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Canadian Pacific Railway
Toronto Division West Toronto Diamond, Tremof, Mount Dennis, Weston, and Emery R.L.Kennedy Mac Tier Subdivision West Toronto Diamond Mileage 0.0 to Emery Mileage 9.47
1432 and a B unit power northbound No.11 stopping
at West Toronto depot. July 2, 1957
G1 class 2233 and G3 class 2333 two 4-6-2 Pacific
types long-demoted from passenger service are about to cross the diamond
northbound leaving westward Galt Subdivision on the Mac Tier Subdivision
with a freight train. Looking east. This is most likely 955 and Assist from Parkdale destined to Sudbury. The first two cars are covered hoppers in cement service likely going to Wavy Industries. This train handled LCL shed cars and other priority traffic for Sudbury and North Bay. Engines and van originated at Lambton Yard having backed down to Parkdale. 2233 is popping the safety valves as they top the grade from Parkdale. White steam can be seen at the rear of the stack. This is a "smoke consumer" to dissipate black smoke. Note too the steam exhausting at the top rear of the coal bunker. This is from the water pump evidence the fireman is cooling her down. Two doors on the fireman's side of the tender provides access to the pump. These 2200's were good engines well liked and easy to hand fire. The road engine 2333 is stoker equipped.
Extra 2235 in front of West Toronto Depot on eastbound Galt Sub. likely off an Assist to Bolton. 1958 Bill Thomson
7011 "van hop" heading east across the Diamond. Joseph Testagrose Collection
West Toronto Diamond, track liner is on Galt Sub. (other track below camera) North Toronto Sub. crosses the CNR Weston Sub. and Mac Tier Sub. Single connecting track to MacTier Sub. in the distance. Taken from the Old Weston Road bridge, looking east. September 1980 Gord Billinghurst
Empress of Agincourt un-official name for one-of-a-kind
8921 RSD-17 2400
hp MLW #81603 5/1957
The activity taking place here is known as "Transfer
Power". 7064 (MLW S-2) is the only unit working, 8744 (MLW RS-18)
and 8124 (GMD SW1200RS) are being hauled idling or dead. Eastbound
over the Diamond at West Toronto on the connecting double track going
to the North Toronto Sub. Tracks in the foreground are, left to right:
Galt Sub. westward track, the Mac Tier Sub., CNR Weston Sub. double
track. Far distance background is connecting track from North Toronto
Sub. to Mac Tier Sub. West Toronto Depot was out of sight to the right
behind the camera. A crew consisting of only two engineers was called from the spareboard to transfer power between locations within the Toronto Terminals. This was a holdover from steam days when push crews were used to do this work. Sometimes in addition to assisting a train, at other times doing only transfers back and forth. Beginning at West Toronto diamond the MacTier Subdivision is the mainline to northern Ontario and western Canada. Part of it was originally the Toronto, Grey & Bruce, a narrow gauge line from Toronto through Parkdale, West Toronto, and Weston to Bolton and Orangeville. The mainline was built 1904-1908 between Bolton and Romford, near Sudbury connecting with the mainline from Montreal, eliminating use of the GTR between Toronto and North Bay.
Right next to the diamond is Andrew Merrilees Ltd., a long time dealer in used railway equipment including locomotives, rail etc. Their private siding was removed some years ago. A little farther north at Rogers Road was Dominion Stores food warehouse, long gone, relocated to North Queen Street. Just north of here the railway crosses Black Creek. Therrien Construction siding south of Eglinton Avenue level crossing. Tremof Mileage 3.0 (pronounced tree-mof) for TREthewey MOdel Farms, near Mount Dennis. CTC double track begins north of Tremof at Mile 3.5 just south of Lawrence Avenue West and extends north to Mile 9.2 at Emery. CTC continues to Bolton. In ABS days there was an overlap block beyween West Toronto and Bolton. Tremof, once a passing track, has long been a service track for industries including Kodak, on Eglinton Avenue West. Kodak was a major industry here for many decades, (since 1913), as was Dominion Bridge, Mount Dennis, which occupied a large site at Jane Street & Trethewey Drive. It closed in late 1990, and recently became a residential development of 534 homes! Next to them was Ferranti Electric (later, Feranti-Packard) which operated since 1925 shipping out large transformers etc. It closed in the early 1990's and was finally demolished for redevelopment as a TTC bus garage due to begin in late 2005. It had been acquired for a train yard for a still-born TTC subway line along Eglinton Avenue West which would have begun on the southside of Eglinton opposite Kodak (closed 2006). This vacant terminal property was also under redevelopment in July 2005 becoming a No Frills (Loblaws) supermarket. The Kodak property is 52 acres. Weston Mileage 3.8 John Street
Weston station in paint style of brown and cream with grey roof, ready for the1939 Royal Tour. Al Paterson TG&B station Oak Street mileage 8.5 of the old line. A very old community located along the Humber River. The station, at John Street following the end of its use for passenger trains remained in use as an Agency until February 28, 1973. A large number of industries were located here, along with a depressed ramp at Oak Street. Here too were CN and CP interchange tracks that were heavily used until a mutual agreement consolidated interchange at Leaside. Industries once included Beecham Products (chewing gum), and A.P.Green Fire Brick, makers of the brick used in steam locomotive fireboxes!
Note truck backed up to box car on CNR team track. Crane Estate Mileage 5.88 Spurs into an industrial area between Wilson & Sheppard Avenues west of Highway 400. T.Eaton's warehouse was once located here and had 6 tracks. Southam Murray printing had 4 tracks. This spur was built c.1950. Signet Area Industrial Spur Mileage 8.57 a long lead into a large industrial area north of Finch Avenue West, east to Highway 400, where once the CPR had looked at building a major freight yard. This spur was built c.1960. Emery Mileage 8.0 (9.2)
Emery was once a rural flag stop in the middle of nowhere (Mileage 8.0) on Finch Avenue West near Weston Road, this old undated damaged photograph shows a typical CPR shelter often used at small flag stops. (Golf, Summerville, and Christie on the Galt Sub also had such shelters.) Collection of Al Paterson Steamboat with 1271 meets Budd Car at Emery Centrillium in Emery
Village is the name of a new (2004) development on
a 5.6-hectare site at the northwest corner of Finch Avenue West and
Weston Road. Rose Valley
Homes (link) Toronto Terminals Division Limit: Mileage 9.47 Two Emery Way Freights (days and afternoons) switched
industries in the area in steam days and in the early 1950's had a
four man tail-end crew, the extra man being a flagman required on
account of the yard limits being at Rogers Road just north of Dominion
Stores private siding and most switching being beyond there with only
the single track mainline. The Yard Limits were later extended to
Emery and the assignments became Industrial Yards, that is road crew,
yard rates and conditions. Industries grew and once kept three Industrial
Yard jobs working, later redesignated as Road Switchers. The First
and Second Emery Road Switchers on days and the Third Emery RS on
nights were based at Lambton until 1989, then relocated to Toronto
Yard. Only one job remains in 2005 and it originates at Toronto Yard.
Next: West Toronto and Lambton
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