Via Rail's Toronto Maintenance Centre is a railway yard in the western end of Toronto, which stores and services Via trains. It lies within the south side of the former Canadian National Mimico Yard directly opposite of the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility on the north side; GO Transit's Lakeshore West line separates the two facilities. The yard is bisected by the Islington Avenue flyover bridge.[1] Its main entrance is located at 50 Drummond Street on the eastern side with a secondary entrance on its southern side along New Toronto Street at Eighth Street.[2]
Toronto Maintenance Centre
Toronto Maintenance Centre closer to the camera (blue stripe). The large road running across the yard is Islington Ave.
In 1976, Via Rail took over the passenger services of both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. Originally, Via performed maintenance in Toronto at the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and CPR John Street Roundhouse, both just west of Union Station. In 1985, Via moved to its current maintenance facility in the southern half of the Mimico Yard.[3][4]
In 2022, Via demonstrated for Trains magazine the locomotive simulator in the centre's training complex.[5]
Mimico Yardedit
Both the Via Toronto Maintenance Centre and GO Transit's Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility lie in south and north halves respectively of the Mimico Yard. The northern part of the yard is also called the Willowbrook Yard after the nearby Willowbrook Road.[1]
In 1906, the Grand Trunk Railway built the 200-acre (81 ha) Mimico Yard. In 1913, the GTR built a 34-stall roundhouse, a coaling tower and water towers on the south side of the yard.[3] The yard exclusively serviced freight trains, and had facilities to maintain and repair freight cars. Freight trains were assembled and dispatched from the yard.[1] Unlike today, the mainline ran along the north edge of the Mimico Yard.[3]
The Mimico Roundhouse survived to the diesel area, but part of it was rented out to tenants. In March 1965, a fire partly destroyed the roundhouse with the remainder being demolished by 1969. Today, a turntable sits at the site of the former roundhouse, but it was built years after the roundhouse's demolition.[3]
GO Transit started using the Mimico Yard in 1967,[3] and in 1978 opened its Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility in the Willowbrook Yard, the name given to the northern half of the Mimico Yard.[6] In 1985, Via Rail opened its Toronto Maintenance Centre in the southern half of the yard. By this time, the mainline was running through the middle of the Mimico Yard, separating the GO Transit and Via Rail facilities.[3]
Referencesedit
^ abcdeMackenzie, Robert (May 6, 2018). "GO Transit's Willowbrook Maintenance Centre". Transit Toronto. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
^. Merx. Archived from the original on May 23, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
^ abcdefg"Roundhouses in the Toronto Area". Toronto Railway Historical association. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
^"Toronto Terminals Railway". TrainWeb. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
^Johnston, Bob. "Training for contingencies". Trains. No. April 2022. Kalmbach Media. pp. 38–40.
^. Metrolinx. February 24, 2020. Archived from the original on March 28, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
January 01, 1970
toronto, maintenance, centre, rail, toronto, maintenance, centre, railway, yard, western, toronto, which, stores, services, trains, lies, within, south, side, former, canadian, national, mimico, yard, directly, opposite, willowbrook, rail, maintenance, facilit. Via Rail s Toronto Maintenance Centre is a railway yard in the western end of Toronto which stores and services Via trains It lies within the south side of the former Canadian National Mimico Yard directly opposite of the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility on the north side GO Transit s Lakeshore West line separates the two facilities The yard is bisected by the Islington Avenue flyover bridge 1 Its main entrance is located at 50 Drummond Street on the eastern side with a secondary entrance on its southern side along New Toronto Street at Eighth Street 2 Toronto Maintenance CentreToronto Maintenance Centre closer to the camera blue stripe The large road running across the yard is Islington Ave General informationLocation50 Drummond StreetCanadaCoordinates43 36 38 N 79 30 34 W 43 61056 N 79 50944 W 43 61056 79 50944Owned byVia RailConstructionStructure typeRail yard and locomotive and coach maintenance facilityHistoryPrevious namesCanadian National The west end of the yard has an operational railway turntable 3 A large turnaround wye has been constructed out of an industrial spur on the eastern side that formerly served the Campbell Soup Company plant 1 In 1976 Via Rail took over the passenger services of both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Originally Via performed maintenance in Toronto at the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and CPR John Street Roundhouse both just west of Union Station In 1985 Via moved to its current maintenance facility in the southern half of the Mimico Yard 3 4 In 2022 Via demonstrated for Trains magazine the locomotive simulator in the centre s training complex 5 Mimico Yard editBoth the Via Toronto Maintenance Centre and GO Transit s Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility lie in south and north halves respectively of the Mimico Yard The northern part of the yard is also called the Willowbrook Yard after the nearby Willowbrook Road 1 In 1906 the Grand Trunk Railway built the 200 acre 81 ha Mimico Yard In 1913 the GTR built a 34 stall roundhouse a coaling tower and water towers on the south side of the yard 3 The yard exclusively serviced freight trains and had facilities to maintain and repair freight cars Freight trains were assembled and dispatched from the yard 1 Unlike today the mainline ran along the north edge of the Mimico Yard 3 In 1923 the Canadian National CN took over the yard along with the Grand Trunk Railway In 1965 CN moved most of the yard s functions to the then new MacMillan Yard in Maple Ontario 1 The Mimico Roundhouse survived to the diesel area but part of it was rented out to tenants In March 1965 a fire partly destroyed the roundhouse with the remainder being demolished by 1969 Today a turntable sits at the site of the former roundhouse but it was built years after the roundhouse s demolition 3 GO Transit started using the Mimico Yard in 1967 3 and in 1978 opened its Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility in the Willowbrook Yard the name given to the northern half of the Mimico Yard 6 In 1985 Via Rail opened its Toronto Maintenance Centre in the southern half of the yard By this time the mainline was running through the middle of the Mimico Yard separating the GO Transit and Via Rail facilities 3 References edit a b c d e Mackenzie Robert May 6 2018 GO Transit s Willowbrook Maintenance Centre Transit Toronto Retrieved May 17 2021 Toronto Maintenance Center Guard House Merx Archived from the original on May 23 2021 Retrieved May 22 2021 a b c d e f g Roundhouses in the Toronto Area Toronto Railway Historical association Retrieved May 22 2021 Toronto Terminals Railway TrainWeb Retrieved May 22 2021 Johnston Bob Training for contingencies Trains No April 2022 Kalmbach Media pp 38 40 Where heroically toiling GO trains retreat to Old document tells origins story of Toronto s Willowbrook Maintenance Facility Metrolinx February 24 2020 Archived from the original on March 28 2021 Retrieved April 27 2021 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Via Toronto Maintenance Centre amp oldid 1188199186 Mimico Yard, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
