Union Station Toronto Track Plan

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Hi,

Does anybody know where I could find information about the track plan for Union station in Toronto, Canada? I’ve googled with no avail but perhaps I’m not googling the right terms.

Cheers,

Kevin

2

Maybe you can search by naming which roadname goes there.

To find a good site, I would need to know the roadname (is it VIACanada?), and search it through them.

3

Yes the railroads that serve Union Station are Via Rail Canada and Go Transit.

Cheers,

Kevin

4

Try google earth and trace it. Going through it twice a day all I can say is thats its quite complex, especially with the flyover west of spadina and the little staging yard there. I’ve seen them putting in new pre-fab switches so they may be doing some re-alignment in the western throat just by the Don River.

5

Kevin

It ultimately depends on what era you are modeling. For example, from the 1950’s to now, drastic changes have been made to Union Station and it’s surrounding yards. Many of the coach yards and engine servicing terminals have been torn down (the old CNR roundhouse actually used to sit on the same location the CN Tower does today). I am assuming that you are referring to modern day as you do reference Via Rail and GO Transit. In that case, I would also suggest google earth (even google local on the Internet works well. Just make sure you select satellite image for the most detailed view of the trackwork) to create a template on your own. However I can also suggest googling Union Station Toronto into Google Images and I came up with a number of views of the trackwork leaving both ends of the station. I also have a copy of Auran Trainz Simulator 2006 and it includes a Union Station route that I may be able to get a screenshot for. However, I too agree that the trackwork is extremely complex, with numerous double slip switches lined up in diagonal rows to create multiple crossovers, which I would have to say is most complex on the west side of the train shed.

Hope that helped at all,

Ghonz

6

Toronto’s Union Station is owned and operated By the Toronto Terminals Railway Company Limited. They would probably be the best place to start. Their Web site is:

http://www.ttrly.com/ They have operated Union Station as long as I can remember.

Good Luck

7

Add ONR and Amtrak as well.

8

If you are modeling the current layout of Union Station, suggest going to Google maps at: http://www.google.com/maps

Enlarge the Union Station area on the map and then click on Hybrid.

9

What era are you looking for?

It’s been changed a lot over the past 30 years

I have a great black & white shot of the area taken I think around mid 60’s.

It was taken from the east end so the eastern approach isn’t shown, but the west side including both CPR & CNR’s roundhouses & ajoining yards are visible.

Gordon

10

I’m looking for late 80s early 90s Union station.

Cheers,

Kevin

11

You might also try www.local.live It allows you to zoom in well enough to see the track work. Ken

12

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the web site but I keep getting an error message when I try to open the site www.local.live, Firefox tells me that it can’t find the server.

Cheers,

Kevin