Teesdale Place runs west off of Pharmacy Ave., just east of Victoria Park subway station.
below: Victoria Park subway station is on the far left. As the tracks cross Pharmacy Avenue, there is a mural by Jarus of a boy holding a blue jay that covers all of the underpass.
On the other side of the underpass is another mural by Jarus – a young girl holding a cardinal carefully in her hand.
below: Teesdale Place
Sometimes I choose my walks randomly and sometimes I am on a mission to find something in particular. The other day, June 1st, definitely falls in the latter category. I have been following the Crosstown LRT/subway construction so when I heard that the new LRT trains were arriving for testing near Kennedy I knew that I had to see it for myself. While I was there, why not check out the area?
below: On Eglinton, east of Kennedy
below: It’s not the most pedestrian friendly stretch of road but it’s also a bridge over railway tracks.
below: Kennedy station is already a GO train station. The east end of line 2 (Bloor-Danforth line) swings north as it crosses Scarborough. By Kennedy it is at Eglinton Ave and here it connects with the above ground TTC line 3 (Sheppard line). The blue train is the latter.
below: Looking west towards the intersection of Kennedy and Eglinton.
below: Northwest corner of Kennedy and Eglinton
below: The Crosstown LRT tracks are on the surface for
most of the Scarborough portion of its route. Just west of Kennedy station they go underground.
below: A new LRT train on the tracks between Ionview and Kennedy stations. It had been unloaded from a truck minutes before I arrived. At least two other trains where scheduled to arrive that day.
below: Ionview station
below: Traffic flow
below: That’s one way to use a construction sign. Whether Mike is responsible or has been pranked is anybody’s guess
below: The new Kennedy LRT station (at the eastern end of the line) is almost complete. The LRT is scheduled to be operational “sometime in 2022”.
below: What people keep on their dashboards…..
below: Kiss ‘n Ride at Kennedy station
below: TTC subway train, line 3, enters Kennedy station.
below: Danger due to yetis
below: Parking for an underground church? Or underground parking for a church?
Keep Smiling!
Immediately south of the Danforth , the CNR tracks cross Warden Avenue. A heritage mural was painted there a few years ago.
The wall on the west side was painted first. In the centre is a portrait of Elizabeth Simcoe. In August 1793, Elizabeth Simcoe wrote that the bluffs reminded her of the limestone cliffs in Scarborough England. Apparently that led to the bluffs being called Scarborough Highlands. Scarborough village became the settlement near the Scarborough bluffs.
To the left of her is a painting of the Scarborough bluffs.
And to the right, a steam train at the station.
On the east side, a painting of the stone Bell estate house built in 1830 is in the centre. Although it is known today as the Bell estate, the original builders were Richard and John Thornbeck who obtained 100 acres on that site in 1828 (near presentday Warden and St. Clair). In 1861 this 4 bedroom house was occupied by Richard Thornbeck, his wife, six children and his widowed mother.
Thornbeck sold the house to William Bell in 1882. It was then home to a line of Bell decendents for over a century. It was Bell’s Scarborough Dairy from 1931 to 1943 when it was purchased by Donlands Dairy. Part of the property was later owned by Beckers Milk who had a milk processing plant there until 1995. In 2012 the house was empty and boarded up.
below: On delivery, with horse and wagon from Mitchells. Arthur Mitchells Grocery store was an early landmark in the community of Birchcliff. It was on the corner of Kingston Road and Birchmount.
The mural was painted in 2012/2013 by De Anne Lamirande with help from Andrew Horne and Emelia Jajus
This mural illustrates the Bell estate’s beautiful fieldstone house built in 1830, just east of Warden Avenue which was designated as a historical site in 2011 and still stands today. Established on the property was Bell’s Scarborough Dairy which flourished from 1931 to 1943. The A.H. Mitchell Grocery Store was located on Kingston Road and made deliveries in this area by horse and buggy. The centre columns feature Oak trees, the red Canadian Maple and Birch trees which represent the Oakridge and Birchcliff communities.
[note: Oakridge is north of the tracks while the community of Birchcliff is to the south]
With collaboration from City of Toronto and Mural Routes
I heard that there was a new mural near Finch and Morningside which of course means that I have to try and find it. In doing so, I found three murals. This is their story.
This is Morningside Heights at the far eastern side of Scarborough. The Rouge River, the border between Scarborough and Pickering, is not far away. The Toronto Zoo is also nearby.
below: Bus 133, Neilson Road, waits at a stop on Finch just west of Morningside. The houses that you see in the background are on Morningside.
The Canadian Pacific railway tracks run on a diagonal at this intersection. They cross Morningside south of Finch and they also cross Finch just west of Morningside. The bridges, and underpasses, are very close to each other. In this photo, the train is on the bridge over Finch. Do people often stand outside the front of a train?
In the above picture, the wall of the underpass on the left is unpainted. The wall on the right, the one that you can’t see has a mural by Mediah.
