The city down the QEW

[flar]

Hamilton:

Scroll......

 

[MG22]

Nice pics

Nice pics.

Hamilton kind of gets a bad reputation for being "dirty" and "industrial," these photos show something quite different. The old architecture is awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[building babel]

Re: Nice pics

There has been quite an exodus of gay men moving from Toronto to Hamilton over the past few years, buying up nice old houses there and fixing them up.

 

[prometheus the supremo]

Re: Nice pics

my fav...

 

[Observer Walt]

Re: Nice pics

Thank you flar. I've seen some of your good pictures on another board.

Hamilton (my original home area) has long taken a bad rap as already mentioned. The city is gritty and unpretentious (including the downtown), but for those who look, there's a lot of charm and character there. There's work to do, as one of your boarded-up storefronts shows, but this city is on its way back up.

Edit: Thanks in particular for pictures of both railway stations. Only a few cities have two railway stations, both of them architecturally significant, although only one remains in use as a station.

 

[jayomatic]

Re: Nice pics

I was thinking of doing the exact same thing. Beautiful huge victorian homes downtown go for the same price as a bachelor condo here in Toronto. I'd love to buy one and fix it up. If only they had a nice high speed express train to Toronto. GO is nice but it would be great to just hop on the go train and get to Toronto in 20 mins

 

[Darkstar416]

Re: Nice pics

Pardon my ignorance, but which picture is of The Hammer's non-in-use rail station?

 

[Observer Walt]

Re: Nice pics

Darkstar: Sorry I'm having trouble for some reason pasting the picture.
The 15th pic from the top shows a "classic Greek" style building with faded lettering above the pillars.
This is the old CN station on James Street North. It's now in use as a conference centre / event venue.
All passenger trains including GO trains now go in to the former TH&B station on Hunter Street. This is a small but nice art-deco structure. It also serves GO buses
and some city bus routes.

Trivia: "TH&B stood for Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo, but anyone who grew up in Hamilton would tell you it's
"To Hell and Back". To this day I'm not quite sure whether "Hell" was meant to be Toronto or Buffalo.

 

[wyliepoon]

Re: Nice pics

Some of those photos look awfully like those of Montreal. Great photos!

 

[Darkstar416]

Re: Nice pics

This is the old CN station on James Street North. It's now in use as a conference centre / event venue.

Ahh, cool. I always figured Hamilton HAD another rail station, but that it was lost at some point. Did VIA ever run into this station or has VIA service always just been to Aldershot?

 

[fouratjajou]

Re: Nice pics

Wow, what a great looking city.

 

[adma]

Re: Nice pics

Via did indeed go to the James station--even into the 90s?

 

[spmarshall]

Re: Nice pics

VIA used Burlington (the old station), Hamilton and Dundas to about 1990, then comsolidated everything at Aldershot, which was new. Hamilton's station just hosted the VIA Niagara trains and GO to the end. The TH&B station consolidated GO's operations, they used an old bus terminal on Catherine Street (still there) before.

 

[spmarshall]

Re: Nice pics

I should also suggest if you ever find the chance, attend an event at what is now known as "Liuna Station" (though given the LIUNA battle, may change names). I did once, when the Places to Grow plan was in consultations, instead of going to the one in Toronto, a bunch of us took the evening GO train to Hamilton and went to the one there. The lobby/ticket hall is very well preserved, we were in the old concourse that went over the tracks, and that's a very nice function space.

 

[flar]

Re: Nice pics

Thanks for the replies everyone,

Adlershot's VIA doesn't serve Hamilton very well, so a new VIA station is being considered for downtown Hamilton. It'll probably be right across James St. from LIUNA station

Edit:

This one is the old CN Station, now LIUNA Station

this one is the Hamilton GO Centre, formerly TH&B Railway Station

This is inside the GO Centre, nicely refurbished (the style is technically art moderne: