repainted three years prior, but the new "Action Red" gives the gleaming 1950's stainless steel Budd cars a bright, sharp modern look.

This shot was taken looking south along the CP MacTier Sub, just south of the high bridge over Highway 7. The horizontal line in the distance is the embankment built for CN's "new" Halton Sub, at the time opened only six years prior. The head end of #12, lead by an FP7 and FPA2, is about to cross over a bridge spanning the Humber River and then duck underneath CN's line, before crossing Islington Ave., Steeles Ave., and into CP's Emery industrial area. In the background, the diminutive skyline of North York can be seen partially under construction.

While CP's MacTier Sub between Bolton and Toronto was largely built by the old Toronto Grey & Bruce railway in 1869/1870, this particular stretch south of downtown Woodbridge was actually constructed by CP as an eastern realignment in 1907, with what was the former TG&B alignment branching off to the right from where the signals are in the distance. It would have headed north and joined the rest of the line by the CPR station in downtown Woodbridge (old alignment visible here for comparison). After realignment, the north part of that old TG&B line became a spur to service some of the local industries.

Now pushing 65 years old, Waterton Park is still racking up the miles is daily transcontinental service with VIA Rail, and probably will for the foreseeable future as the former CP stainless steel Budd car fleet dating back to the 1950's won't be replaced by the new VIA equipment on order.

Charles Begg photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide (with some editing/colour adjustment).