Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

[crs1026]

^ What was the reason for the two clocks (CPR and CN)?

Railways traditionally ran on standard time year-round, meaning that schedules for passenger trains were out of synch with the local time zone for half the year while the locality observed daylight savings time. When CN began its pro-passenger push in the early 1960’s, they decided to adopt daylight savings time in light of the inconvenience to the travelling public. For a time, CP stuck to the traditional practice.... so if you were travelling by CP your time of day was off by an hour from CN (and local) time..... until the city clocks went back to standard time in the fall, anyways. CP eventually fell into the daylight savings practice, continuing it for freight operations after its role in passenger business faded.

- Paul

 

[steveintoronto]

I went looking (unsuccessfully) for a shot of the departures area showing its traditional appearance. The best I could find is a much-reproduced shot of the area in 1966. That was after CN went to Daylight Savings Time, so the clock had already been revisited to provide two time references. One can see the lighting fixtures of the day. A couple of old press pictures give some hints to the trim and decor....My conclusion - this area was never pretty.

It's interesting to note that almost exactly a hundred years ago, pictures were being taken of construction inside Union Station and the question most asked was, "How much longer is this going to take?". It took several more years, in fact.

- Paul

View attachment 160785 THIS! By far, the best lighting, recessed (in as much as the ceiling is dropped around them) and note the total lack of glare, and yet the area is well lit. And the *form* of the space and proportions, even not finished, is remarkably...wait for it...*modern*! I had to look to find actual dating objects, like the ladder. Note the tile/plaster metal corner beading leaning against the post right foreground. It's barely changed in a century!

What perplexed me most is the lights, obviously 'modern' fluorescent....and right at the forefront of design for 1918. I had to dig on this, I'm still taken aback on this pic, but:

Commercialization of fluorescent lamps[edit]
All the major features of fluorescent lighting were in place at the end of the 1920s. Decades of invention and development had provided the key components of fluorescent lamps: economically manufactured glass tubing, inert gases for filling the tubes, electrical ballasts, long-lasting electrodes, mercury vapor as a source of luminescence, effective means of producing a reliable electrical discharge, and fluorescent coatings that could be energized by ultraviolet light. At this point, intensive development was more important than basic research.

In 1934, Arthur Compton, a renowned physicist and GE consultant, reported to the GE lamp department on successful experiments with fluorescent lighting at General Electric Co., Ltd. in Great Britain (unrelated to General Electric in the United States). Stimulated by this report, and with all of the key elements available, a team led by George E. Inman built a prototype fluorescent lamp in 1934 at General Electric’s Nela Park (Ohio) engineering laboratory. This was not a trivial exercise; as noted by Arthur A. Bright, "A great deal of experimentation had to be done on lamp sizes and shapes, cathode construction, gas pressures of both argon and mercury vapor, colors of fluorescent powders, methods of attaching them to the inside of the tube, and other details of the lamp and its auxiliaries before the new device was ready for the public."[9]
[...]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp

And the pic being discussed:

So there's some question if the dates are correct, because if those lights aren't fluorescent, they're some kind of wonderful neon or mercury vapour lighting. Far too homogenized/even to be incandescent, albeit that's possible if enough bulbs were used. I'll continue digging, but what a find @crs1026 ! Whatever the lights are, they make a stunning point!

The 'reno' is emulating the wrong time. They should have celebrated how we've come full circle in ways from 1918.

 

[MetroMan]

I agree that this is not an easy area to deal with as the real problem is low ceilings and it would have been very very complex to change this. I also agree that it is not fair to judge this part of the renovation just yet - it is not yet finished and like you I hope that when it is the area will look better and I think there are new wiring points for video screens (?) at the gates. I completely agree that the new lighting is not good and THAT is probably not going to change. It certainly is an improvement but ...

The low ceilings are a fixable problem with interior design. They're not actually low ceilings. It's just that for such a large space, one would expect proportionally higher ceilings. It's an optical illusion. In a regular size room, those ceilings would actually look pretty standard.

The solution is to create a different optical illusion. White tiled floors that create some depth beyond the floor and metallic ceiling fixtures with anywhere from a mirrored finish to just a metallic reflection would create a perception of height beyond the ceiling. Main lighting should be from below to create a sense of being above the room and to draw the eyes down. Secondary lighting fixtures could be added to the pillars.

