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

[mdrejhon]

A nice Seth Thomas face with railway font would be preferable, imho, but it's nice that someone did the research into how the depot was actually fitted out back in the day and tried to reintroduce the overall effect.

To be fair, it is a nice decorative touch to an otherwise sterile VIA concourse -- we all have phones now.

So the funky-retro clockface may catch the "wow, custom retro" and "hey, lemme try to decode that ancient clock" attention more compared to a random analog clockface that may end up an imperfect non-custom-looking reproduction (e.g. the fonts used for the Union shops below).

It may be that the readability is more moot compared to the turn of century, in an era of pervasive electronic boards and smartphones.

 

[crs1026]

It may be that the readability is more moot compared to the turn of century, in an era of pervasive electronic boards and smartphones.

All those who have already had the discussion with a child about "why do I have to learn this stupid hand stuff, all our clocks are digital", raise your hands

- Paul

 

[MetroMan]

Well, this is a nice touch...

- Paul

View attachment 160333

I can't believe this is brand new and renovated. It looks like it's been here, aging without maintenance since the 70's. That glossy off-white paint with visible patch jobs, the ugly lighting, the terrible tiling, the worn flooring. WTF are they thinking? The rest of the station is (was?) coming along so nicely.

 

[crs1026]

I can't believe this is brand new and renovated. It looks like it's been here, aging without maintenance since the 70's. That glossy off-white paint with visible patch jobs, the ugly lighting, the terrible tiling, the worn flooring. WTF are they thinking? The rest of the station is (was?) coming along so nicely.

Actually, so many of the dings and dents from 90+ years of hard service and occasional re-arrangement are gone, I do find it is significantly improved, ie less of a hell-hole.

The kindest I can get is to say it's a fairly faithful, but not creative, restoration of what was never a particularly gorgeous place. There is still so much disruption and unfinishment in that area that I'm keeping my mind open.

Possibly the choice of colours and materials just wasn't good in the first place. Certainly, bringing back all the wood trim is interesting, but the painted-dark wood trim is nowhere near as charming as the dark-stained original woodwork must have been in the station's youth. There has been little attempt to make better use of space and manage people flow at the gates, but Union was never well suited in that regard. I'm old enough to remember when there were long lineups for a single Rapido (and I can almost remember Pool trains, from the previous era) that extended from the lower gates all the way back up to the Great Hall. Maybe it's fortunate that trains are shorter these days ;-). I would have put those video boards for the queues at the gate doorways, as they were back in the day. VIA is incredibly clumsy at crowd control!

I agree it's a pretty good textbook on "how not to do heritage restoration". One shouldn't retain old materials and surfaces if these are worn out or can't be matched to new stock. Put the authentic bits and pieces in a museum display and replace them with new of like kind. The attempt to retain all that old tile was ill advised.

- Paul

 

[DSC]

Actually, so many of the dings and dents from 90+ years of hard service and occasional re-arrangement are gone, I do find it is significantly improved, ie less of a hell-hole.

The kindest I can get is to say it's a fairly faithful, but not creative, restoration of what was never a particularly gorgeous place. There is still so much disruption and unfinishment in that area that I'm keeping my mind open.

Possibly the choice of colours and materials just wasn't good in the first place. Certainly, bringing back all the wood trim is interesting, but the painted-dark wood trim is nowhere near as charming as the dark-stained original woodwork must have been in the station's youth. There has been little attempt to make better use of space and manage people flow at the gates, but Union was never well suited in that regard. I'm old enough to remember when there were long lineups for a single Rapido (and I can almost remember Pool trains, from the previous era) that extended from the lower gates all the way back up to the Great Hall. Maybe it's fortunate that trains are shorter these days ;-). I would have put those video boards for the queues at the gate doorways, as they were back in the day. VIA is incredibly clumsy at crowd control!

I agree it's a pretty good textbook on "how not to do heritage restoration". One shouldn't retain old materials and surfaces if these are worn out or can't be matched to new stock. Put the authentic bits and pieces in a museum display and replace them with new of like kind. The attempt to retain all that old tile was ill advised.

- Paul

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 ...

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

We all saw this train wreck coming.

AoD

 

[raptor]

also, FWIW, work (by Bondfield?) has been abandoned for many weeks now.

 

[steveintoronto]

I completely agree that the new lighting is not good and THAT is probably not going to change.

I suspect it will eventually. As discussed in detail a month or so back, I went down there to get a close look at the light, as in all pics of it, the glare is beyond abject.

