Better Know a Car Line: 506 Carlton

[spmarshall]

It’s time for the second installment of my 10 part series, “Better Know a Car Lineâ€.

Yeah, I know there are 11 car lines. But thanks to those ignorant, selfish NIMBYs up on St. Clair, the 512 is dead to me. That’s right! If you can’t support your local car line, then maybe you don’t deserve one. Call me when the right of way is completed, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll reconsider.

Today we look at the 506 Carlton. The fightin’ 506th! It’s a great car line, starting off in the west in the TTC’s most attractive loop, in High Park. It winds through some great nabes and past some of Toronto’s most exciting projects before entering the Main Street Station. However, with recent construction, the Upper Gerrard section is closed, so instead we go to Queen and Coxwell. The temporary routing goes to Bingham Loop off Kingston Road, but we’ll save that section for the 502.

I had a chance to sit down on a 506 streetcar and I give you this photo thread, based on the shots that either turned out the best, or were the most interesting.

Harry Stinson’s other project, High Park Lofts.

Robert Watson Lofts

Europa.

The Met.

When will Loblaws start something with Maple Leaf Gardens?

Poverty Square gets Boxed.

Riverdale Collegiate – nice looking school.

Gerrard India Bazzar

I’ve heard of this house on Coxwell before, but never seen it until now. Interesting.

Queen/Coxwell Loop

OK! Let’s put the 506 up on the big board!

 

[El Chico905]

A nice day for picture taking. You obviously watch the Colbert Report. You could have added something like:

Question...Harry Stinson, Great Developer, or Greatest Developer?

 

[astObs]

LOL. Two thumbs up for this Colbert themed thread.
That's my car line!

 

[shmoopie nhi]

I really enjoyed this thread and the concept of this series. Is the link to the first installment still active somewhere? I'd love to read it. Which route was used?

 

[ahsun]

Ha! This was great. I've just been away from UT way too long I've been missing all these.

Never even knew I could hop onto a single streetcar in my current hood and end up in my old hood! Really cool!

 

[spmarshall]

I first tried photography of streetcar routes from streetcars with the Queen Line from Roncesvalles to the Beaches.

Random pics from the 501

It's a great way of getting pictures - you have a bit of an elevation, if you sit on the left side, you get decent angles of streetscapes from that side, and you're moving, but slowly, and streetcars are smooth enough for it to work.

I thought if I was going to make it a series after my success with Queen, why not do the Colbert thing - especially if I don't feel like doing St. Clair (construction will hopefully start there west of Bathurst anyway), and declare that to be the "dead to me" line.

 

[mpolo2]

Can't wait till my line, the King line - the King of lines...

 

[Christopher DeWolf]

great job again. i really love this series. it's very honest and straightfoward. and full of truthiness.

 

[MrOttawa]

Toronto has some nice hoods, all over the place.

Thanks.

 

[Suicidal Gingerbread Man]

Nice. Can you put this in the Skyscraperpage forum as well?

 

[bizorky]

Now I want to hop on a streetcar and do exactly the same thing! Nice tour. You picked the perfect day to do it.

 

[spmarshall]

And it's time for me to bask in the praise of my fellow forumers who recognize my way of giving people the truth!

(Ok, enough of the Colbertesque persona)

Yeah, I have to pick a good, bright day to do something like this. The afternoon has the best pedestrian activity, but it is hard to get good shots facing west when the sun is bright after 2-3 PM or so.

This weekend isn't looking that great weather-wise, but I want to do 511 before the Fleet Street ROW is started (which will be soon, tracks are set up for it) - out of necessity, 511 might be next, but we'll see. I'll aim for one a week, then do a 501 revisited.

There are a few bus routes that could be interesting (32, 29, 61, 7) and they still have GM New Looks on them, so I might try one of those too and see if I can get good pics from them. The newer buses don't have windows that open at shoulder level (if at all) so they're useless for this.

Tip: The best place to take photos is on a ALRV on the left rear-most seat, where the opening window lines up really well, and there's lots of room to move around. On a CLRV, anywhere on the left side, at the back of a window, towards the back is best (behind the rear doors) - less people to bug you, though no one has yet minded my phototaking.

I've never really done any of the international boards, but it would be a good way of showing the city's vitality at street level, plus its architecture.

The streetcar is the best way of seeing this city. By foot isn't bad either, but you don't cover the same distance.

 

[ganjavih]

Great tour, spm. Your photos really show how much better CCBR turned out vs. Pharmacy. My favourite strip along that route has to be Little Italy... such a fun cozy neighbourhood esp. in the summer.

 

[Observer Walt]

What a good set of pictures. This will be hard to top. Probably no other streetcar line, even Queen, has as much variety along it as College / Carlton.

 

[Suicidal Gingerbread Man]

I've never really done any of the international boards, but it would be a good way of showing the city's vitality at street level, plus its architecture.

I'd post it on skyscraperpage myself, where I'm a moderator. Of course, the only problem with this forum's software is that I just can't copy and paste your code.

But I think its a great way to show off Toronto.