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About MrDan

MrDan is an avid photographer, railfan, modeller and slide collector with an interest in rail photography, prototype operations, equipment information, urban transportation and model railroading. He also assists the RP.ca moderation team, as well as has helped in the past model railroad manufacturers with research and development of various rail-related models and projects. He has had a number of photographs appear in magazines, books, advertisements and used by historical groups. As per RP.ca's photo use guidelines, all photos uploaded by this user are not to be used for commercial and other purposes unless prior written permission has been obtained (but link sharing to the photo's page is welcome and encouraged). Original photographer credit is noted for any collection slide uploads whenever possible. ***Images posted including (those collection slide images) are not to be reused in any publication, both print or online, without prior permission***

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Number of images: 992
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MrDan's 992 photos on Railpictures.ca:

Wherever this unit came from, it looks like it put up quite a fight to get here. Canadian Pacific SW1200RS 8123 sits in Aberdeen Yard after doing battle with some snow drifts along one of the lines enroute to Hamilton. A large chunk of snow sits perched on top of her numberboard assembly like a top hat, more snow is built up on the top of the hood (likely from busting through heavy snowdrifts), and packed into the front pilot, in the stepwells, and against the snow shields (painted plywood bolted to the front handrail assembly to keep snow from building up, melting, and freezing in the radiator shutters). At least one of the white extra flags managed to survive the winter melee.<br><br>It looks like the crew dug themselves out the back of the unit, as evident by all the snow on the ground cleared from the rear steps and walkway - it was probably a wild ride for them. Perhaps the unit came off an extra run that came down the Goderich Sub? (with the snow buildup on the front end, it doesn't look like it was pushing a snowplow).<br><br><i>Reg Button photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Reg Button photo, D…
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	01/21/1969
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 23 Favourites

Quitting time! Canadian Pacific RDC-1 9053 on what appears to be the CP Employee Shuttle departs Leaside Station westbound, after letting off a load of CP employees coming from the nearby Toronto (Agincourt) Yard. CP ran daily RDC employee shuttles between West Toronto/Lambton Yards and the "new" Toronto Yard in Agincourt in order to transport employees who lived in the West Toronto area to the new yard, as transit service there was lacking at the time. Typical power was a single Budd RDC from John Street (some runs operated with two when a shift let out), but on occasion regular diesel power was used to help an ailing RDC. The shuttle made its final runs in late October 1972.<br><br>In the background is the James N. Scott Cut Stone Ltd building (served by CN's trackage into Leaside), usually prominent in photos of Leaside from the era. In the yard are some classic late 60's CP freight cars: a pair of pressure-unloading covered hoppers in script, CP 381725 & 381724 (this very small order, 381720-381727, had a slightly different end cage design than later and earlier orders). The flatcars are CP 315014 and 315009, part of a group of new Napanee Industries 61' flatcars. The exact date of this photo is unknown, but it's likely a late 1967 to early 1968 photo.<br><br><i>Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection negative (experimentally "scanned" with a Canon DSLR large-format negative scanning setup).</i>

Name:	Unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	Late 1967
Location:	Toronto (Leaside)
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 16 Favourites

What better advertisement could you have for your commuter service than sleek passenger trains speeding past drivers sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway? GO Transit cab cab 9851 trails a 9-car train of single level Hawkers at Sunnyside, travelling inbound to Union Station behind one of GO's unique GP40TC units. Heading in the opposite direction is evening rush-hour traffic inching its way out of downtown Toronto on the Gardiner Expressway.<br><br>As well as the usual 70's automotive potpourri for those so inclined (I spy a Pinto), mixed in the congestion is a Mack DM-series cement mixer for Premier Building Materials, a pair of Dodge (or Fargo?) LCF van trucks, and two IHC Loadstars mixed with a Ford C-series (operator names not entirely visible).<br><br><i>Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	GO Transit
Date:	Circa March 1973
Location:	Toronto (Sunnyside…
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 18 Favourites

