Comments on: You’ve seen the view from aboard the train, now here’s the view from on the ground: Milton-line GO train #153 lead by cab car 236 (with F59PH 556 pushing leisurely on the rear) rocks through the crossovers at 30mph as it approaches the Strachan Avenue grade crossing in Liberty Village, about to exit the western USRC limits and enter CP’s Galt Sub. Wandering into the Strachan Avenue area of Liberty Village/Parkdale in the late 2000′s felt like entering a de-industrialized wasteland of hollowed-out post-industrial decay. A large multi-track grade crossing one could just wander into, set amid an area with old warehouses and factories waiting to be torn down and redeveloped, including such welcoming landmarks as the Wellington Destructor garbage incinerator (note brown building with smokestack on left), the Toronto Abbatoir slaughterhouse next to it (still in operation at the time), the old Canadian Patent Scaffolding building (occupied by some used office furniture business), the old police garage(?) on Ordnance St. all closed up, and the John B. Smith building (out of frame on the left) complete with that mismatched wall of old doors. All the former freight yards and sidings had been pulled up long ago. Modern progress looming in the background as the wall of downtown condos encroached. Soon Liberty Village, still in the process of gentrification at the time with many old buildings demolished or converted to trendy lofts, would start getting many new condos of its own, and sweep more of its industrial past away. This last vestige of easy rail access that hosted a flurry of GO and VIA activity every rush hour (multiple Bradford, Georgetown and Milton line trains, and six daily VIA corridor trains to Sarnia) would become a giant hole in the ground a few years later, with the grade separation tunnel making it near impossible to shoot at Strachan Avenue anymore (but the nearby pedestrian bridges offers a few possibilities from above).

Comments on: You’ve seen the view from aboard the train, now here’s the view from on the ground: Milton-line GO train #153 lead by cab car 236 (with F59PH 556 pushing leisurely on the rear) rocks through the crossovers at 30mph as it approaches the Strachan Avenue grade crossing in Liberty Village, about to exit the western USRC limits and enter CP’s Galt Sub. Wandering into the Strachan Avenue area of Liberty Village/Parkdale in the late 2000′s felt like entering a de-industrialized wasteland of hollowed-out post-industrial decay. A large multi-track grade crossing one could just wander into, set amid an area with old warehouses and factories waiting to be torn down and redeveloped, including such welcoming landmarks as the Wellington Destructor garbage incinerator (note brown building with smokestack on left), the Toronto Abbatoir slaughterhouse next to it (still in operation at the time), the old Canadian Patent Scaffolding building (occupied by some used office furniture business), the old police garage(?) on Ordnance St. all closed up, and the John B. Smith building (out of frame on the left) complete with that mismatched wall of old doors. All the former freight yards and sidings had been pulled up long ago. Modern progress looming in the background as the wall of downtown condos encroached. Soon Liberty Village, still in the process of gentrification at the time with many old buildings demolished or converted to trendy lofts, would start getting many new condos of its own, and sweep more of its industrial past away. This last vestige of easy rail access that hosted a flurry of GO and VIA activity every rush hour (multiple Bradford, Georgetown and Milton line trains, and six daily VIA corridor trains to Sarnia) would become a giant hole in the ground a few years later, with the grade separation tunnel making it near impossible to shoot at Strachan Avenue anymore (but the nearby pedestrian bridges offers a few possibilities from above). http://www.railpictures.ca The BEST Canadian photos on the Internet, eh? Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:04:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1