Posts Tagged ‘401’

around Oriole station

Posted: October 17, 2025 in construction, transportation
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Oriole GO station is on the Richmond Hill line.  It is located at Leslie and the 401 highway and for many years the parking lot for the station was under the 401.  With the recent changes to the Leslie/401 interchange, and all the construction that that entails, this parking lot is gone.   Also, the old station building is no longer in use and the platform has been moved slightly north.  A new metal pedestrian bridge has been built over the tracks south of the station to replce an older wood structure – this provides access to the residential area to the south.

sign pointing to GO station, in park,

graffiti on concrete on the side of elevated portion of 401 highway. green space between concrete and chainlink fence and gate

below:  Under the 401 highway

behind chainlink fence, graffiti on concrete pillars holding up the 401 highway

below:  Access to Woodsworth park involves getting over the tracks via a new pedestrian bridge.

looking across tracks at oriole GO station, near new pedestrian bridge over the tracks

below:  Caged!

cage enclosing top level of metal pedestrian bridge

below:  The bridge is high! The top of it is level with the traffic on the ramp between the eastbound 401 and Leslie Street.  This is the view north and slightly west from the bridge.

cars on ramp between eastbound 401 and Leslie Street, highrise glass and steel condos behind, GO train tracks under the ramp, view from pedestrian bridge over the tracks

below:  Another view from the bridge, this time looking northeast

looking northeast from pedestrian bridge over GO tracks at oriole station, looking over the 401 to highrises in the distance

below:  Looking east over all the lanes of the 401, including the new Leslie Street on-ramp on the south side.

highway 401, east from Leslie Street

below:  At track level

track level, platform for oriole GO station, under the 401,

It was very quiet here.  Oriole station is the first stop north of Union but trains only run during rush hours.  There are four trains that run southbound in the morning and five trains for northbound trips in the afternoon.  No trains stop here between 8:35 a.m. and 4:14 p.m.  There don’t seem to be any stats online re the number of people who use this station.

sign for Oriole go station

below:  Old station building in the background that is no longer is use (i.e. there are no washroom facilities here at the moment).

construction of new off-ramp from the 401 eastbound at Leslie Street, with old GO station building in the background

construction of new off-ramp from the 401 eastbound at Leslie Street

below: You may have seen this giant billboard if you have driven past on the 401.  It stands beside the Oriole station platform.  Recently, the platform was under under the 401 and therefore, protected from the rain.  It has been moved slightly north to bring it closer to Leslie subway station (TTC)

massive billboard on large metal support, at the side of GO station tracks, highrise condos in the background, Oriole,

Oriole Go station platform under the 401 highway, with construction

below: All pedestrian access to the old station as well as the parking lot has been closed.

danger do not enter signs, no pedestrians sign, blocking sidewalk passage under bridge at oriole GO station

workmen, construction of new off-ramp from the 401 eastbound at Leslie Street

below: There is another entrance to the station at the north end where the tracks cross Esther Shiner Blvd. [extra note: Esther Shiner was a North York municipal politician who was first elected in 1972.  She served as councilor, as well as a short stint as Deputy Mayor until her death in 1987.]

north end of Oriole GO station platform, with sign pointing to exit at Esther Shiner Blvd

Not everybody walks to IKEA!

IKEA store and flags, on Esther Shiner Blvd, beside GO railway tracks,

looking northwest across railway tracks just north of oriole go station

below: The tracks cross Esther Shiner Blvd, but the sidewalk doesn’t and all pedestrian traffic is routed to the south side.   If you want to transfer to the TTC (Leslie station), there is a walk involved.   It takes about 10 minutes I think.

pigeon sitting on railing overlooking esther shiner blvd, TTC bus in the background, looking east towards Leslie street

esther shiner street, looking west towards ikea, under train tracks,

two signs with arrows, TTC Leslie to the left and GO Oriole to the right

below: Turn left at Old Leslie if you are looking for the TTC subway.  Straight through gets you to Leslie Street (at North York General Hospital, north of the 401 highway and south of Shepard).

Old Leslie Street sign on post along with other signs for TTC and GO,

below: The signs still direct you to the GO station via under the 401….

leslie looking south at 401, construction and Oriole GO station

below: …. but the road is actually closed to traffic.

workman under the 401, by sidewalk, a couple are walking towards him

4 different tall lights,

below: Looking northwest across Leslie, south of the 401 (towards Yonge & Shepard).

leslie street, south of the 401

below: Making sidewalks.

workmen pouring cement for new kerbs and sidewalk, along Leslie street at 401

below: Old and faded, rules and regulations for prevention of the spread of COVID-19

old COVID 19 rules and regulations poster, weathered, on fence at construction site
red lines spray painted onto sidewalk, beside a crack in the cement

concrete support, and part of rusty metal train bridge over Leslie street

light and shadows between portions of highway being constructed and renovated

construction site light and shadows, and small orange cone

construction of new ramp, 401 and Leslie

no entry sign on pole, overgrown with shrub,

brown pigeon sitting on a grey metal round hand rail overlooking city street

havenbrook

Posted: September 18, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I ventured north today, north of the 401….. to Havenbrook Park which is just far enough north to access the bridge under the 401 just east of Leslie Street.  I went there because I had heard that some interesting graffiti could be found under the bridge.  As you can see, someone beat me to it.  It’s all gone, all cleaned up.

There is a small, and boring, amount of graffiti across the river and up the hill.   If I also wanted to climb the fence, I could access a bit more graffiti.  My cane was handy for managing the incline down to the river but that was the limit of my adventuring for today.

concrete supports, part of the bridge over the Don River

Having said that, there was this one piece of graffiti:

a stencil graffiti in black and white of a woman's face.

The graffiti had been cleaned up and so had the surroundings.  It was probably the cleanest of the bridges that I have been under in Toronto.  I saw rocks, dirt, water, paw prints and not much else.

paw prints in the mud

 

blog_reflections

 

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