6 Secrets of the TTC Subway
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- Опубликовано: 23 май 2020
- Here are six of what I consider the coolest little-known facts about our Toronto subway system. Watch this video to find out more about:
1. Why there's an enormous attic above Lawrence station
2. Why there's an incomplete streetcar stop beneath Queen station
3. The origin of the abandoned platform beneath Bay station
4. The bronze whistle displayed at TTC headquarters
5. The purpose of the green triangles on platform walls
6. Why there's a "please hold handrail" sign in the Spadina station hallway
I hope that you find these facts interesting and please comment on which fact you thought was the most fascinating. I would appreciate if you watch the entire video because I spent a lot of time making it.
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![[Unbuilt Toronto] - The Etobicoke RT](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cb5fnho-niA/mqdefault.jpg)
CHANNEL UPDATE: IMPORTANT PLEASE READ. Because of the current circumstances with the Coronavirus pandemic, I will NOT be able to railfan on any transit properties until probably at least the beginning of July. This is due to the trains continuing to run on a modified schedule. As the majority of train trips have been removed due to low ridership, there are no longer trains running during the times when I'm most likely going to be in the area near the train station. I will continue uploading other train related things like train simulator in the meantime. I just want to let you know that I haven't abandoned this channel, I'm only uploading less frequently due to the current global situation and the lack of new railfanning footage. For all fellow railfans who are still able to film, please remember to stay safe out there.
That kinda sucks
@MATT5200 yea
I have good news, though! GO Transit F59PH 562 is now back in service!
@@matthew_tran04 O. Ou
O .
@@superbaddy4 yay!
I have many good stories, the Lawrence Station vent shafts that are talked about, we were doing Fan and vent shaft checks and came across an extension cord going through the vent grate and found chairs, TV, VCR and other things of comfort that in the shaft, Street people found a home till it was removed.
That Walkway on Spadina MUST return.
It won't because (Anecdotally I heard that) they were spending over 100,000 a year to keep it operational and the overhaul twice a year due to sand and salt ingress was costing $50,000 in labor and replaced parts. It was regularly out of operation about 35% of the time due to corrosion of mechanical parts. Also, the number of people who use that as an interchange station is remarkably low compared to all other interchange stations.
You could just change on St.George if you don't wanna walk. That's what I do.
@@TheMuddyBunny It "The better way!" ☺
@@TheMuddyBunny very true
I like the music. A few other things:
- At Kennedy, the Scarborough trains were originally supposed to go around a loop until it was determined that the curve was too tight
- Union's asymmetrical layout is because it formerly had just the island platform for both directions; the separate platform for Finch trains opened to reduce overcrowding in the early 2010s I believe
- You can see daylight by looking west from Dundas West station
- Between Sherbourne and Castle Frank, it appears to be all underground but the tracks actually are inside an above-ground enclosed concrete tube over Rosedale Valley
- There was a board game called "Subway Toronto" based on the system map as it was in 1994 (although without the SRT)
Someday the fact that there was a Scarborough RT will be a secret, along with Cedarvale station being once named "Eglinton West" unless they do what happened at Sheppard West and add a subtitle.
The Scarborough RT did use that go around loop in the early months of operation when they used it to turn the trains around. Thus it had two tracks at the station instead of the single track. Yes I am that old! LoL!
I was 10 years old when the Yonge subway was built, and we thought the space age had arrived. I remember our class being dismissed on the day of the Grand Opening - Such excitement!
Little did we dream of the changes we would see.
Something I never knew - what was the meaning of the Green Triangle? I never would have guessed!
Thank you for all your work in preparing this video - It's excellent.
Glad you enjoyed!
By the way, the green triangles are now obsolete on the Line 1 as it's switched to automatic operation, which no longer requires conductors to operate the doors.
@@trainboy647 Oh no! Just when I discover something new, I find out it's now obsolete! LOL... I now travel by WheelTrans, so can't keep up with progress!
Thank you for replying... I could add several humorous stories that went around our school concerning the building of the subway! Eg., the boys in our class trying to convince us girls that the subway would be tunneling under Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, etc.. OMG .. and we believed them?
As an retired employee I remember back in the mid 1980s doing many repairs on the Ramps at Spadina station. I do agree they took a lot of maintenance to keep running. Biggest problem people sitting on the hand rails as it caused resistance to the the point the handrail wouldn't move. I remember a stretch of almost 4 months everyday where I was there with my workmate installing brackets to support the handrails due to people sitting on them and preventing it from total failure.
And this is why U of T students can't have nice things.
I loved the movator at Spadina!! My older sisters used to jump the middle divider on me and leave me to go alll the way to the other end and have to make my way back to them lmao
I think the most interesting was the point and acknowledge system you have with those green triangles
if you think York Mills & Lawrence are deep, Wait till ya see Highway 407 on the Vaughan Corridor
I KNOW.
I remember the moving walkway at Spadina station
That was the best part of riding the subway as a kid. I don't by their excuse as to why it was removed though. At the time, i recall there being "more then normal" amount of injuries there, and it was removed due to liability issues.
Heard the whistles several times. Pointing is done very very often in Japanese train systems. Chased the Spadina walkway as well. Old subway cars are relegated to Line 2 due to the turning radius into storage that can't be handled by new trains. Hollywood and Hyland (St. Clair) theatres were insulated when the subway went in as it would have disturbed the movies.
I still remember the whistle days.
I remember one time when they were doing construction at Bay station they had to utilize Bay Lower for passengers to get on and off at Bay station until the construction and renovations were completed
So cool! Never knew that it still functioned as a station stop from time to time!
@RoadhogTime13 Yeah this makes more sense to me
Awesome video lots of good secrets!!
I have been riding transit now almost daily for 30+ years and all these facts are absolutely true. The triangle however got me for I have no idea the thing existed.
Before the triangle they had a red circle.
Love the fun facts/secrets! Where did you get the music from?
I like that history of the Toronto Subway. It was very entertaining. A railroad buff in the United States of America (New York).
They was actually another ramp in the subway system. Keele station, Indian Grove entrance to the Eastbound trains. You see the tile difference to the left before you walk up the stairs and also on the Eastbound platform about 1/3 of the way down there is an opening closed off by a slight difference in tile from the east end of the station, there is a ramp behind that wall.
Search tartaria and old tunnel systems. It seems this was about rewriting history. The covering and hiding of these old tunnels in cities around the world
Me: "They should put a moving walkway at Spadina"
Me after watching this video: "Oh."
At 4:55, I was actually wondering why the floor tiles were different when I went to Spadina! Great video! Did you know that they use Bay Lower as a movie set, for example Suicide Squad
Thanks! I did know that Bay Lower is used as a movie set. I just watched the 1998 version of "The Taking of Pelham 123" last week, and the opening scene (where they hijack the train) was in Bay Lower.
@@trainboy647 That is great to know.
It was also used in SAW, resident evil, and the matrix
Great video - like!!!
I'm one of the people who stood at a door that was off the platform when it opened. It was scary to see how far off the ground you really are. The person beside me was horrified when the doors opened, and she realized what could have happened if she wasn't looking out the doors at the time. I have had an incident where the Spadina LRT arrives at the station off the platform at the rear doors and leaves you with a two-foot drop off the edge.
LRT?
@@DonutsIceCreamAndCottenCandy it runs in its own right of way on a majority of its route so i don't think of it as a streetcar anymore.
@@PWingert1966 ok
@@PWingert1966 two foot drop off a streetcar?
@@DonutsIceCreamAndCottenCandy Don't forget most stops have a raised deck on the Spadina line. for regular street cars the front typically is dropped a few inches by the driver to assist elderly or mobility-impaired people. So 24 inches from the step to the ground would be about right. Take a look next time you board at the back of a streetcar. there is also the psychological shock when the door opens and you are expecting to find a raised platform and a one-foot step-down and instead find a two-foot drop unexpectedly. / In my case I have balance issues and difficulty with heights that can make me nauseous and dizzy if I am caught off guard.
Keanu Reeves was gonna change his name to chuck spadina. Weird. Coincidence
So amazing
Just discovered your channel - awesome content!
Thank you!
And I remember seeing the attic at Lawrence station
I would have thought the Christie Station Fire would be on here
The fact about the last whistled train is wrong. The M1 subway cars never got door chimes and they continued to use the whistle until retirement in 1999
According to the National Post, the last whistle was in 1995. www.pressreader.com/canada/national-post-latest-edition/20120430/281724086559454
Nice
Fun Fact: Bay Lower is a famous filming location for movies, TV shows & commercials/ads that involve scenes inside the subway. If ever you see a scene in the subway in a movie, show or commercial, chances are Bay Lower was what you saw.
