Eve Lewis stands in front of the restored and redeveloped Market Street buildings in downtown Toronto circa 2014. Photographer unknown.
One of Oberman’s last projects was redevelopment of a collection of buildings on the west side of St. Lawrence Market, completed by his wife, Eve Lewis, in 2014. He shared his success with others as a generous supporter of Heritage Toronto and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. 3/3
A view looking west toward the Gooderham Flatiron Building with the skyline of downtown Toronto in the background, circa 2015. Photographer unknown.
Woodcliffe's other properties included the Gooderham Flatiron building on Front Street, one of Toronto's most photographed buildings. Oberman was highly successful in his development activities, using rehabilitated heritage buildings as the anchors for larger developments. 2/3
Paul Oberman speaks at a lectern circa 2010. Photographer unknown.
A view of the former Canadian Pacific Railway North Toronto Station, now the Summerhill LCBO store, looking northeast across Yonge Street in 2009. Photographer unknown.
Mar 7, 2011: Paul Oberman dies and another pilot is injured in a private plane crash while flying over Maine. Oberman was the president and CEO of Woodcliffe Landmark Properties, which restored North Toronto Station as the Summerhill LCBO. 1/3
An interior view of the Great Hall of Toronto Union Station, August 3, 2021. City of Toronto Archives.
In 2007, the city estimated the cost of heritage restoration and state of good repair work would be almost $177 million over 20 years. The most recent city-provided estimate of the total cost of the Union Station revitalization project in 2021 was $824 million. 3/3
Former Toronto Mayor John Sewell. Toronto Star photo.
The deal faced opposition, led by former Mayor John Sewell, and unraveled in 2006 when UPG and the city could not agree on final terms. UPG had proposed to spend $150 million for the complete redevelopment of the station. 2/3
The Front Street colonnade of Toronto Union Station, June 5, 2001. City of Toronto Archives.
Mar 6, 2001: Toronto City Council selects three developers to respond to a Request for Proposals for redevelopment of Toronto Union Station. In 2003 the city would choose one of the three consortia—the Union Pearson Group—for the initial stage of a master agreement. 1/3
An image of a construction crane working beside a railway overpass with a GO train passing by. Inset is a photo of Darren Cooney, director of community engagement at Metrolinx. At the top is the title "Progress Updates and Q&A with Metrolinx."
Massive transit construction is underway across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area that will change the face of the region. Join us for the Toronto Railway Museum's Second Tuesday Zoom Talk on March 10 at 7:00 PM as we discuss the future of rail in Toronto.
www.tickettailor.com/events/toron...
A detail from a pre-1882 fire insurance plan showing the location of the Great Western Railway station at the northeast corner of Yonge Street and the Esplanade.
The building became a bonded freight depot when the Grand Trunk took over the GWR in 1882. In 1904 it became the Toronto Fruit Terminal, which it remained until it was destroyed by fire in 1952. The O'Keefe Centre for the Performing Arts opened on the site in 1960. 3/3
An 1871 portrait of William G. Storm, architect of the 1866 Toronto Great Western Railway station. Photo by William Notman, McCord-Stewart Museum Collection.
A passenger train sits in the train shed of the 1866 Great Western Railway station. Photo from the Archives of Ontario.
The wood-framed building was designed in the Romanesque style by William G. Storm, who later designed St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at King and Simcoe Streets. The four-track stub-end station was the first in Toronto to provide a train shed over the tracks and platforms. 2/3
The 1866 Great Western Railway station at the corner of Yonge Street and the Esplanade, not long after its opening. The photographer is looking east into the arch-roofed train shed. Baldwin Collection of Canadiana, Toronto Public Library.
Mar 5, 1866: the Great Western Railway opens a new Toronto passenger and freight terminal at the foot of Yonge Street. The new station allowed the GWR to vacate the Grand Trunk's 1858 Union Station—although GWR trains continued to stop there for the convenience of passengers. 1/3
A view looking southwest across Bremner Boulevard toward Roundhouse Park, Steam Whistle Brewing and the Toronto Railway Museum, as seen from the south pavilion of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The Woodpecker Column public artwork is visible in the foreground at left.
What's your favourite view of Roundhouse Park and the Toronto Railway Museum? You can see the entire site from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The CP Great Lakes steamboat SS Keewatin in harbour at Port McNicoll in 1968. Tay Township Heritage Collection.
