2019/07/12 – Kingston Sub

Good morning. Nice day for a walk. I’ll be following the rail line that carries GO Lakeshore East trains, starting in Corktown and heading east. Let’s go.

Big detour to start, there’s no direct connection over the Don. Once East Harbour becomes a reality, this will change.

Lots of zigzagging to do today, but starts off well with some 1920s era underpasses and railside parks.

Underpass with unused stairs. Underpass with two portals.

Carlaw overpass. Not hard to spot trains here, over what is technically named the Kingston Subdivision. GO trains to/from Oshawa and a fleet maintenance facility in Whitby, as well as VIA trains to/from Ottawa and Montreal, all squeeze along three tracks here.

Big detour because of different trains. A green space and a detour does exist west of the yard, but doesn’t start until a block north of Boultbee Ave.

Eventually the green space opens up. The Pocket holds the TTC’s Greenwood Yard, home to the oldest trains in the active subway fleet. The detour around the north side offers a great overview, but a southern bypass would be nice.

Pedestrian underpass followed by a railside alley. Small’s Creek Ravine, which has no underpass unfortunately. More railside recreation parks.

The easiest pedestrian connections are the biggest missed opportunities. Lots of railside houses until Danforth GO.

The further you get from the core, the fewer good vantage points there seem to be.

Runnymede Lands. This huge swath of private property seems to have been vacant for some time, but has become a great ad-hoc public park.

Nice little park tucked in behind the rail corridor south of Danforth. The underpass is of varied construction.

No sight of the tracks for some time passing through the industrial commercial areas of Scarborough Junction, but there is a remnant of a former spur. Then a glimpse of the corridor via a pedestrian bridge to Birch Cliff Heights.

Significant detour required at Natal Park, because detours for pedestrians can’t even be spared an afterthought. Eventually I get around, through the park and to Scarborough GO.

Splitting off from the Lakeshore East line (Kingston sub) to the Stouffville line (Uxbridge sub) for a short time. The latter splits off of the former at Scarborough Junction (the interlocking, not the neighbourhood), west of Midland. Real up close and personal with the GO here.

Through this S-curve, pedestrian crossings are maintained.

Kennedy, a madhouse that will become the interchange of four modes of transit (and then back to three, maybe, probably?). Wrapping up today’s walk here.