bike ride (of a few weeks ago)

It's a lovely day out there. I don't have time to go riding today but I did a few weeks ago. There's a path that parallels the railway from Landsdowne to Cariboo Ave. Apparently it's going to be extended south, and maybe north when they're done driving all those pilings (see below).

There are lots of old factories along the route. Some have been turned into storage or offices.

I hope they leave some smoke stacks standing. They're great. There is quite a bit of graffiti. I didn't take too many pictures of it, but this one had some great colour. Look at that sky too! It was a funny day. Rain was expected but before the main force arrived periodic vanguards launched sharp, quick and cold drizzle attacks.
But then the sun would come out.

On the other side of the tracks some people were already ensconced in some nice looking apartments.
Some of the buildings had already been torn down and replaced by attempts at mimicry. It's a nice try but the bricks just aren't weathered enough. The GO Trains that run through the area are diesel powered but I don't think their exhaust is going to mark the new bricks like the smokier trains of the past.

Save old bricks!

There's actually a hullabaloo from the local residents concerned about air quality with an increase of diesel locomotives.
Vroom! Vroom!
I assume this land will become condos. Maybe office space I suppose given proximity to the rail line, but if you don't know what a construction site today in Toronto is destined for residential is usually the safer bet.

It was a good day for the sky and verticality in general.

The bike trail ends at Cariboo. Along the trail each road was marked with some nice sculpture, giant sheets of rusty metal with the stenciled names cut out.

Just north of Cariboo is a rail junction, I think the junction for which The Junction neighbourhood is named. Looking at a map there aren't many other rail junctions around and about, and according to this article The Junction centres on Keele and Dundas, just to the west, so I must be right.

On the left is a drill, on the right a pile driver. They are pounding pilings here to support the increased train traffic. Hurray for sleeper communities as long as they DO NOT add more cars to the streets.

Vertical!
Do you see that puff? That pops out on every clang. It didn't take me very long to catch it because the thing must clang every 7 seconds or so. Clang! Clang! I can understand why the neighbours are complaining and not enjoying their aural lives right now.

I've driven some t-bars in my time, and that's nothing compared to this ruckus. Maybe if I had steam driven, piston arms. Hmm. Maybe. Something to think about...

This is one of the GO stations, Bloor, further south on the path. I like the overgrown look of the rail bridge and my orange bridge is pretty sharp too.
Just another rail line. This one splits off from the one I was following at Landsdowne and travels more directly north. It ends up at Downsview airport, and probably beyond. Well meshed infrastructure gives me a warm feeling inside.

It would have been a different place when the trains were running through the guts of the city on a regular basis. The Big Smoke indeed. This smaller line has road crossings, as opposed to bridges, so there would have been lots of waiting. Given that the advent of rail travel in the 19th century signaled the new faster modern life it's interesting that I now think of it in terms of slowing people down. It says something about how people are increasingly individualized nuclei, enabled, largely through technology, to live removed from the greater society that surrounds them.

Come on LRT! Be finished already. Force people to live face-to-face.