St. Clair Avenue Pre-ROW (58 pics)

[spmarshall]

Last week, Ed007Toronto, cdl42 and I took a walk along St. Clair, to check it out before work starts on the ROW. Ed and I walked along the entire stretch from Yonge to Runnymede, cdl joined us at Oakwood.

My pics below are in order from when the pics were taken.

It might have been 11:30 in the morning, but there weren't many around to Celebrate Toronto at St. Clair and Yonge.

At Yonge:

Moving west:

Good riddance, IMO:

An eastbound streetcar blocked by a left-turning truck, and then an idiot turning west-to-south at Avenue Road.

Newspaper boxes and A-frame ads are a scourge:

Eaton's, We want to be your church.

The classic wooden poles on this street will soon be a thing of the past.

Trackwork is badly needed:

Burying the hydro wiring for street beautification:

St. Clair West Station and Loblaws.

Past Bathurst, the retail could use some help. Goodwill, Sally Ann and payday lenders anchor this part of the street.

I expect the tracks to Wychwood Carhouse will be at least partially removed. (Townsley loop, at Old Weston Road is supposed to go too)

All streetcars were turned at Oakwood for the Corso Italia festival.

You lost. (The only SOS sign left that I saw)

The Corso Italia festival was a flop - it looked more like a fall fair for a one-horse town, complete with a pathetic midway and pony rides. We stopped nearby for sandwhiches and then gelato (mmmmm!).

Past Caledonia, St. Clair looks rough.

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End of the line.

The smell of pig shit is in the air - literally - the townhouses are fairly urban, but hey are across the street from a massive power centre. There are plans to extend the St. Clair car to either Runnymede, Jane or Scarlett once the rest of the line is fixed up.

Just past Runnymede is a new Wal-Mart and more of the same transitional land uses from industrial to residential and mixed commercial.

 

[EnviroTO]

Thanks for the pics. It will be great to compare these to pics taken along St.Clair next year between St.Clair West Station and Yonge, and on the western portions in a couple of years time. I think the "Save Our St.Clair" folks are going to feel like fools once they see how much more lively the street looks when it is all done. Those streets look pretty dead west of St.Clair West because they are so wide... it looks like a downtown in a smaller midwest city somewhere that is barely surviving with those wide streets and lack of life. I think the makeover is going to go a long way on St.Clair.

 

[dan e 1980]

great photo tour.

 

[tayser2]

Hawthorn, Kensington, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Carlton and a little South Yarra - oh sorry, I thought I was looking at Melbourne for a moment.

it's uncanny how similar both inner 'burbs (tram/streetcar burbs / neighbourhoods, whatever you want to call em) of both cities are. Toronto's just Melbourne, except your drive on the wrong side of the road, with more high-rises! :lol

cdl, I get it now:

eye-opener, this thread is.

 

[yyzer]

Nice Pics! My old 'hood!

 

[cdl42]

"cdl, I get it now"

Good to hear. I was actually thinking about pointing out that exact pic to you for that reason.

 

[Ed007Toronto]

We're going to do some more of these walks this year. One that I want to do is Regent Park before they start tearing it down. That one should take place in the next month or so.

 

[shawnmicallef]

I like it past Caledonia - the roughness - the grade train crossings - the tracks that sort of line the side of St. Clair.

 

[bizorky]

We're going to do some more of these walks this year. One that I want to do is Regent Park before they start tearing it down. That one should take place in the next month or so.

I, for one, am looking forward to your photo documents and commentary of streets and neighbourhoods. Great job!

 

[Ed007Toronto]

We're open to checking out other areas as well and are open to have other UT members join us. Just let us know.

 

[Suicidal Gingerbread Man]

^
Hmm. I see tracks, but no overhead wires. I take it these tracks will be removed when the ROW finally comes in.

 

[EnviroTO]

cdl, I get it now:

Is this the picture worth a thousand words to summarize the difference between a TTC streetcar single track switch versus the normal double track switch or is there something else of interest in that picture?

 

[allabootmatt]

Those wires being buried is a beautiful sight. Were only it more common around the city...

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Hmm. I see tracks, but no overhead wires. I take it these tracks will be removed when the ROW finally comes in.

Not necessarily. Rogers Road had abandoned streetcar tracks on it for thirty years before the road was finally rebuilt a couple of years ago. I would actually like to see them stay as a form of transit history, given the redevelopment of the Wychwood barns.

Great tour by the way.

 

[tayser2]

Enviro: yep, one thousand and one words in that picture

looking at it though, the trade off could be:

- replace each set of points, much of what exists can remain except you just need to chop/saw off the non moving part(s) of the point and replace it (realistically only a small part needs to be replaced):

typical example here

- see if one of the off the shelf manufacturers are able to make modifications to their vehicles to allow for that kind of switiching system.

we had our only grand union junction rebuilt just recently, I'll try and find out the cost cos you could estimate how much it would cost to change the points. Basically a dual track crossover or loop would be 1/8 the cost of the grand union upgrade, give or take and considering currency conversion. Brochure (PDF) from Yarra Trams.

edit: spkel.