What was actually done is just really really bad design. I don't know what happened here. The rest of the station is coming along beautifully.

 

[DatTranzitGuy]

Updated pics of the Bay Concourse.View attachment 127267 View attachment 127268 View attachment 127269 View attachment 127270 View attachment 127271

I wonder how much has changed since these pictures were taken because thes pics were taken in late 2017 so obviously something has changed in the bay concourse by now maybe it looks mor concourseey

 

[DSC]

I noticed today that they have got a new delivery of "Moat Glass" - it's piled up near the York Street moat cover so I assume they will be glassing that in soon. Still no sign of them finishing off the small unfinished section of the east Front Street moat cover (the beams and the glass for that have been on-site for months): it seems to be on hold because there is a small section of stone-work to be completed.

 

[union2pearson]

Here's a sneak peak of the Bay Concourse.

 

[steveintoronto]

Here a sneak peak photos.

jpeg.160934/ lighting is much better than the VIA concourse.

 

[Miscreant]

Here's a sneak peak of the Bay Concourse.

Amazing. Thanks for posting those.

 

[Northern Light]

Here's a sneak peak of the Bay Concourse.

First, TY for the pics!

Second, I'm pleased to see that this is not as far behind as I had feared, at least in parts, it could be fit-out ready by year's end. That would assume crews show up every day.....but it is do-able.

It would be nice to think by mid-2019 the (original) project could reach substantial completion, including fit-out.

Of course, then, subject to funding, on we go to a project to consolidate and widen platforms and the associated track work.

 

[Richard White]

Here's a sneak peak of the Bay Concourse.

Even in its current state you could have people wandering through if you built a well protected and fortified tunnel.

 

[raptor]

Even in its current state you could have people wandering through if you built a well protected and fortified tunnel.

We need to stop this approach, which only leads to delays and extended timelines. Just build and open it all at once.

 

[Richard White]

We need to stop this approach, which only leads to delays and extended timelines. Just build and open it all at once.

Yes but the caveat is that you need to divert people around the section of the moat that is currently open to complete work there. Creating a temporary tunnel to divert pedestrian flow solves a million and one problems. Once the work is done, then you can carry on. As it stands right now there is a gaping hole in the glass roof for the moat and winter is coming. At some point before the snow falls they will want to get that done.

 

[raptor]

Yes but the caveat is that you need to divert people around the section of the moat that is currently open to complete work there. Creating a temporary tunnel to divert pedestrian flow solves a million and one problems. Once the work is done, then you can carry on. As it stands right now there is a gaping hole in the glass roof for the moat and winter is coming. At some point before the snow falls they will want to get that done.

They can get that done at nights, without closing the moat. They've done this already with the York st moat.

 

[DSC]

Yes but the caveat is that you need to divert people around the section of the moat that is currently open to complete work there. Creating a temporary tunnel to divert pedestrian flow solves a million and one problems. Once the work is done, then you can carry on. As it stands right now there is a gaping hole in the glass roof for the moat and winter is coming. At some point before the snow falls they will want to get that done.

Easy to do, to clear the area under the small section of unfinished roof in the east Front moat and complete it and the stairs below it you get everyone to exit the TTC in the (already covered) centre part of the east Front Moat and use the existing temporary interior metal stairs just inside the "old GO doors". I suspect too that they will open the tunnel below the "Sir John A MacDonald Plaza" that links the east and west Front moats soon and that may explain the wooden partition they have erected in the centre of the west Front moat. If (when) this is open one could exit the TTC station by the handicapped ramp and go through this tunnel to the GO York side (and, indirectly, VIA).

 

[DatTranzitGuy]

Easy to do, to clear the area under the small section of unfinished roof in the east Front moat and complete it and the stairs below it you get everyone to exit the TTC in the (already covered) centre part of the east Front Moat and use the existing temporary interior metal stairs just inside the "old GO doors". I suspect too that they will open the tunnel below the "Sir John A MacDonald Plaza" that links the east and west Front moats soon and that may explain the wooden partition they have erected in the centre of the west Front moat. If (when) this is open one could exit the TTC station by the handicapped ramp and go through this tunnel to the GO York side (and, indirectly, VIA).

The could open the bay concourse very soon with the entrance from the great hall and have mirroring the entrance to the York Concourse