[hawc]

Imagine seeing a CPKC trains running down the middle of Eglinton.

For those curious about the above...

The train is indeed on street trackage, meaning the rails were embedded in the roadway, shared with car traffic. This was the Canadian Pacific “East Wharf Lead”, also called the “Toronto Harbour Lead”. It branched off CP’s mainline downtown, crossed Scott Street, and ran at street level along Lake Shore Blvd East (now Queens Quay) to serve the industrial and port facilities on the waterfront. It ran as far east as Cherry Street, serving customers like Redpath Sugar and other port terminals. Trains would typically run slowly (under 10 km/h) with a crew member on the front pilot to flag intersections and clear traffic.

 

[A 6264]

View attachment 688034



For those curious about the above...

The train is indeed on street trackage, meaning the rails were embedded in the roadway, shared with car traffic. This was the Canadian Pacific “East Wharf Lead”, also called the “Toronto Harbour Lead”. It branched off CP’s mainline downtown, crossed Scott Street, and ran at street level along Lake Shore Blvd East (now Queens Quay) to serve the industrial and port facilities on the waterfront. It ran as far east as Cherry Street, serving customers like Redpath Sugar and other port terminals. Trains would typically run slowly (under 10 km/h) with a crew member on the front pilot to flag intersections and clear traffic.

I love comparing old pictures to the same location today. This is a picture of the same intersection from Google Earth.
The intersection is Queen's Quay and Bay Street. You can see a street sign for Bay Street in both pictures. The street light on the right corner looks almost the same, but not quite.
Harbour Castle must be the building at the right, and it looks like it was still under contruction. It opened in 1975, so the picture may be from the year before, which is about what I would have guessed.
The big mystery is why the Toronto Star building at left, looks like it's at the same intersection, but in the modern picture it's much further down the street.
I think it's an illusion of perspective. It's further away than it looks. The building recently dropped the Toronto Star signage and now has no name. The Google Earth image is a few years old.

 

[hawc]

I love comparing old pictures to the same location today. This is a picture of the same intersection from Google Earth.

Very cool!

So in the original picture it called it Lakeshore not Queens Quay. I was confused by that. Did they change the name at some point?

 

[urbanclient]

View attachment 688034



For those curious about the above...

The train is indeed on street trackage, meaning the rails were embedded in the roadway, shared with car traffic. This was the Canadian Pacific “East Wharf Lead”, also called the “Toronto Harbour Lead”. It branched off CP’s mainline downtown, crossed Scott Street, and ran at street level along Lake Shore Blvd East (now Queens Quay) to serve the industrial and port facilities on the waterfront. It ran as far east as Cherry Street, serving customers like Redpath Sugar and other port terminals. Trains would typically run slowly (under 10 km/h) with a crew member on the front pilot to flag intersections and clear traffic.

This shot is very cool.

Very cool!

So in the original picture it called it Lakeshore not Queens Quay. I was confused by that. Did they change the name at some point?

I cannot for the life of me find any source stating Queens Quay used to be called Lake Shore Boulevard East. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[T3G]

I cannot for the life of me find any source stating Queens Quay used to be called Lake Shore Boulevard East. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not aware of any such thing, either. I would assume the photo description was mislabeled.

 

[drum118]

The QQ has been around shortly after 1919 when the road was built after the lake was fill in for commerical use and slips for ships with the QQ termilal been built in 1926 as a cold storage.

The two photos where shot from different locations with the 2nd one west of Bay and the 1st just west of Yonge.

 

[A 6264]

The two photos where shot from different locations with the 2nd one west of Bay and the 1st just west of Yonge.

I disagree; as I said before, a sign for Bay Street can be seen in both pictures, and the same building, Harbour Castle, is on the right in both pictures.

 

[A 6264]

I'm not aware of any such thing, either. I would assume the photo description was mislabeled.

A great many streets in Toronto had their names changed in the 20th century, and often the old name is now the name of another street nearby. Lakeshore Boulevard used to be the name of whatever street was closest to the lake, whether it was a main street or a small residential road, as long as they were all connected.

 

[zang]

The two photos where shot from different locations with the 2nd one west of Bay and the 1st just west of Yonge.

They're in roughly the same spot, though the first photo is a couple of dozen feet west of Bay. The field of view is different. You can literally see the sign for Bay Street in the first photo on the left hand side.

 

[Jonny5]

Very cool!

So in the original picture it called it Lakeshore not Queens Quay. I was confused by that. Did they change the name at some point?

There was a Lakeshore Road that was displaced by the Gardiner in this area. There were also a lot of interim road configurations during the construction of the Gardiner in this area and something might have been renamed Lakeshore Road as a convenience at that time, but sometimes things stick around in people's memories a long time after they are officially changed (have you been to the SkyDome, lately?), also signage can stick around forever, like how there was that speed limit sign in M/PH on Disco Road until around 2008.

Anyway, I recall those tracks were still there until at least 2005, some paved over, some not, some paved over but the pavement worn away.

If you want another nearby example of this to lookup there was Ferguson Avenue in Hamilton and Hatt Street in Dundas, both of which I think were active until the early 1990's.

 

[innsertnamehere]

There were lines on the street in Oshawa as well, IIRC.

 

[Northern Light]

My modest contribution to the above tangent before we return to discussing Eglinton! LOL

The full history with lots of photos of the Wharf trackage discussed above.

Old Time Trains

 

[T3G]

A great many streets in Toronto had their names changed in the 20th century, and often the old name is now the name of another street nearby. Lakeshore Boulevard used to be the name of whatever street was closest to the lake, whether it was a main street or a small residential road, as long as they were all connected.

I know that streets get renamed, but I have not been able to find anything to suggest Queens Quay was ever called anything but that.

 

[hawc]

I loaded the picture into ChatGPT and got completely wrong information, but said with such authority and conviction. Hahaha.

That’s Toronto in the 1970s, and the train is running right down Bathurst Street, on what was known as the CP Galt Subdivision “Harbour Lead” or Toronto waterfront industrial spur.

• Location: Bathurst Street, just south of Front Street West.
• Direction: The train is heading south toward the waterfront, likely switching industries or warehouses west of Spadina Quay.
• Locomotive: Canadian Pacific switcher #6584, a GMD SW1200RS, which worked local freight in downtown Toronto during that era.
• Background landmarks: You can see the Toronto Star building (grey façade) near the left background, confirming this is near the base of Bathurst Street leading to Lakeshore and Queen’s Quay.

WRONG!

 

[Aplus23]

forgive my ignorance, but how do you build tall buildings on lake infill sites, I thought the fittings had to hit bedrock