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Steam-era West Toronto Diamond in the Winter: Canadian National Mikado 3518 heads north on the Brampton Sub (today the GO Weston Sub), passing the former West Toronto interlocking tower and about to cross the diamonds with the CP's North Toronto Sub. A group of employees tend to the ten(!) diamonds that make up this interlocking. In the background on the left one can spot the CP grade crossing tower for Osler Avenue. On the right, the tracks of the CP Galt Sub curve under the now-demolished Old Weston Road bridge where this photo was taken from.  The large human-manned interlocking tower here locally controlled the passage of CN & CP trains over each others' tracks, and was demolished around when the interlocking plant was upgraded to be remotely control by the CP Toronto Terminal RTC around 1965 (photo of the area soon after here). In May 2014, the final train crossed the diamonds here - after years of construction work, GO Transit/Metrolinx converted the diamonds to a fly-under to reduce delays for increasing passenger service on this corridor.  The closest pair of diamonds are for the CP Galt-MacTier connecting track, allowing trains like The Canadian heading to and from nearby West Toronto Station to get onto the MacTier Sub (shown here by James Adeney using the connecting track). It also crossed over both tracks of the Brampton Sub out of frame to the left via two more diamonds. The next two tracks are the afforementioned CN Brampton Sub mainline from downtown Toronto to Brampton, Guelph and beyond (later becoming the Weston Sub, today owned by GO Transit).  The last track crossing just behind the tower is CP's "old Bruce" service track to industries on the east side of the corridor, heading as far down as Laura Secord (Nestle today) at Dundas Street before connecting with CN near Parkdale. It was part of the original Toronto, Grey & Bruce line before CP absorbed it, with much of the line to the north becoming the CP's MacTier Sub. The Penfound Varnish Company on the right was also serviced off this track. This diamond crossing was eventually removed and replaced with a sharp curving lead starting by Osler Ave. The old Bruce service track was fully removed in the 90's after much of the manufacturing industry along this corridor located elsewhere or stopped shipping via local sidings. Today all the industry and customers that once shipped by rail in this area are gone, but mainline freights, passenger and commuter trains still pass through on a constant basis.
Copyright Notice: This image ©Bill Thomson all rights reserved.



Caption: Steam-era West Toronto Diamond in the Winter: Canadian National Mikado 3518 heads north on the Brampton Sub (today the GO Weston Sub), passing the former West Toronto interlocking tower and about to cross the diamonds with the CP's North Toronto Sub. A group of employees tend to the ten(!) diamonds that make up this interlocking. In the background on the left one can spot the CP grade crossing tower for Osler Avenue. On the right, the tracks of the CP Galt Sub curve under the now-demolished Old Weston Road bridge where this photo was taken from.

The large human-manned interlocking tower here locally controlled the passage of CN & CP trains over each others' tracks, and was demolished around when the interlocking plant was upgraded to be remotely control by the CP Toronto Terminal RTC around 1965 (photo of the area soon after here). In May 2014, the final train crossed the diamonds here - after years of construction work, GO Transit/Metrolinx converted the diamonds to a fly-under to reduce delays for increasing passenger service on this corridor.

The closest pair of diamonds are for the CP Galt-MacTier connecting track, allowing trains like The Canadian heading to and from nearby West Toronto Station to get onto the MacTier Sub (shown here by James Adeney using the connecting track). It also crossed over both tracks of the Brampton Sub out of frame to the left via two more diamonds. The next two tracks are the afforementioned CN Brampton Sub mainline from downtown Toronto to Brampton, Guelph and beyond (later becoming the Weston Sub, today owned by GO Transit).

The last track crossing just behind the tower is CP's "old Bruce" service track to industries on the east side of the corridor, heading as far down as Laura Secord (Nestle today) at Dundas Street before connecting with CN near Parkdale. It was part of the original Toronto, Grey & Bruce line before CP absorbed it, with much of the line to the north becoming the CP's MacTier Sub. The Penfound Varnish Company on the right was also serviced off this track. This diamond crossing was eventually removed and replaced with a sharp curving lead starting by Osler Ave. The old Bruce service track was fully removed in the 90's after much of the manufacturing industry along this corridor located elsewhere or stopped shipping via local sidings. Today all the industry and customers that once shipped by rail in this area are gone, but mainline freights, passenger and commuter trains still pass through on a constant basis.

Photographer:
Bill Thomson [715] (more) (contact)
Date: January 1959 (search)
Railway: Canadian National (search)
Reporting Marks: CN 3518 (search)
Train Symbol: Not Provided
Subdivision/SNS: West Toronto - CN Brampton Sub (search)
City/Town: Toronto (search)
Province: Ontario (search)
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Photo ID: 15067

Map courtesy of Open Street Map

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3 Comments
  1. Wonderful picture!!!!!
    Thank you for posting it.

  2. Excellent detailed history of this important location. Well done.

  3. Is the locomitive reversing in this photo?

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