What I found is what looks to be 'Slimline' connectors feeding LED subs for fluorescents, but using rectified DC current, which I determined by there being no 'strobe effect' moving my hand and spread fingers rapidly across the bulbs.

The problem for the eyes is the very harsh colour temp and lack of diffusion. Diffusion can be added very simply, nobody uses bulbs like that anymore, well, no-one who has a clue as to what they're doing. The bulbs can also be changed out for something far more friendly. One of the advantages of filtered DC LED supply is that it's almost universally at 12V, and that will be what the vast majority of bulbs will require.

That lighting is so bad that it's a safety hazard. How so? When you walk under in with glasses with wire rims (the lens edge isn't shaded), you get a blinding flash while passing under each bulb as it shines into the edge of the lense. That creates a number of issues I won't detail here and now.

And the bottom line? That light makes *anything* look like shit. And it does it very well. Congratulations to the Dufus that came up with that idea...excellent 50's urinal look.

Btw: Edge lit diffusers might just be the answer if height is a problem. The diffuser could have a dished edge that wraps around the bulb to mute the harshness, and then spreads it through the diffuser to emit it from a much larger area, and use frosting on the diffuser to even further soften it. You can have bright light from soft sources if diffused sufficiently. Someone should inform whoever designed the lighting on that. Even paper does that...

 

[Northern Light]

I suspect it will eventually. As discussed in detail earlier, I went down there to get a close look at the light, as in all pics of it, the glare is beyond abject.

What I found is what looks to be 'Slimline' connectors feeding LED subs for fluorescents, but using rectified DC current, which I determined by there being no 'strobe effect' moving my hand and spread fingers rapidly across the bulbs.

The problem for the eyes is the very harsh colour temp and lack of diffusion. Diffusion can be added very simply, nobody uses bulbs like that anymore, well, no-one who has a clue as to what they're doing. The bulbs can also be changed out for something far more friendly. One of the advantages of filtered DC LED supply is that it's almost universally at 12V, and that will be what the vast majority of bulbs will require.

That lighting is so bad that it's a safety hazard. How so? When you walk under in with glasses with wire rims (the lens edge isn't shaded), you get a blinding flash while passing under each bulb as it shines into the edge of the lense. That creates a number of issues I won't detail here and now.

And the bottom line? That light makes *anything* look like shit. And it does it very well. Congratulations to the Dufus that came up with that idea...excellent 50's urinal look.

In the absence of another massive project in which this area is wholesale recreated..........

What I would hope for is removing that ghastly lighting and installing recessed lighting, I don't give a damn if it's authentic in this case, it would be vastly more visually pleasing and it would offer the tiniest bit more ceiling room.

While we're at it.....rip out all the white tile. I'm open to replacing it with something similar-ish that's clean looking, though frankly, I don't think it was a particularly brilliant choice way back when and I would be open to something different.

To echo others, but with my own slant, when restoring 'greatness' (ie the Great Hall), be as slavish as you can to the original, modifying only what you must for modern needs/uses.

When restoring something that was clunky and unattractive a century ago.....feel free to pretty much clean-slate it, saving only those features of value.

 

[steveintoronto]

^Although the bulbs at present do have a sleeve on them to minimally soften them....a very cheap and easy retrofit (since the ceiling above is poured concrete slab, and recessing the lights would be nye impossible) is to have custom molded sleeves with diffusers built right into them to extend laterally between each row of bulbs. There must be a thousand heat moulding operations in the city that could do the job, they can be vacuum formed. The cost would be perhaps fifty bucks a bulb to cover and soften, peanuts in the big scheme of things. And 'the fix' can be done by whoever it is that does maintenance.

In fact corrugated sleeves are available off-the-shelf, albeit I think something more than that is called for.

 

[sikandar]

October 17 - tables and chairs and storefronts oh my

 

[robmausser]

I can't believe this is brand new and renovated. It looks like it's been here, aging without maintenance since the 70's. That glossy off-white paint with visible patch jobs, the ugly lighting, the terrible tiling, the worn flooring. WTF are they thinking? The rest of the station is (was?) coming along so nicely.

It's almost like they tried to keep the heritage look of a place that never should or needed to be kept.

 

[mdrejhon]

Re: VIA concourse.

While I compliment on the clock (literally < 0.1%), I agree that more creativity should have occured with the VIA concourse. At least improved pillars and a different lighting solution.

Perhaps when they do touch-up renovations it in 2035 for high platforms for VIA high speed train service between Windsor and Quebec City, along with Amtrak Acela Expresses to New York City (via Hamilton/Buffalo).

 

[crs1026]

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

 

[Allandale25]

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