That's right! There are quite a few movies scenes filmed there, for example the train hijacking scene of the 1998 version of The Taking of Pelham 123 was filmed in Bay Lower. It's a cool movie, you should check it out!
1:16 I think that unfinished station will be used with the Ontario line eventually
I like this
I remember the "referee's whistle" from the Conductors like it was yesterday.
The procedure of pointing at the green triangle was an idea borrowed from Japan, not New York.
Whistles are still issued to subway crews in case of chime failure.
Apparently Lower Bay is apparently haunted by a ghost lady called the Lady in Red. People say she usually appears in the tunnels of the station, and some people who have seen her never want to go back into the tunnels.
I know this urban legend, it's pretty cool
Just like NYC you have conductors, London Underground has had no conductors for 24 years
Conductors have been removed from the TTC Line 1 in 2022
Is there a Abandoned Subway Garage east of DVP Before Greenwood Garage
Nice video. I haven't been on the TTC since January. I did not know about the TTC Secret tunels
Perhaps I'm overlooking something, but I was of the mind that the Eglinton station on Yonge had secrets to it as well. While it has tunnels, etc. to get to bus barns, I had heard that like the Queen street station, Eglinton was also considered as interchange station to a proposed Eglinton subway line. Now all of this may be moot since the creation of the Eglinton crosstown, but does this mean that that original infrastructure had now become employed as originally envisioned?
Bay lower was used several years ago as a reroute during some construction for the signaling system I think (Can't remember details that well) Anyone got more info on it?. I remember passing through the station on the way to work a few times..
I believe it was a signal issue on line 2 between St. George and Bloor, trains were bypassing Bay by using bay lower to connect with museum station where you would have to switch trains to continue east/west
@@Bumbleberry6595 I know it went on for a full week. I just don't remember if it was part of the signal upgrade construction project or because of a systemic failure in, the signaling system at the time. I suspect that you are right that it may have been a result of a failure. The reason they did it is there is no crossover track and no tail track for a turnaround in the Bloor Yong Area. If I remember they have since implemented a crossover large enough near Wellesley to accommodate a train and make this emergency solution no longer necessary. The other issue that was brought to "light"😁 during the blackout 20+ years ago in that there was no way to create separately powered zones on the Bloor Yonge line. Nearly all of the Bloor Yong line was on a single Hydro circuit and when we had the big blackout there was no way to cross-circuit to B #Montgommerty scottsays!. This has also been resolved by implementing bypass and segmentation of the power for the line at key points.
Where did you find the piano to this song and the name? I play piano so I need the notes because this is nice piano. :)
You play piano? Me too! :)
This is where I got the soundtrack from: musescore.com/codebreaker/the-temptation-rag
@@trainboy647 Do you mind if I use tis soundtrack for my RUclips Watermark or Intro?
@@TheNorthYorkRailfan Why are you asking me? This song is public domain :)
@@trainboy647 I was just making sure. It is an amazing song :)
@@trainboy647 I made my channel Trailer if you want to check it out :)
Can you cover the mysterious tunnels at keele and Dundas west, on the right side of the main line
I think it's a small maintenance yard for the trains. The line used to end near there.
@@grddavis your the bomb! I always wondered what it was for lol
The outside tracks at Dundas West were storage for trains many years ago and no longer are in use.
@@williesturm4547 oh wow ! Thanks man that’s very interesting
Now that Line 1 doesn't have anyone standing at the back of the train, is pointing at the triangle a thing of the past? (I know other lines still have it but I'm thinking about line 1 specifically)
Yes the triangles have become obsolete
@@trainboy647 thank you, is the circle still relevant or is that obsolete too?
@@RaiRaiNav It is also obsolete as Line 1 train movements are entirely automated
@@trainboy647 thank you for your replies
Yoy've explained the green triangles. Now, what about the orange circles?
Orange Triangles are used to mark the location where the conductor can cease platform observation when departing a station. Orange Circles were used for the same purpose when the conductor was located in the middle of the train instead of the rear.
This sounds like a Geoff Marshall video.
Geoff Marshall is awesome!