CN RS18 3150 leads a westbound VIA passenger extra with four Tempo cars, chugging away from its stop at Georgetown on the station track and about to re-enter the south main of the Halton Sub.
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<i>Bill McArthur photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>
<br><br>
For some GO cab cars laying over that Bill shot on the same visit: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=36457><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=36457</b></a>

Name:	Bill McArthur photo…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	12/06/1980
Location:	Georgetown
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 17 Favourites

TTC PCC 4378 (an A6-class car built new for Toronto in 1946-47) pauses while on the Carlton route to let patrons off at the northeast corner stop island of College and Bay. It may look like a sunny winter afternoon, but the two ladies disembarking from the streetcar are clearly dressed for the season, and only a few windows on the 4378 are cracked open for some air. The coating of salty road grime was not kind to the TTC PCC fleet over the years, nor the CLRV and ALRV fleets that followed.<br><br>The old Central YMCA building is pictured the background, a grand old structure built in 1913 but replaced in the mid-80's by the present-day Toronto Police Headquarters at 40 College St.<br><br><i>Robert D. McMann photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Robert D. McMann ph…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	02/28/1979
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 7 Favourites

CN SD40-2 5378 and GP40-2L(W) 9574 head freight #307 westbound on the York Sub approaching the diamond at Snider with some interesting loads on the head end: new subway cars from Thunder Bay for shipment overseas to Ankara, Turkey. In the mid-90's, Ankara purchased an order of 108 new subway cars from Bombardier for their new Metro system. They were similar to the design of the TTC's <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=18204><b>H6 subway cars</b></a> (even though the TTC was starting to get a slightly updated <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=1797><b>T1 design</b></a> at the time). They were shipped by rail on flatcars from Thunder Bay to the east coast for export overseas.<br><br><i>Karl Bury photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Karl Bury photo, Da…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/13/1996
Location:	Vaughan (Concord)
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 11 Favourites

CN GP40-2L(W) 9401 and a sister unit kick up a cloud of snow as they head eastbound on CN's York Sub with a freight in tow, passing under the Keele Street overpass by the Mile 24 marker on the approach to Snider. The name "Snider" comes from a few early families in the area that owned farmland and mills in what was once the community of Edgeley (Jane & Hwy 7) in the 1800's.<br><br><i>Bill McArthur photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide</i>.

Name:	Bill McArthur photo…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/13/1988
Location:	Vaughan (Concord)
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 11 Favourites

Ore loads inbound on the N&NW Spur: CN C630M 2022 sports white extra flags as it heads up an ore train from the mines up north (with the usual mix of CN and ONR ore cars) on its final stretch through Hamilton, taking the Ore Train Lead curve inbound to Dofasco. The crew has probably just activated crossing protection via the pushbutton boxes located by the switch, in order to proceed over Burlington Street (and under its elevated expressway portion) into the Dofasco grounds.<br><br>If the track diagrams I'm reading are correct, the three tracks in the foreground are the Bayfront Lead to Dofasco (centre), Lysaught Lead (left), and Coke Oven Lead (right). In the background are CP cylindrical hoppers in "Script" in the TH&B Adams Yard.<br><br><i>Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	Circa March 1975
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

10 Comments | 25 Favourites

Reg Button found his way all over the Niagara region for photos, and here's one of the more unconventional angles for a train shot: CN freight #331 heads westbound (timetable direction eastbound) on the Stamford Sub through the west end of Niagara Falls, just past the Stamford mileboard (Mile 29). The power, CN SD40-2 5380 and GP40-2L(W) units 9460 and 9402, are crossing over some of the interchange lanes between the Queen Elizabeth Way and Highway 420, and about to duck under the Hwy 420 overpass. Judging from the angle, Reg was pulled over on the side of the westbound Highway 420 to southbound QEW interchange ramp, in position near the top for his photo. <br><br> <i>Reg Button photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Reg Button photo, D…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/08/1995
Location:	Niagara Falls (Sta…
Province:	Ontario

