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Caption: A few months after the start of GO Transit service, a westbound train for Oakville is seen approaching Dufferin Street and a station stop at the old Exhibition station. The view here would change the following year with the opening of GO Transit's new Exhibition station (the fourth in the vicinity), would open in late 1968.
Metrolinx is currently in the process of rebuilding Exhibition station into a multi-modal station incorporating rail, subway, and streetcar service. Anticipated completion date is 2041.
Scan and editing by Jacob Patterson.
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Great scene, John. What is the track climbing upgrade with piggyback flats? Storage?
Holy crud I didn’t see that… what the heck??
also note Toronto’s finest in the motorcycle on the Gardiner..
Yes, what the heck is that track on the ramp?
The ramp (not the track) appears to still be there – there is a Google street view from the north Exhibition platform, and if you look west you can see the retaining wall climbing up. So if the track went up to meet Dufferin Street at grade, then what?
Dufferin and the next three crossings over the Oakville Sub – Dunn Ave, Jameson Ave, and Dowling Ave – all either have or used to have a railway-style plate girder bridge. Perhaps these were repurposed from railway use like Bathurst St or perhaps it’s just nothing, but I’d love to know where that track went.
Here’s a map from around 1960: Note there seem to be two tracks on that ramp
https://www.toronto.ca/ext/archives/s0727/s0727_it0142.jpg
Here’s a satellite view from the same era:
You can also see the TG&B ROW that was obliterated later
https://www.toronto.ca/ext/archives/s0012/fl1967/s0012_fl1967_it0026.jpg
1959 showing as gardiner being constructed:
https://www.toronto.ca/ext/archives/s0012/fl1959/s0012_fl1959_it0013.jpg
And before the gardiner showing the ramp tracks leading to the Dufferin gate, removed for the Gardiner
https://www.toronto.ca/ext/archives/s0012/fl1957/s0012_fl1957_it0149.jpg
It would appear those tracks were for the CNE.
Nice work, Steve. In that last view you can see what looks like an RS3 or RSC13 working near the CNE grounds.
Very cool. Thanks Steve!
Yes, those are the CNE display tracks. There were apparently two there, extending most of the way west to Dufferin (and the Dufferin Gates entrance to the CNE). Things changed when the Gardiner went in, but IIRC a siding remained in some form, and lasted into the 80′s.
In 1954, CP displayed two new Budd cars for the Canadian at that end:
https://x.com/TORailwayMuseum/status/1299113781407232001?lang=bg
Looking carefully here, the track has been shortened for parking, but LNER 4472 and some British coaches are on display on the CNE track in the distance: http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=46613
I have a hunch those piggyback flatcars in John’s shot could be for circus-type equipment there for the fall Canadian National Exhibition that year, typically taking place Aug-Sep every year.