This was the last such steamship operation in North America and used the SS Keewatin, now preserved at the Great Lakes Museum. CP negotiated an alternate route via CN lines and handled grain at Port McNicoll until federal subsidies ended in 1989. The Hog Bay Trestle was dismantled in 1978. 2/2
CP SW1200RS diesel road switcher No. 8157 leads a freight train over the Hog Bay Trestle in Port McNicoll, Ontario in early 1971. Photo from the Scott Garrett Collection.
The Hog Bay Trestle in 1972, one year after its abandonment. Photo by Hans Lieferink.
Mar 4, 1971: the last Canadian Pacific train creaks and groans over the much-photographed Hog Bay trestle at Port McNicoll, ON. CP boat trains had run between Toronto and Port McNicoll every summer until the passenger lake steamboat service ended in 1965. 1/2
A stern view of the SS Cayuga steaming through Toronto Harbour circa 1935, with the Royal York Hotel and Toronto Union Station visible in the background at right. City of Toronto Archives.
SS Cayuga would go on to carry hundreds of thousands of people across Lake Ontario to Niagara-on-the-Lake and Queenston for over 50 years. The Cayuga was retired in 1957, the last passenger steamship to operate out of Toronto. 3/3
An aerial view of Niagara Falls from the Canadian side circa 1935. Library and Archives of Canada.
The ferry docks at Port Dalhousie, circa 1920. A steamboat is docked at right while passengers stand onshore and two electric cars of the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto sit at the ferry dock track at centre-left. Library and Archives of Canada.
Niagara Falls was—and is—one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world and many Torontonians enjoyed spending the day there. They could take a steamship across the lake and board electric cars of the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway to reach the Falls. 2/3
A hand-tinted postcard image of the Niagara Navigation Company steamboat Cayuga circa 1910, seen broadside with a tree-covered shoreline behind her.
Mar 3, 1906: the new 2,196 ton lake steamer "Cayuga" is christened at the Canadian Shipbuilding Company at the foot of Bathurst Street. The Niagara Navigation Co. steamship was the largest ever built for Toronto day trips. NNC became part of Canada Steamship Lines in 1913. 1/3
The former CPR official car Saskatchewan on indoor display at Exporail, the Canadian Railway Museum, in St-Constant, Quebec in 2015. A statue of W.C. Van Horne stands on the end platform. Photo by Jean-Guy Duc.
Van Horne retained the car even after he became president of the CPR in 1888 and the "Saskatchewan" was a frequent visitor to Toronto. The car is now one of the prize exhibits at the Canadian Railway Museum, Exporail, in St-Constant, QC. 3/3
CPR official car Saskatchewan at Windsor Station in Montreal in 1897, with a group of men and women posed around the car. The event was a visit by Joseph Lister, Baron Lister, and family, to Canada, when they were given use of the car for their travels. Photo by William Notman & Son, Wellcome Library, London, Wellcome Images. Available under Creative Commons attribution only license via Wikimedia Commons.
When William Cornelius Van Horne was appointed VP in 1884, "Saskatchewan" became his official car, and remained so for the rest of his life. The car was present at many pivotal events in Canadian history, including the driving of the Last Spike at Craigellachie, BC in 1885. 2/3
One of two known photos of CPR business car "Saskatchewan" before its 1901 modernization. This image shows the car at Stoney Creek, BC on May 17, 1894, on the occasion of the opening of the new steel bridge at that location. A large group of men is posed at the rear of the car, among them William Cornelius Van Horne, standing on a step leading down from the car's rear platform. Photo by Robert R. Bruce, Glenbow Library and Archives Collection, University of Calgary.
Mar 2, 1883: the Barney & Smith Manufacturing Co. of Dayton, Ohio, delivers a new official car to the Canadian Pacific Railway's Hochelaga Shops in Montreal. CP named the new car "Saskatchewan" and assigned it for the use of the company vice-president. 1/3
A thick cloud of smoke rises from Bonaventure Station in Montreal as it burns on August 23, 1948. This photo, taken from the 17th floor of the Sun Life Building, also shows the Canadian Pacific Railway's Windsor Station, at right, and the dome of Saint James Cathedral, at left. Photographer unknown.
Bonaventure served as the GTR's—and later Canadian National's—principal Montreal terminal until Central Station opened in 1943. It hosted CN's lakeshore commuter trains until 1948, when another fire razed the passenger and freight sheds and damaged the station building again. 3/3
A postcard image of the rebuilt Bonaventure Station circa 1925, retaining the round-arched windows of the 1888 structure, but with a flat roof.
Bonaventure Station circa 1895 with its original 1888 Second Empire-style mansard roof. Photo from the CN Collection, Canada Science and Technology Museum.