7 Comments | 17 Favourites

The sun is creeping up at daybreak and casting shadows off the bridge at Bathurst Street as a morning inbound GO Transit commuter train, lead by GP40TC 607, rolls into the Toronto Terminals Railway trackage at Cabin D (behind the third car) and passes some switchtenders in charge of the manually controlled ground-throws.<br><br>This area, from the west limits of the TTR to west of Spadina Avenue was known as the "Bathurst Street Non-Interlocking" zone in timetables. All switches were manually controlled via switchtenders on the ground (rain, snow, shine or heat), with movements co-ordinated by the Cabin D train director. The rest of the TTR territory was made up of automated interlocking plants installed in the 1920's and controlled by John, Scott and Cherry St. towers. The antiquated control system at Bathurst Street, a relic from the 1890's, continued to be in use until track re-alignments and upgrades in the early-mid 80's when the new flyunder went in, mainline realignments happened, and Cabin D was removed (the location itself was also renamed from Cabin D to Bathurst Street). The new automated interlocking system was remotely controlled via a panel in the John St. interlocking tower.<br><br>Visible is the typical view off Bathurst Street bridge for decades past: in the upper left is Liberty Village, with a Canada Packers billboard ad on the top of the Federal Cold Storage building. Part of the John Inglis plant is visible behind that, adjacent to CPR's Parkdale Yard (note the headlight of a switcher near Strachan Avenue grade crossing). In the middle background is the Toronto Municipal Abbatoir/Quality Meat Packers, and on the right were some buildings once home to Consumers Gas. Most of the area around Bathurst Street interlocking has undergone extensive gentrification and redevelopment, and looks quite different even from what it looked like in the late 2000's.<br><br><i>Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	GO Transit
Date:	Circa September 1968
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 13 Favourites

TTC 4769, one of the A14-class ex-Kansas City (Missouri) PCC's acquired secondhand, heads eastbound on St. Clair Avenue approaching Winona Drive in April of 1973, passing some storefronts including Coles (books) and La Perla (898 St. Clair Ave. W), Carmen Textiles, Darrigo's Food Market (behind the PCC), and a yellow Shell van (home heating fuels?). La Perla survived into the 2000's as a drapery store, before other uses took over the space. The store and that corner block at St. Clair & Alberta were demolished for redevelopment into condos a few years back (the 900 Saint Clair West development).
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The ex-Kansas City PCC's (TTC A14-class 4750-4779, built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1946/47, acq. 1957) were the last PCC cars acquired by the TTC, but had suffered from lackluster maintenance at their previous owner. They ended up being the first of the secondhand cars to be retired or sold off. Most were resold to SEPTA (Philadelphia) and MUNI (San Francisco) later in the decade for continued service. Car 4769 became MUNI 1185, but reportedly never ran in service. One car sold to MUNI, car 1190 (ex-TTC 4752), managed to find its way back to Kansas City, and was restored and put on display as KCPS 551.
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<i>John F. Bromley photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	John F. Bromley pho…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	04/16/1973
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 11 Favourites

For a period in 1978-1979, CP had Algoma Central GP7's 150 and 154 on lease (both part of ACR's first GP7 order built in 1951). They mostly ran out of Toronto on various road and <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=41521><b>local jobs</b></a>. Here, the pair head up CP's Couboug Turn, getting ready to leave Toronto (Agincourt) Yard at the north-east end by Finch Avenue, in order to head down the connector and join the Belleville Sub at Staines. No shortage of open trilevel and bilevel autoracks are in today's train, likely bound for the GM plant in Oshawa.<br><br>Power on the adjacent track (possibly heading to/from the diesel shop in the distance) includes CP GP35 5016, M630 4510, another big M and an A-B pair of F-units. Two Alco/MLW switchers wait behind, likely pulldown power that worked the east end of the yard doing flat-switching. The old van shop is visible in the background.<br><br><i>Keith Hansen photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Keith Hansen photo,…
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	12/12/1978
Location:	Toronto (Agincourt…
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 22 Favourites

