Caption: Not somewhere you'd have access to on a normal tour of Toronto Union Station:
Buried under the bustling platforms and station concourses, down amid the underground tunnels, access corridors and parking garages, was the maintenance area for VIA Rail's fleet of ancient electric battery-powered baggage carts that served their trains arriving and departing Union Station. A full house of green and blue carts sit parked in their bays, while the walls are lined with charging outlets, power cables, and spare parts. More modern equipment including a small forklift and pull-tractor sit nearby out-of-frame. When in use, the carts could be found stationed empty on the platforms upstairs awaiting an incoming train, or fully loaded up to their top bars with luggage bags, suitcases, duffle bags and other large pieces of travel baggage.
According to the Toronto Railway Historical Association's website, the old electric battery powered baggage carts were built in the 1920's by the Elwell Parker Electric Company for use at Union Station when it was brand new. They were pedal and lever-operated, and could be controlled from either end by a baggage handler. One of the green carts would later be donated by VIA Rail to the TRHA in 2014 (judging by spotting features, it may be the second one in). It's unlikely any of the others remain in operation today, replaced by more modern equipment.
The rare-access weekend Union Station tour that included a visit to the unused upper offices of Union Station, the underground corridors, and a tour of the shuttered ex-CPR John St. Roundhouse (before the museum opened, and before much of the then-untouched roundhouse was converted to house Leons) was courtesy the Toronto Railway Historical Association, organized for the visiting Guelph Historical Railway Association, and guided by the late Toronto railway historian Derek Boles (who was a wealth of knowledge, and known for his numerous published historical railway articles and regular Union Station tours). A number of RP.ca contributors were also in attendance that day.
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A great tour! My photos kind of suck but I have a few that turned out. That was a great tour to help organize.. we need to do more of them