Canadian Railroads > Fix It Friday - Repairing the Burnt Deck of CP Over the Don

To make this as brief as possible, in 1977 and 1978 I spent two weeks each year in Toronto on train-shooting holidays. All locations were accessed by public transit plus hoofing it. I was able to get a release form from CP for the Toronto area for the whole time period in 1977. When I tried it in 1978, they made me specify which locations on which days, so that took away flexibility. But it paid off in a weird way.
The day before heading to CP’s trestle over the Don Valley and CN’s Bala Sub, I was in a hobby shop (Yonge St., used to advertise in Trains magazine; anyone recognize it?) for a bit. A customer was talking to the proprietor, mentioning that CP had just had a derailment on the trestle, setting the deck on fire. Oh, that might affect next day, do you think?
I showed up on June 22, 1978, to see what was what, and work was underway. Armed with my release form, I approached a white hat to see how he’d react. He looked at it, said, ‘Well, it looks like you have permission. Just stay stay out of the way, watch yourself, whatever.’ So of course, when the flow of traffic permitted, I walked out on the north track, from the west side of the trestle, and set myself up in the safety step-out for a few hours. You’re right; there’s no way in double hockey sticks this happens in today’s world.
One of the shots I’ve always loved was this B&B worker clearing off old bolts or rivets or something with a power chisel. No bright vest, and no safety harness; just a makeshift platform and bench formed out of tongue-and-groove lumber. Anyway, the train shooting wasn’t ideal, but I’ll never get a shot like this again.
Fred

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George's Trains formerly at 510 Mount Pleasant Road, a block or two east of Yonge St.
I'm thinking the trestle is on the North Toronto Sub.

kgrantly Wrote:
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> George's Trains formerly at 510 Mount Pleasant
> Road, a block or two east of Yonge St.
> I'm thinking the trestle is on the North Toronto
> Sub.

You are right on both counts. The name of the store rang a bell immediately.
Fred

A truly special catch and back story!
Bob

This is a great shot of the people of railroading.