It looks like someone didn't have their railfan filter on their lens (anyone look familiar here?). The Upper Canada Railway Society held a fantrip on March 9th 1974 using CN "Railiner" RDC cars 6106 and 6111 that toured the Toronto Bypass (York & Halton Subs) and Beach Sub on a trip between Pickering and Stoney Creek, which included a special run down the Milton Townline Spur across the CN-CP diamond to Milton Station, and a trip down the Beach Sub (with a photo stop on the lift bridge at Hargrove). Here, a photo stop ensues near Stoney Creek as the two RDC's proceed south with a crewmember flagging the Van Wagners Beach Road crossing near Beach Blvd. The QEW is visible on the right, where Beach Blvd. ducks under it.<br><br>The gloomy weather foreshadowed the fate awaiting the CN Beach Sub (aka the "Beach Branch") in the near future. Most CN mainline traffic used the more popular Oakville & Grimsby Sub mainlines through Hamilton, and the old Beach Sub (originally part of the Hamilton & North-Western Railway) between Stoney Creek and Burlington was soon to be severed into two spurs by QEW freeway construction that took place in 1974-1975 (which included removal of the famed QEW traffic circle). The main spur ran south from Burlington to service a customer near Stoney Creek for a few more years, but was later abandoned in 1981 and removed, leaving only short stubs on either end.<br><br><i>Gord Taylor photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Gord Taylor photo, …
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/09/1974
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 20 Favourites

A VIA train with CP power at a CN station! VIA #2 "The Canadian" pulls into CN's Orillia Station behind two CP units on its trip south on CN's Newmarket Sub enroute to Toronto Union Station. The power today is CP GP9 8521 and RS10 8568. Steam generator-equipped RS10's were CP's usual backup passenger power in the east, but it was somewhat rare in the CP days to see a steam generator-equipped 8500-series GP9 this far east (they were Alyth-assigned and usually serviced and turned back west at Winnipeg). In the VIA era however, MLW retirements, F-unit reassignments (a whole bunch sold to VIA, and 4070-4075 sent east for Montreal commuter service), and aging passenger power failures resulted in the SG GP9's running through to Toronto much more often. Also in the VIA era, a separate ex-CN steam generator car (barely visible) was a popular addition to The Canadian.<br><br>Prior to the VIA takeover, CP's #11 and #12 Canadian runs (between Toronto and Sudbury, connecting at Sudbury with the main #1 & #2 Vancouver-Montreal trains) took CP's MacTier & Parry Sound Subs. There was some re-jigging of The Canadian's routing when VIA took over at the end of October 1978. According to <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=43848><b>S.Danko</b></a>, the #1 and #2 Canadians became the Vancouver-Calgary-Toronto trains, and in the east were rerouted off CP onto CN's Newmarket & Bala Subs to get in and out of Toronto.<br><br>The Canadian was rerouted again during the January 1990 VIA cuts, and Orillia no longer saw any regular passenger service. CN's abandonment of sections of the Newmarket Sub in the mid-90's and right-of-way sales nixed this part of the line, and also any chance of an Orillia GO service expansion running north of Barrie. The historically-designated 1917 GTR Orillia station (restored in 1989) remains, although it was recently sold by the city to a developer for unknown plans.<br><br><i>Barry Schroeder photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Barry Schroeder pho…
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	Circa April 1979
Location:	Orillia
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 19 Favourites

A wet and gloomy day finds TTC PCC 4561 (an A9-class ex-Cincinnati car built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1947) pausing with traffic at the light westbound on St. Clair, after letting off two ladies on the streetcar island at Spadina Road. The PCC is operating on the Rogers Road route, taking St. Clair westbound to <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=41928><b>Oakwood</b></a>, and heading north to Rogers and on to <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=35859><b>Bicknell Loop</b></a>.
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Throughout the 1960's when it became known Toronto was planning to phase out its streetcar network by 1970-ish, local transit photographers such as John Bromley and Robert McMann travelled all over Toronto photographing streetcars in various places around the network, and groups such as the UCRS held fantrips with streetcars travelling over all parts of the system and routes that would be replaced by new subway lines (the Bloor-Danforth subway opening in 1966 and 1968 nixed a bunch of streetcar routes).
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While Toronto in the early 1970's ultimately decided to keep its streetcar fleet, some routes were replaced by buses, and the last Rogers Rd. cars would run in July 1974 before replacement by the Route 63F branch of the Ossington trolleybus. The 4500-series St. Clair Carhouse based PCC's such as 4561 would continue to serve the route into its <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=40006><b>final days</b></a>.
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<i>John F. Bromley photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	John F. Bromley pho…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	05/26/1964
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 6 Favourites