Bonaventure was rebuilt after the fire but without the castellated Second Empire grandeur of the 1888 station. Most Montrealers considered the reconstructed station building to be an ugly and unappealing structure. 2/3
A view of the aftermath of the March 1, 1916 Bonaventure Station fire in Montreal. The walls remain standing and are covered in ice frozen in place from the water firefighters sprayed into the building. Photo from the CN Collection, Canada Science and Technology Museum.
Mar 1, 1916: the Grand Trunk Railway's Bonaventure Station in Montreal is destroyed by fire. The station was built in 1888, replacing earlier structures dating back to the Montreal & Lachine Rail Road in 1847. 1/3
CN GP7 diesel road switcher No. 4803 sits on one of the stall tracks in the Spadina Roundhouse on May 20 1985. Photo by John Vincent.
The GP7 diesel locomotive had been donated to the City of Toronto in 1984 to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the city’s incorporation. Not long after this movement, Spadina Roundhouse was demolished to make way for construction of the SkyDome stadium—now the Rogers Centre. 2/2
Canadian National Railway SW1200 diesel switcher No. 7729 pulls retired CN GP7 diesel road switcher No. 4803 onto the turntable at the Spadina Roundhouse on February 28, 1986. Photographer unknown.
Feb 28, 1986: the last official engine movement occurs at the Canadian National Railway's Spadina Roundhouse as CN switcher No. 7729 moves freshly-repainted CN GP7 locomotive No. 4803 from Spadina to the Canadian Pacific John Street Roundhouse. 1/2
A photo illustration showing the Automatic Train Stop (ATS) safety system fitted to New York Central Railroad steam locomotive No. 5207 in 1928. Locomotive 5207 is seen at top, with labels showing the location of the various ATS components. Inset at bottom are photos of the relay mechanism, forestaller and actuator, three key parts of the system.
The accident led to regulatory agencies pushing for widespread adoption of automatic train control (ATC) and automatic train stop (ATS). These were safety systems whereby the brakes of a train were automatically applied if the engineer ignored a restrictive signal. 3/3
A photo from a different angle to the first one, showing several derailed passenger cars on both crossing tracks, as well as wreckage of a passenger car in the foreground and the tower controlling the crossing at right. Once again, a large crowd of people is visible, milling around the wreckage. Photographer unknown, credited to P&H Drug Store.
CP passenger train No. 20, the ‘Canadian’, was en route from Chicago to Detroit, Toronto and Montreal when the collision occurred. The NYC engine demolished the third car of the other train, CP wooden coach No. 1560, killing 35 passengers and both of the NYC head-end crew. 2/3
A photo showing the aftermath of the February 27, 1921 train wreck at Porter, Indiana. As was typical of these wrecks, a large crowd of onlookers has gathered, visible at right. At centre left are tracks that were torn up and a steam locomotive that was thrown onto its side by the violent forces of the t-bone collision at a diamond crossing. Photographer unknown, credited to P&H Drug Store, Chesterton, Indiana.
Feb 27, 1921: an eastbound Michigan Central/Canadian Pacific Railway train is T-boned by a westbound New York Central train at Porter, IN, 44 miles (71 km) east of Chicago. The MC/CPR train had just sped past a red signal protecting the diamond crossing with the NYC. 1/3
A portion of a Toronto transit map showing the wye interchange tracks connecting the University subway line to the Bloor-Danforth line, between Museum, St. George and Lower Bay stations.
These trains ran via the now-closed Lower Bay station, down to Union Station and from there north on the Yonge line to Eglinton. The wye interchange was briefly reactivated in 2007, 2010 and 2011 to permit subway tunnel restoration work to be carried out on weekends. 3/3
A TTC subway crosses the Don Valley using the lower deck of the Prince of Wales Viaduct in the summer of 1966. Photo from the John Chuckman collection.
The line crossed the Don Valley on the lower deck of the Prince Edward Viaduct, added when the bridge was built a half-century earlier. For several months, operations featured the "wye" interchange, with every second crosstown train turning south down the University line. 2/3
A commemorative TTC token holder marking the opening of the Bloor-Danforth subway line for regular service on February 26, 1966, with the slogan "Now East–Now West."
Feb 26, 1966: a day after its official opening, the TTC's new 8-mile (13 km) Bloor-Danforth crosstown subway opens for regular service. It added 18 new stations to the system, as well as new platforms and levels at two stations already in use: St. George and Bloor-Yonge. 1/3