It is called “Interoh Gale” and Mural Routes was a partner in its development last year.
below: west end
below: east end
below: Construction has begun on the southwest corner of this intersection. The site plan, approved last year, shows a Shell gas station with retail on three sides of it. Leases are available! (you’ll have to google it).
below: There is a pond with a walking trail around it almost directly across Morningside from the above construction site.
below: Two people, after being on the trail around the pond, walk south on Morningside via an underpass that has murals on both sides. This is mural on the east side. It is older than the others but it is in reasonably good shape.
below: A boy on a skate board and a girl doing what? The two green signs say Love and Malvern. I don’t know Scarborough well enough to know if the buildings in the mural represent real ones. Malvern is just to the west.
below: MFRC is Malvern Family Resource Centre and there is a picture on their website of the unveiling of this mural in September 2015.
below: This is the newest mural. It is called “Colour Outside the Lines” and it is the work of Lacey and Layla Art (aka Lacey Jane and Layla Folkmann)
below: Looking north on Morningside from Finch.
On the northwest corner of this intersection, there is a large piece of vacant land. The railway tracks run along the west side of it. I can’t find any information about it online. There isn’t the usual blue and white Notice of Development sign. The website on the billboard shows some of the houses that they have built/remodeled but there is nothing about this particular project.
Once it was fenced in by the looks of it. Not much of the black cloth remains. It looks a bit creepy, as nature undoes man’s work.
But now it’s for sale maybe? LOL. A cliff hanger ending for this post!
It’s easy to view railway tracks from bridges, in this case from a bridge on Finch Avenue East between Markham Road and McCowan. The is CPR Toronto Yard.
It is a marshaling yard, also known as a classification yard, which is where railway cars are separated onto one of several tracks and joined with other cars with the same destination.
Sitting on over 400 acres, CPR’s yard in Scarborough is one of the largest in Canada. There are 311 switches and about 140km of track on which freight cars are shunted between tracks. The site was opened in 1964.
…but getting to track level can be more of a challenge.
below: It sometimes involves getting lost and having a chat with a security guard or two (but not until after you have a few good wall & shadow pictures)
below: In other places, access is simple.
below: I’ve never thought too much about graffiti on trains until today – How many miles has this little guy traveled? Where did he come from and who painted him when? How many people have seen him as he shuttles back and forth across the country (or perhaps farther than that?)?
below: Looking right back at you!
below: A westbound train leaves the yard at McCowan Road.
below: Back in 1964 the community of Browns Corners was at the corner of Finch Avenue East and Markham Road(not to be confused with the other Browns Corners on Woodbine Ave and Hwy 7). There are no more traces of the community or the farms that surrounded it.
I only walked around part of the yard and I didn`t take very many pictures of the buildings that are there – seniors residence, medical clinic, a few offices, etc.
I would like to end this blog post with one building that I saw that was different.
below: The Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre is nearby. I think that I have it right – the Sathya Sai Organization is not a religion but a “universal approach to life” whose teacher and spiritual leader is Sathya Sai Baba. Each of the five petals in the flower contain a word or phrase: truth, right conduct, peace, non violence, and love.
below: There was a column-like structure near the door topped with a large lotus flower. The base was square and on each were printed words. “Offer all bitterness in the sacred Fire and emerge grand, great and Godly.”
below: “Remember the wheel of Cause and Consequence of Deed and Destiny and the Wheel of Dharma that rights them all”. I assume that the other two sides also had inscriptions but I couldn’t see them because of a fence with a locked gate.
Back on McCowan and back home… (still no TTC in my life)
Getting used to this “social distancing” thing but not the “stay at home” part. A walk in the park seemed like a good way to mix the two – get a little exercise without running into too many people.
below: Keeping his distance
It’s close to March 21st and the beginning of spring. Actually this blog post started to take form after I parked my car and wandered aimlessly a few yards. I was standing on a path in a ravine wondering which way to go… but why was I here? I heard a bird, and then I heard another.
below: A robin snacking on sumach
below: A female downy woodpecker
below: A little chickadee
below: It’s not a bird nor is it a sign of spring, but it sat still enough to let me get my camera focused through the branches.
below: The red dogwood branches have started to become more vibrant.
below: Pussy willows have opened up their fuzzy white buds. A definite indicator of spring.
below: There weren’t many tree buds but this tree (and others of its type) were an exception.
below: There was a train too! A different kind of sign of life.
Spring, and a walk in the park. Sometimes it’s just the little things…. including someone to share your space.
below: Reflections in the Wilket Creek
BlogTO had promoted a Day of Dead march on 2nd November, starting at Spadina and Fort York at noon. It was a grey and miserable day but a few of us went to see what was up. What we found at that location at noon was a few other photographers standing around in a sheltered spot wondering if anything was happening. At 12:20 we started to leave – and that is when a group of about maybe 20 people dressed like the men below showed up. But half of them were carrying advertisements for Westjet. It was just a publicity stunt. Boo to BlogTO for promoting it as an event.
