electricity | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘electricity’

a bridge to nowhere

Posted: June 2, 2024 in construction, locations, nature
Tags: Bermondsey, bridges, DOn River, East Don Trail, electricity, flowers, paths, railway tracks, the Meadoway, transmission towers

Another gorgeous May morning, another coffee shop. This time it was Circles and Squares Bakery on Bartley Drive where the butter tarts are amazing (well, what isn’t amazing there?).

Most of you are now asking, “Where is Bartley Drive?” Answer – close to the Bermondsey Transfer Station as pictured below. That’s where the garbage trucks go. It is also where you can drop off your hazardous waste or renovation waste, things that aren’t allowed in the trash you leave at the front of your house (or throw down the chute in your building). That large grey building is for yard waste. And yes, there is a lingering odor.

It is also close to the Bermondsey Hydro One Transmission Station.

below: Warning sign. “Property and copper marked for police identification.”

below: The transmission station is on the Hydro Corridor that cuts a swath through Toronto. There is a plan to turn most of it into “The Meadoway”, a bike and walking path that runs through a restored meadow. The paths are more developed in Scarborough, see blog post “the Meadoway” from November 2021.

At the moment this section of meadow has limited access. There is a dirt road that runs through the Hydro Corridor, west towards the Don River.

… but the bridge over the river is not quite complete. Once it is finished, it will connect The Meadoway and the East Don Trail.

Crossing the tracks anyhow.

below: Immediately after the newest bridge over the railway tracks, there is another bridge. This one crosses the Don River. This is now part of the East Don Trail. There is a section of the East Don Trail north of Eglinton (by the Rainbow Tunnel) but at the present time, they don’t connect. It’s an ongoing project. The large poles beside the path are the makings of a large net.

below: The nets are because Flemingdon Golf Club is right here. I suspect no one wants to get hit by a flying golf ball.

below: Looking back towards the newest bridge

below: White flowers on a Cranberry Viburnum plant.

below: Don River

It’s a quiet spot. But obviously some people make use of the space! Stonr’s hot box clubhouse.

Google maps shows the East Don Trail continuing south at least as far as where the Don River passes under the Don Valley Parkway. Unfortunately, the next time the path encounters the tracks, it ends. I forgot to take a picture but the tracks form a wall at the end of the road. There is a dirt path that runs uphill through the woods (away from the tracks) that probably leads to the Spanbridge Road neighbourhood. Instead of exploring further we retraced our steps back to Circles and Squares.

With thanks to the Wednesday morning walking group!

north of the Keating Channel

Posted: March 10, 2021 in history, locations, old buildings, transportation, waterfront
Tags: British American Oil, concrete, DVP, electricity, Gardiner Expressway, history, Keating channel, Lakeshore Blvd., pipes, Port Lands, ramp, street art, water

The other day, later in the afternoon, I was driving along the Lakeshore when I noticed that perfect lighting on the south side of the Keating Channel. I’ve done blog posts about the Port Lands development but I hadn’t looked at it from the other side. A quick change of plans – a parking spot nearby and a walk along the Lakeshore. This is some of what I saw that day.

below: At the bottom of Cherry Street

below: At the corner of Cherry and Lakeshore.

below: Along the Lakeshore, looking south towards Port Lands at Cherry.

below: The Gardiner curves slightly northward as it aligns with the Keating Channel. Lakeshore Blvd takes a wider turn and comes out from under the Gardiner for a few brief moments before slipping back under as both roads parallel the channel.

below: On the south side of Lakeshore, there is no sidewalk here but the grassy area is wide enough…..

below: Walking here offers a different view of the Port Lands. The “smokestack” on the right is the old Hearn Generating station.

below: Some of the buildings that remain on Villiers Street.

below: Panorama of Keating Channel being developed, 1916, before there was much on the Port Lands and Cherry Street was just a one lane dirt road.

below: Keating Channel, 1916

The original plan for the diversion of the Don River called for a more curved mouth of the river before it joined the Keating Channel. But the British American Oil Company who owned the land fought that idea. Instead, the 90 degree turn that still exists today was built to avoid crossing B/A property.

below: A few years after the channel was upgraded (1934)… From vacant land to a forest of BA oil tanks. There are railway tracks along the edge of the channel. From Wikipedia: “In 1908, with 8 shareholders, B/A built Canada’s third refinery on 3 acres on the eastern waterfront in Toronto. The company refined imported crude oil and its main product was kerosene; a then-useless by-product was gasoline, which was dumped into a swamp.”

Photo by Arthur Beales. Toronto Port Authority Archives, PC 1/1/10769. Found at Wikimedia Common

below: BA refinery with the Don River on the right, 1931. There were still storage tanks here in the 1960s when the city was building the Gardiner Expressway.

1931 photograph, vintage, black and white, of British American oil refinery just north of the Keating Channel and just west of the Don River,

Photo source: Library and Archives Canada, online

below: This rusty “fence” isn’t going to hold anyone or anything back. I had visions of tumbling into the icy channel if I went near it. I think that just looking at it made it wobble.

below: There are still places to tie up your boat

below: A big tap? It’s attached to a pipeline but is it functional? (It doesn’t look like it). There is a lot of infrastructure buried under the Lakeshore, sewer lines, water mains, electricals, etc., but this looks like a piece of history. Pleased correct me if I’m wrong! Also – if you plan to explore here, there are stretches where the only option is to walk right beside the road.