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[KevinKorell]

Use this thread to talk about our rail activities in Toronto on Wednesday, up to & including dinner together once off the rails.

[KevinKorell]

Well what a day it was. We completed the first of our 2 full days in the Toronto area successfully.

 

After hotel vans got us all to the airport, the four of us boarded the UP Express train. We were on a run 15 minutes before our itinerary called for. However, the trip took longer than the promised 25 minutes because of heavy rush hour type boarding particularly at the 2 intermediate stops.  Despite its name, the UP Express makes stops at Weston and Bloor, stations also shared with GO Transit. Some commuters use this airport train instead of GO Transit if it happens to be the next train that comes.

 

Our first conveyance was a Kitchener Line train, whose midday service runs west as far as Mount Pleasant.  Our trip departed Union Station 5 minutes late at 9:00, and arrived in Mount Pleasant 9:48, just 4 minutes late.   On our previous 2004 Toronto RailFest, at that time midday turns only ran as far a Bramlea. So everything west of there was new trackage for the group. If it's ever possible for this group to get all the way to Kitchener (possible by either GO Transit or VIA Rail) to ride the ION streetcars, we'll get more of this line. 

 

Now began the big catastrophe of the day.  Being novices to the Presto card, we knew we had to tap out from the outbound trip and tap in for the inbound trip.  First, it was raining, and second, there were no Presto tap devices on the platform where the train was. We had to go down one stairway and up another, and then reverse the process to get back to the train.  Third and most important, logic would indicate that we would just tap twice -- once for the tap out and once for the tap in. We thought we were good, and re-boarded the same consist for the inbound trip.  We'll revisit this situation later.

 

The inbound trip ran on time, getting us back to Union Station at 10:49 AM  Time for our lunch break!  We went down to the Union Food Court, and each of us found something we wanted to eat. With about 2 hours layover time we had plenty of time to relax before our rail travels resumed. We then went to wait for the track number for our next train to be posted. When it was, our previous saga continued. After our track was announced, we went to tap our Presto cards in the readers, and they showed some error.  We all had to run to the ticket counter, wait our turns, and explain our plight to 4 different agents.  The four of us were each at a different ticket agent, and each of us probably got a different response.  As we suspected, the double tap was our nemesis. The agent who helped me said that there is an override button on the machine, so after the first tap, the override can be attempted to make the second tap valid.

 

All this late excitement with the train scheduled to leave in a few minutes, three of us ran to the gate and then down the platform to the train.  Jishnu's explanation from his agent was a bit more wordy, so he took longer.  As we boarded the train, he was nowhere in sight.  We took seats and then when the train began to move we though we had left him. I was happy to get a text from him that he indeed was aboard, in another car, having gotten the attention of the crew to reopen the door at the last moment. Our trip on the Barrie Line to Aurora left Union Station at 12:42, 2 minutes down, and got to its destination with the same deficit, thus reducing a scheduled 10 minute layover of the equipment to just 8 minutes.  Lucky for us, this time the Presto tap machine was nearby, and this was a single platform station. I got my chance to try the override button after the readout said that my card had already been tapped when I tried to do so for the inbound trip. With all appearing to be well, we re-boarded the train for the inbound trip once more. We left Aurora on time at 1:41 PM, and got to Union Station a few minutes ahead of schedule thanks to padding.

 

Now came the TTC part of our day, riding transit instead of commuter and airport trains. The rest of our day would remain earlier than the itinerary.  We first took a Line 1 subway train one stop from Union Station to King Street.  Then we did the 504 King streetcar line, whose two short turn loops are now regularly used by the recent split of the route into 504A and 504B. We visited both short turn endpoints at Distillery Loop and Dufferin Gate.  Then, having decided amongst us to have dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory, we deviated from the original plan to take the Line 1 subway back to Union Station, and instead walked to the restaurant from the same stop (King & Yonge) where we had originally boarded the first car. Then we walked about 4 blocks to the restaurant.

 

Dinner went well; we all enjoyed our spaghetti. Afterwards, two of us started out on the journey back to the hotels, while the other two followed a little later.  Those changing hotels did so once back at the hotel district adjacent to the airport.

 

Our next day is scheduled to feature the airport people mover, one more commuter rail line, one more streetcar line, and segments of three subway lines.  I'm sure we'll generate just as much for me to write about !!

[KevinKorell]

Actual times for Wednesday's activities were updated on the itinerary.