This is something of a “fan” shot, but the light has been getting better and better for the past few hours, and I could not resist sharing the view from my apartment.
This train is sitting on the westbound tracks on the Viaduct as part of a combined effort for the City of Toronto to clean up after bridge repairs, and for some of the TTC’s own maintenance work.
Normally, I don’t post full sized pictures, but this is an exception. Happy Victoria Day, almost, to everyone.
Steve Munro 
Great shots Steve!
Random question here but one I’ve always been curious about. Since you pre-date the Bloor-Danforth line perhaps you can answer it.
How does one evacuate a train on the viaduct? I noticed there are no exit stairwells and no shafts to exit to the street above. Not that I am concerned with such things … merely curious. Despite it being an open air bridge we know from past experience (Old Mill and Donlands/Greenwood Garbage Train) that it is just as bad as a tunnel.
Steve: There is a substantial walkway beside the trains, and there are two ways off of the bridge via Broadview or Castle Frank.
The fire at Old Mill was in the station, not out on the open air bridge. The escape route if the single station exit could not be reached would be to walk east to Jane. It is extremely unlikely that there would be any smoke exposure once one was out in the open.
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I have seen this many times and the platform screen says, “Next Train – Not in Service” or something similar but what exactly does this work train do?
Steve: The TTC has a fleet of work cars with different purposes. Some of the cars in this particular consist were flat cars used to haul material around the system, and they probably would have been carrying away the considerable amount of lumber used for temporary work barriers and forms for concrete repairs. There is an article on TransitToronto with a detailed list of the fleet.
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I’ve sometimes wonder if anyone caught a photo of a streetcar and a subway train together on the Prince Edward Viaduct back just before line 2 opened.
Steve: Line 2? What is this Line 2? It was the Anglesey Bus in those days!
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Hi Steve and Richard:-
As another route off of the Prince Edward Viaduct from a subway train; if access for some reason is unavailable going straight out the ends, there are a number of passages through the hollow columns that will allow one to get to the other track and then out to the stations.
I was reminded by your pics Steve of working on the viaduct in the winter. On one of those cold nights I had used one of the retired from passenger service H-5s (both its work car number and passenger number have been forgotten, but it was the orphan after its mate was sliced almost in two when wrecked on a New Year’s eve in the portal area of Greenwood yard). It was towed there by RT-12 which I had instructed for the pair to be parked on the eastbound track. It allowed the gang to get in and get warm while awaiting their next duty. We used the pass through to access the car from the WB work-site. I think it was one of those times when we were replacing beams under the track prior to the beam car being built, so there was a lot of downtime for the track gang while they waited for the contractor to remove the old and then place and align the new beams.
Yours
Dennis
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How many work cars does it take to change a light bulb? Ba-Dum-CH!
Steve: And the Beam Car was not out for this job because there were no beams to be replaced. I see it regularly, but not usually with such good lighting.
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This is how:
Nick L. pointed out this on another thread.
As usual the disabled are left behind.
Steve: This is a general issue with subway evacuations. For the BD line with T1 cars, they would use a short set of steps (ladders of the appropriate size are available in many locations around the system). Passengers would walk to the end car and then down to track level. Once there, they would walk along the concrete beams between the rails.
The TR trains on YUS have a ramp that folds down from the nose of the cab cars. In theory this makes it a bit easier to get someone who is not mobile out of the train, but they still face many obstacles along the trackbed which is not set up as a uniform, paved surface. Then there is the small matter of getting back up to platform level at the egress point.
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Hi Steve and John:-
Those ladders/steps that you mention Steve are located at every blue light location in the system. The blue lights are about 500 feet apart. One step in box sections and open cuts for each pair of blue lights, and one at each location in bored sections. They have a fold up handrail and are to be placed at the end doors of the train.
They’re found under platform lips at the ends of the stations too (blue light location).
Dennis
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