Caption: Nearly new Canadian Pacific FP9 1415 and a sister unit lead a passenger train southbound down the Don Branch in 1954, crossing the "Half-Mile Bridge" spanning the winding Don River and CN Bala Sub on the approach to Don Station further south, and on to Union Station downtown via the Toronto Terminals Railway trackage. On the left is the quarry of the famed Don Valley Brick Works (note the cable shovel at the top of the pit), and one of the four smoke stacks for the brick kilns. This photo was taken from one of the larger platforms located in the middle of the bridge (a tedious walk on an active rail line high above a valley with no railings!)

There was no description included with this black and white negative, but the location wasn't hard to discern at first glance. For the date, 1415 was built in May 1954 as part of an 11-unit order of GMD FP9's for CP's new upcoming transcontinental passenger train "The Canadian", and by December most had rooftop icicle breakers including 1415, so the exact date lies somewhere in between, likely Spring-Summer. Judging by the baggage cars and express reefers on the head end, this is possibly overnight Montreal-Toronto train #21, which according to a September 1954 CP passenger timetable departed Montreal's Windsor Station at 11pm the previous evening, was scheduled to stop at Leaside at 7:08am, and is due downtown at Union for 7:25am.

The Don Branch between Leaside and Don (beginning of TTR territory) opened in 1892 as part of the Oshawa Subdivision and was CP's main connection to downtown Toronto's Union Station for its passenger trains arriving from and departing to Ottawa, Montreal, and other points east, both via the Oshawa Sub (renamed Belleville Sub) and the Havelock Sub. As passenger service decreased in the 1960's its importance diminished, but the Don Branch did continue to host freight trains travelling to/from Parkdale Yard via downtown, as well as locals, transfers, and detours. The CP and later VIA Dayliner (Budd RDC) passenger service to Havelock also continued to use the Don Branch until the January 1990 cuts.

One of the last movements on the Don Branch was Canadian Pacific's Holiday Train in December 2007. The line was removed from service 2008, and quietly sold to GO Transit/Metrolinx in 2009 to be "railbanked" for any potential eastern corridor commuter service to Peterborough via the Havelock Sub, or to Oshawa via the Belleville Sub. Various proposals have been floated over the years, but none to date have come to fruition. Meanwhile, city-dwelling Torontonians have taken to using the abandoned Don Branch as a scenic walking trail (without the risk of any 89mph-geared maroon & grey FP9's bearing down on them halfway across).

Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection negative (large-format scanned with a DSLR).