Centre For Local Research into Public Space (CELOS)
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You are on the [May 2009] page of folder [Georgetown Corridor Gallery]
For the cover page of this folder go to the May 13 2009: A trip on the GO train, along the Georgetown Rail Corridor
 1.On the platform at the Bloor Street Station, mid-day. Looking north, you can see the Wallace Avenue pedestrian footbridge. Beyond that, the pile drivers. |
 2.The ticket machine. It takes a minute to figure out, but it spits out cheap tickets: $12 for a day-pass to Bramalea, $6 for seniors and kids. |
 3.The new railpath linear park, under construction, as seen from the Bloor Street GO platform. It's meant for bikes and walking, and they're putting in lots of bike rings. |
 4.A huge train arrives to take us north. It may have as many as ten cars. |
 5.Our entire train car is riding empty in mid-day. We counted 9 passengers in the whole train. |
 6.Passing by the junction, where the cylinders lie, ready to be pounded into the ground by the diesel explosions of the pile drivers. The cylinders are very long -- no wonder the pounding is so relentless. |
 7.Rail construction out the window. |
 8.A cylinder, driven into the ground. one down, many more to go. |
 9.Standing at the front, looking over the conductor's shoulder. The train has the engine at the back, going north, but the controls are at both ends, so the engineer who drives the train sits at the front on the way to Bramalea, in a little compartment to the right of the conductor. |
 10.View out the window, an underused mall with a mostly mepty parking lot. |
 11.Hydro lines, out the train window. |
 12.Bramalea is the turning point mid-day, so the engineer and the conductor have to walk back to the other end of the train (now the forward end). |
 13.Here's the diesel engine, pushing before, now ready to pull. |
 14.the GO train prepares to leave Bramalea for Union Station. There were 28 people who got on, including us and the crew. |
 15.Lots of cars, and GO buses, in the GO parking lot near the Malton stop. |
 16.Woodbine Racetrack, out the window. Is the expansion also directed to getting more people to the racetrack faster? |
 17.A raised highway, with a huge retaining wall. |
 18.A lunch stop in Weston, a block from the train station. The owners are Greek, and their plates are gigantic, and tasty. The place was packed at lunchtime. |
 19.Suri in her family's stationery store, on the phone, talking about the rail expansion. Suri is part of the core group that has been trying to switch the plan to electric trains (for four years already!) |
 20.The stationary store -- "Squibb's Stationery." It was Suri's parents' store, and goes back before that. It's right on the commercial stretch of Weston Road. |
 21.The level crossing at John Street in Weston. |
 22.A warning against playing "Rushin' Roulette" by trying to outrace the train at the crossing. |
 23.The southbound train coming into Weston Station, on the minute. Three new passengers got on, youth who were going to Oshawa with their trick bikes, to do some business. They love the GO train, but wondered why it couldn't be shorter in the daytime, since there are mostly empty seats.. |
 24.The GO train goes very close to houses, in the residential area of Toronto. Note the barbed wire on the fence -- in case people get too frustrated by the year of pile drivers. |
 25.Many small residential streets dead-end at the main tracks, like this street just south of Dundas near Lansdowne. |
 26.Arrival at Union Station. |
 27.Inside Union Station, there is a big sign giving all the directions for GO trains. A group of Durham Region police were waiting in case Tamil protesters tried to take over the station. |
Content last modified on May 26, 2009, at 03:29 AM EST