CN GP40-2W 9657 (in the snappy CN North America livery) leads EMDX GP40-3's 200 & 201 and a ratty zebra striped CN 9653 on train #333, seen at Aldershot on a cold February day in 1994. The two EMD lease units are former GO Transit GP40-2 units 725 and 726, and have recently joined the EMD lease fleet (they were originally built as GP40's (non-Dash 2) for the Rock Island, before becoming GO commuter units via Chrome Crankshaft after "The Rock" went bankrupt).<br><br>As more F59's joined the roster in the late 80's and early 90's, GO's older "40-series" units were either sold off or leased out. Eventually GO 720-726, after doing time leased out to CN and CP (at least two even made it out to Alberta), were used as trade-in credit to EMD for GO's final order of F59PH's (562-568) built in early 1994. EMD didn't waste time repainting the Geeps in their maroon, silver and grey paint livery, renumbering them into the 200-series, re-equipping them with dynamic brakes, and leasing them out in freight service.<br><br><i>Reg Button photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Reg Button photo, D…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/27/1994
Location:	Burlington (Alders…
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 15 Favourites

TTC PCC 4538 (A8-class built new for the TTC in 1951 by CC&F) trundles westbound on St. Clair Avenue West past Silverthorn Avenue in the light snow, passing a line of small mom and pop stores common to most local neighbourhoods (selling paints, groceries, seafood, fashion, meats, tailor service, and prescription drugs). This view is looking east, with part of the CNR Newmarket Sub underpass visible in the distance near the coal dealer silos (about where Robert McMann shot an eastbound streetcar from <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=43648><b>here</b></a>).
<br><br>As the "newest" PCC cars in the fleet, the 1951-built 4500-4549 A8-class of streetcars would enjoy the most longevity out of any TTC PCC, outliving the secondhand cars, the early air-electrics (A1-A5 classes 4000-4299) and most of the older A6-A7 cars (4300-4499). A handful were even rebuilt for the Harbourfront LRT line of the early 90's, but all disposed of (except for two) after operating for a number of years on that line.
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<i>J. Bryce Lee photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	J. Bryce Lee photo,…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	03/22/1977
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 11 Favourites

TTC PCC 4750 (an A14-class PCC originally built by St. Louis Car Co for Kansas City Public Service as their 526 in 1947) heads eastbound on St. Clair Avenue at Prescott, operating in service on the St. Clair route. It and the Buick alongside are about to duck under CN's Newmarket Sub underpass, near the old <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=27159><b>CN St. Clair station and platforms</b></a>.<br><br>The trailing PCC car in the distance at Laughton Avenue may be 4001 (possibly on a fantrip), but the Peter Witt behind is 2766 that was out running on a fantrip that day, which included a run up Weston Road to Avon Loop (Rogers Rd), a visit to Humber Loop in the west, and a stop at the old Park Loop (north side of High Park, off Bloor Street). By this time the Peter Witt era on the TTC was just about over, and car 2766 made a few more fantrips before being retired weeks later in mid-July 1965. While the few other remaining cars were disposed of, the TTC kept 2766 and later overhauled her for a new downtown Belt Line Tour Tram service in 1973, also joined by cars 2424 and <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=32946><b>2894</b></a>. PCC 4750 on the other hand, would be sold to SEPTA (a carhouse fire had destroyed a number of their own cars) and depart Toronto for Philadelphia by flatcar in March 1976.<br><br>For a view looking west off the other side of the underpass, see: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=38955><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=38955</b></a><br><br><i>Robert D. McMann photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Robert D. McMann ph…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	07/04/1965
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 10 Favourites

