Found some old RR slides

[spitfire]

Not the greatest quality scan, but for interest sake, here's a shot of the tracks through the southern end of Toronto, circa 1980 or so. Note the complete lack of ballast. The last shot is of coaling towers that no longer exist. I wish I had taken a longer shot.

Val

 

[fp9er]

Great shots! Glad you found them....!!! I remember that kind of a coaling tower in Regina, Sask when I was a kid. I also remember when it burned down---Sheesh, what a fire! Here's a picture of what "used" to go under it, prior to its being oil-fired of course! You might recognize it! Taken at the Winnipeg Marshalling Yards July 1st 2003; kind of a "retro" scene.....

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo but the sun was directly overhead (2.00 PM) -- not the flattering of light conditions!

 

[MasonJar]

Val - these pics, plus that map of Toronto certainly shows how much things have changed. I have an article in an old RMC (I think) that talks about "shooting fish in a barrel" - taking pictures fromt he Spadina overpass. I think that is the view from you last shot?

Andrew

 

[cobra]

Thanks for the pics folks . In hindsight I dearly wish I had taken similar shots of the Windsor / Detroit waterfront when it was bursting with activity ....train ferries and such . All gone ! We now have a Casino ! Progress .

Neil

 

[interurban]

Nice shots Val, I brightend up this one,, well all of them realy, I will re post them, they look great. :thumb:

 

[spitfire]

Andrew, another thing that has changed is access. Just look where I was standing when I took that shot up the tracks - no one bothered me, no one told me I was endangering myself, no one told me I was trespassing.

One of these days I need to get those slides professionally scanned. There's a wealth of information there that's not readily apparent.

Nice shot fp9er!

Val

 

[60103]

Val:
That shot of the switch seems to be taken from the overpass on King St.? The CPR side?
During my commute time to T.O. (mid 70s to 02) I watched CPR remove a yard there, relay the track for a piggyback/intermodal yard, then strip out the yard and almost all the sidings down their side of the right-of-way. I think your yard may be the first one they had.
Curious observation: when they put in new switches, the mainline got RTR switches in 3 sections, while the yard got handlaid track using individual ties and rail. When the switches were removed from the mainline, the rails were replaced by plain rail, but the extended ties were left in place.

 

[60103]

Forgot to ask:
How did you convert the slides?

 

[spitfire]

Hi David

I don't really remember the exact locations, but if I reconstruct a little, in taking shots 1 and 2 I would have been heading west from Niagara, past Strachan and cutting across King St.

Rbt Bury lumber (seen in the 2nd pic) backed onto King and Sudbury Sts.

The third shot looks like it's taken facing east. The Bathurst overpass was not good for photos, so Spadina is probably a good call.

I converted the slides on my scanner, which has a backlit feature for transparency scans. Believe me, the original slides have so much more detail.
Val

 

[MasonJar]

Hi Val,

I have a dedicated slide scanner (Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED - they really pick silly names... ) and I can scan them for you if you trust Canada Post to get them here safely. It will scan at up to 4000 dpi, in either CMYK or RGB. The raw fille will be up to about 70 MB, which should give you a lot to look at!

PM me if you are interested.

Andrew

 

[spitfire]

Thanks Andrew!!!! A very generous offer!!! Check your PMs.

Val

 

[grumbeast]

Beat me to it Andrew! (I have a Minolta Dimage III).


Those are great slides Val, I love the yard detail with the RDC.


Graham

 

[Chessie6459]

Great Slides Val.

 

[Matthyro]

Great photos Val, I remember passing that coaling tower many times on my commute by GO train years ago. Wish I had taken some photos then.