You forgot a few
1: The section between Summerhill and St Clair is a false tunnel, it used to be an open cut section which is now covered over
2: North York Centre is an infill station
3: There are abandoned platforms at Sheppard-Yonge that were meant for line 4 to go west.
4: A section between Leslie and Don Mills is an enclosed bridge crossing the Don River.
5: Wellesley technically has three addresses, 16 Wellesley Street East, 15 Dundonald Street, and 553 Yonge Street, although 16 Wellesley East has been deemed the most correct.
I know 1 and 3, didn't know the rest. Thanks for telling me
The platforms on Sheppard Yonge are pretty visible from the other side of the track. It's always funny to see people end up there and confused.
I remember the days when Finch was the next station after Sheppard.
Between Leslie and Don Mills?? You mean like the enclosed bridge between Sherbourne and Castle Frank? I have driven between Leslie and Don Mills many times and have never seen such a bridge, and I've ridden the Sheppard line many times as well and have seen nothing in the tunnels that could distinguish regular bored tunnel from a bridge. Can you clarify what you mean?
@@stephenp448 It's actually so unnoticeable that it's basically almost not worth mentioning. On the south east side of the intersection btw Sheppard and Leslie is a little bridge kind of thing. The whole subway is encased in concrete so no way to tell the difference
From 2:27, was the tunnels sealed? If not, why doesn’t Doug Ford use it as the Ontario Line?
he will be
No, it will be constructed somewhere else.
I've seen plans that implement that use the abandoned Queen platform, but from what you can see in the pictures, it would still require additional tunnelling and and rerouting the vents and wires in the tunnel/shaft. Personally, I think it would be easier to build a whole new platform instead.
@@ppolow Don't forget that standards and requirements have changed as far as accessibility and other safety issues that would affect the platform layout.
I have to disagree with the OP about the Queen Lower being for streetcars. All the other references I have seen to it have said the TTC had in the 50's anticipated Queen as being the next subway route.
When the time came to select the next route the explosion of the 'burbs had been ongoing for a good while so Bloor/Danforth was chosen instead.
i saw the second and third one cause the third one i was in a ttc parade and it was under bay stn and i know the fourth one and i know the fifth one cause thats where they have to stop
I always thought Lower Bay sounded better than Bay Lower, Bay Lower sounds backwards to me
It has always been Bay Lower, but the news always refers to it as Lower Bay so maybe thats why everyone calls it that...
@@trainboy647 I know Bay Lower is the proper name but I just think Lower Bay sounds better
Hold on a minute....the moving walkway at Spidana left in 2004? REALLY? It feels like so much more recent than that....I remember it like yesterday. It's been a few years, do we know if there was any plan to replace them or just make people late for work?
To my knowledge, the Spadina walkway will unfortunately not be replaced.
@@trainboy647 Hey maybe a microLRT?😜
@@PWingert1966 lol haha :)
@@trainboy647 Doug Ford did say he wanted to use smaller unconventional LRT technology for the Ontario line. Why not develop a test corridor here?
@@trainboy647 I think this is what Doug Ford has in mind for the Ontario Line: ruclips.net/video/ee4Uz7LIG6M/видео.html
My Favorite fact was how there was an entire system that interlined with both lines.
That was pretty interesting for me too :)
@@trainboy647 Did you sing the petition for the website and complete the survey?
@@trainboy647 sign* not sing
@@TheNorthYorkRailfan I'm going to but have never gotten around to doing it yet... Did you :)?
@@trainboy647 Yes I already did it a week ago :)
Informative video. Had always heard growing up that Chester station doubled as a bomb shelter during WWII. Is there any official info out there regarding this?
Chester station was only built in the 60s.
I tried looking this up but couldn't find any information pertaining to this, because there's no way that the station could've been used as a bomb shelter - it didn't even exist during WW2 (Line 2 was built during the 60s).
@@nathanng Thanks for the info on this!
@@trainboy647 Thanks for update info.
Construction of the TTC subway didn't even begin until several years after WWII ended. The initial stations (Union to Eglinton) didn't open until 1954.
Believe it or not if you head to queens park station to your left where the elevator is there’s a dark tunnel y’all know about it or no
ttc is retiring all train panic u I think it’s not real Kalm it’s not panic
I wish I was a speed reader.