A fairly modern 1980's view of the downtown Toronto skyline shows a nice variety of architectural styles in this selection of skyscrapers (before the present-day glass-clad everything style took over). TTC 4301, an A13-class PCC streetcar built new for Toronto in 1947, operates on the 504 King Street route, stopped westbound at John Street (note the blue illuminated street sign box, always a nice touch). In their final years in service, much of the TTC PCC fleet suffered through the indignity of large font numerals slapped over the original (smaller) painted out numbers. The water bumpers, while a neat concept, were also somewhat unsightly.<br><br>By this point in time, the old <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=30801><b>CP/Dominion Express freight sheds</b></a> that used to be in the King/Simcoe area had been knocked down a number of years prior and replaced with the new Roy Thomson Hall, while the rest of the property remained parking lots until eventual redevelopment into Metro Hall (that parking lot gained notority in the opening scene of the film "Police Academy", filmed in Toronto). "Honest Ed" Mirvish, best known for his Bathurst & Bloor discount store, also owned a line of storefronts on this stretch of King Street including the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Ed's Warehouse (restaurant - roast beef and steak), Ed's Chinese, and Old Eds (although most closed over time). The tower crane in the background hints at greater things than parking lots to come in the next few decades for Toronto's downtown core.<br><br><i>Glenn Smith photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Glenn Smith photo, …
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	06/23/1986
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 9 Favourites

It's 1955 and steam still roamed the Canadian National system, but the latest and greatest in switching power, CN 8471 (an MLW S3 built in 1953) idles on the service track next to the Parkdale freight shed behind CN's Parkdale Station, just south of the <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=36087><b>Queen Street underpass</b></a>. The two tracks north of the switcher were for spotting cars alongside the freight shed. The boxcars in the background are spotted on the two the team tracks by the freight shed. Visible in the background to the right is part of the old American-Abell agricultural manufacturing factory built in 1885 (that later became home to a plate steel manufacturer, then lofts, and eventually demolished 2011 for redevelopment. The nearby Abell Street is a reminder). The freight shed itself became home to a fruit market in later years, and the last remnants were demolished in 2007/08 for the extension of Sudbury Street.<br><br>CN and CP both had stations at Parkdale, and even though CP was more well-know in the area for its <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=35550><b>sprawling Parkdale Yard</b></a> facilities located on the south side of the rail corridor, CN had a sizable number of industries along the north side of their Brampton (later Weston) Sub to keep their own switchers busy, including the Massey Ferguson lead that ran as streetrunning up Sudbury Street to access the factories north of King Street. Massey Ferguson also had sidings for their buildings on the south side of King around Strachan Ave. And further south were <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=38487><b>National Casket</b></a>, the Toronto Refiners, <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=31854><b>Quality Meat Packers</b></a> and the Toronto Abbatoir, all north/west of Bathurst Street.<br><br>North of Queen there were various forwarding and cartage companies operating out of the Dufferin & Peel area, later including CN's Car-Go-Rail loading ramps, other small industries, and a small storage yard near Lansdowne Avenue where the Newmarket Sub branched off (1961 aerial image <a href=http://jpeg2000.eloquent-systems.com/toronto.html?image=ser12/s0012_fl1961_it0042.jp2><b>here</b></a>). <br><br>Most of this rail traffic had dried up during the 70's-80's as industry gradually left the old downtown Toronto manufacturing strongholds. CN's Parkdale Station was moved to Sunnyside in 1976 for preservation, but caught fire the next year and was demolished. Many of the old Parkdale industrial lands and factory buildings were still around in the early-mid 2000's (home to lofts, artists spaces, local small businesses, etc), but since then gentrification and rising land prices have seen most redeveloped or replaced by high-rise condos. The rail corridor also retained some of its old character until the late 2000's when the northern portion of Dufferin St. was realigned to connect with its southern half underneath the underpass, and Metrolinx added more tracks and bridge spans for expanded GO and UPX service.<br><br>CN 8471 was sold to United Railway Supply (a Quebec-based locomotive dealer and overhaul shop) and renumbered as their 23, but may have been refused by them and ended up at CN's London Reclamation Yard for scrapping in the 80's.<br><br><i>Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection duplicate slide (with a good amount of colour correction and restoration).</i>

Name:	Unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	Circa June 1955
Location:	Toronto (Parkdale)
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 14 Favourites

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