Canadian Railroads > GO Transit Question

I'm going to be in Toronto for a day in a couple of weeks, and I'd like to get some nice GO photos.  Do trains on the Lakeshore West line have the locomotive on the east (Toronto) end, or the west (Burlington/Hamilton) end?

Many thanks.

Stan Hunter

stanhunter Wrote:
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> I'm going to be in Toronto for a day in a couple
> of weeks, and I'd like to get some nice GO photos.
>  Do trains on the Lakeshore West line have the
> locomotive on the east (Toronto) end, or the west
> (Burlington/Hamilton) end?

East (Toronto) end.

(in case you aren't aware) I highly recommend stationing yourself on the Bathurst Street bridge for GO and VIA shots.

WP17

As suggested by WP17, Bathurst Bridge is the place to go, especially if your time is limited. On an April morning in 2010, I saw 49 train movements in 92 minutes, mostly GO but also VIA, Amtrak and Ontario Northland. This included numerous deadhead moves to Willowbrook (GO) and Mimico (VIA) yards.

Here's a sample in the space of nine minutes (times shown at lower left). This was abetted by the deadheading train pushed by GO 601 having to wait for signals, so it shows in all four shots.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/22 23:33 by railsmith.

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Fourth and final shot.

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The Go trains are returning to Niagara Falls on the weekends starting May 21st I believe.
Hope to see you in that area again !
Depart Union 8.51 , 12.51 & 4.41
Depart the Falls 11.15 , 3.15 & 7.15 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/22 01:55 by NiagaraMike.

GO is restoring week-end train service on other routes in time for the Victoria Day week-end - and also the provincial  election of course.

I note that GO is referring to seasonal week-end service to Niagara Falls. It will run until Thanksgiving. A few years ago it was meant to be permanent, but never was. With low passenger loads after the Christmas season the trains were cancelled. COVID didn't help, either. Last summer there were four trains each way between Toronto and Niagara Falls. This year it is three.

Need some background here. What two lines are diverging here?  Are we east or west of the station?

march_hare Wrote:
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> Need some background here. What two lines are
> diverging here?  Are we east or west of the
> station?

The photos were taken looking west from Bathurst Street Bridge, which is 1.1 miles west of Union Station.

In the top photo, the train at left is on Track OKN of the CN Oakville Sub. (now owned by GO).

The train at right is crossing from Track GN of the CP Galt Sub. on to Track WS of the GO Weston Sub. (the two subs run parallel for about four miles to West Toronto).  Those tracks are now part of the Union Station Rail Corridor (USRC) Sub. as far as Mile 1.9 in the distance (where today there is a road overpass carrying Strachan Avenue, completed in 2014). The Union Pearson Express service to the airport, which started in 2015, runs on these tracks.  

In the photo at 09:09, the train at right (with locomotive pushing) is diverging across the CP Galt Sub. tracks on to the USRC Western Lead track to reach Track O1 of the Weston Sub. It can be seen going away in the distance in the photo at 09:11.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/22 06:01 by railsmith.

Now you will also get the Union-Pearson (UP) Express from the airport to downtown - it takes a route similar to the right hand GO train in the 9:02 shot. If your flying in, the UP express is a nice ride and is usually faster than a taxi to downtown. Occassionaly you will also see CN, CP and GO trains along the way.
Mark
Calgary

The Islington Avenue bridge over GO Transit's Willowbrook Yard isn't too shabby, either.

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