It has been a long time since I was in that neighbourhood with a camera so perhaps a short walk around would be a good idea. The new Canoe Landing Centre is taking shape at the corner of Fort York Blvd and Brunel Court.
below: The view from Fort York Blvd
below: The view from Canoe Landing Park. The centre also includes includes two elementary schools, Bishop Macdonell Catholic and Jean Lumb Public Schools, and a day care centre.
below: Making use of the park on a grey Saturday afternoon.
below: Douglas Coupland’s red canoe art installation is still there, jutting out over the top of the hill.
below: One of the views from the canoe, cars entering the canyon of highrise glass & steel condos along the Gardiner Expressway.
below: Working hard at the library at the corner of Bathurst and Fort York.
below: Bathurst Street as it crosses the railway tracks.
below: Chill! Stay warm until next time!
Open Doors was this past weekend in Toronto. For one day only, the new maintenance facility for the Eglinton Crosstown in Mt Dennis was open to the public, the EMSF (Eglinton Maintenace and Storage Facility). Although the new trains (aka light rail vehicles) are very much like the new TTC streetcars and the new maintenance buildings resemble the Leslie Barns, here are a few glimpses of what is to come.
below: The parking lot and pedestrian access to the EMSF is off Industry Street.
below: Exterior of new Crosstown light rail vehicle. Six new vehicles have been delivered from Bombardier so far. Another seventy are expected to arrive before the Crosstown opens in 2021.
below: Interior, looking towards the front.
below: The AVIS facility – Automated Vehicle Inspection Station
below: Looking into the maintenance building.
below: The site takes up 42 acres of land. There are 8.5 kms of track.
Not shown: There is also a building for Transit Operations.
What to do on a cold day when the wind is vicious and blows right through you? It blows through my hat, my ears and my brain. It makes my head hurt. Not the ideal walking day even with all my winter layers on. I have been thinking about my walk along Sheppard Avenue and some of the issues with public transit and while doing so I realized that I had never been on the Scarborough Rapid Transit. With all the talk about Sheppard subway vs LRT, I decided that maybe I should check it out. So instead of a walk, I went for a ride and took the SRT to McCowan and back.
First I had to get to the SRT which starts at Kennedy subway station.
At Kennedy I was a lost tourist as I searched for the route between the subway and the SRT. Here the SRT trains run above street level so it took a couple of escalators and some stairs to reach the platform.
below: Standing on the platform and waiting for the train. Kennedy station is at Kennedy & Eglinton and I think that this is the view looking east from there.
below: The train arrives.
below: Leaving Kennedy station. The first part of the route is north and runs parallel to the CNR & Stouffville GO line train tracks. The red and white cars are the original colour from when the SRT opened in 1985. In 2015 the TTC began painting the cars blue to match the colour scheme that now goes with “Line 3” on the TTC maps. They also began two switch over the name of the SRT to Line 3 Scarborough.
below: I wasn’t the only tourist on the train! After being on the subway, it felt a bit like being on a toy train. The cars are smaller. The trains are powered by linear induction motors which are quite different from conventional motors. They push themselves along the tracks using alternating flat magnets. That’s a very simplistic description of the science of induction motors but I’m sure that you can use google to find more information if you are interested!
below: The Scarborough RT, also referred to as TTC line 3, covers 6.4 km on its route from Kennedy station to McCowan station. There are six stops, Kennedy, Lawrence East, Ellesmere, Midland, Scarborough Centre, and McCowan. Note the blue colour on the map!
below: Ellesmere station. Apparently it is the least used station in the system, less even than Bessarion.
below: Looking out the back window. The tracks are standard gauge whereas the subway runs on tracks that are wider so the TTC can’t run their subway cars on these tracks.
below: This is the view at McCowan station, the end of the line. Although it was a very quiet ride to McCowan, the train was full on the ride back to Kennedy with Scarborough Centre being the most crowded station. It took 40 minutes to go from McCowan to Bloor/Yonge.
***
Graffiti and street art on the garages
of David French Lane and Alan Powell Lane
David French Lane runs south from Barbara Barrett Lane (just south of Bloor St.), one block to Sussex Ave. If you cross Sussex Ave., the lane continues as Alan Powell Lane. Both lanes are lined with garages for the houses on Borden St. and Brunswick Ave., the streets that run parallel on either side of the lanes. Alan Powell Lane also runs behind Central Tech Collegiate.
There is an excellent interactive map of the lanes of Harbord village and the people for whom they were named at http://www.harbordvillage.com/laneways/lanewayinteractivemap.html
A railway locomotive roars past the corner of Barbara Barrett Lane and David French Lane.
Camille is loved.
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Darth Vader and the dogs
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, in duplicate. Looking north up Alan Powell Lane.
A posr rabbit lurks in the corner, Alan Powell Lane
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as I walk Toronto 