Canadian Railroads > Freight traffic past Toronto Union Station

I'll be visiting Toronto for the first time in early November, and am staying at a place just to the west of Union Station. Found an older thread indicating CN runs a few freight trains on a bypass by the station. I was wondering if that is still the case, and if there is any predictability to what time they might pass. I'm interested in the passenger operations too but of course there are timetables for all of that. Thanks for any help.

CN no longer runs any regularly scheduled freight trains through the Union Station Rail Corridor -- stopped about three to four years ago.

Thanks for the update.

If you are traveling by automobile a place which will be good for viewing is the Royal Botanical Gardens at Burlington. Search for same here on Trainorders. Your screen name suggests you might be arriving from Chicago via Detroit, thus my suggestion for the viewing location in Burlington. Of course if you're arriving from the Niagara Region the RBC also works. That location will see freight, GOTrain, Amtrak and VIA all from the same vantage poins.

If you are not traveling by car, others may have some additional ideas.

Dale

I think you are referring to "Bayview Junction".
Doug

dbrcnw Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you are traveling by automobile a place which
> will be good for viewing is the Royal Botanical
> Gardens at Burlington. Search for same here on
> Trainorders. Your screen name suggests you might
> be arriving from Chicago via Detroit, thus my
> suggestion for the viewing location in Burlington.
> Of course if you're arriving from the Niagara
> Region the RBC also works. That location will see
> freight, GOTrain, Amtrak and VIA all from the same
> vantage poins.
>
> If you are not traveling by car, others may have
> some additional ideas.
>
> Dale

Thanks for the additional advice. I'm flying in from Peru, and then two days later I'll fly to Chicago. I wish I could take a train for that but it is really hard to come up with an iternary that is sensible. While in Tornoto I'm staying at a place with a view of the western side of Union Station, so I'll at least see the passenger traffic.

An alternative -- you could take a GO Train east from Union Station to Pickering Station near where CN's freight-only York Subdivision joins GO's Kingston Subdivision. At Pickering you can see GO Trains, VIA Rail trains and CN freights. The ride from Union Station would take you about 25 minutes.