Tag Archives: infrastructure
20161020. Getting close to TTC’s Flexity streetcar fleet.
20161020a. 4417 vs. 4425. Two TTC 510 Spadina Flexity streetcars (LRVs) meet at Queen and Spadina. Vehicle 4425 is the latest to enter service.
20161020b. Narrowly dodging a TTC Flexity Outlook streetcar on Queens Quay.
20161015. The Humber Bay Arch Bridge is striking no matter what the angle.
20161013. The broad, curving roadway at ground level leaving Toronto Pearson International Airport Terminal 1.
20161005. From left to right, the three buildings of the wonderful Art Deco R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant are the Pumping Station, Service Building and Filtration Building.
20160929. The massive concrete pads supporting the columns (or bents) of the Gardiner Expressway sit unearthed at the site of the future WestBlock / LakeShore / LakeFront development (where the art deco Loblaw Groceterias building will be re-built).
20160924. A boy puts a railway underpass on Eglinton Avenue into scale.
20160912. Seeking out shadows in the night under the Gardiner Expressway.
20160911. This is where the Gardiner Expressway’s future Simcoe Street off-ramp will land.
20160909. Night transforms Lake Shore Blvd E into a sub-freeway speedway.
20160904. Nail-polish scented steam escapes as a PVC liner is cured within a watermain requiring rehabilitation.
A PVC liner is inserted into a watermain between two manholes. Hot steam is then used to expand the liner to the width of pipe. The thermosetting resin in the liner is then cured by the steam and hardens. After cooling, the liner is now waterproof. This trenchless technology is used to stop leaks from imperfections or gaps in piping.
20160812. A Toronto TTC Flexity Outlook LRV does the Charlotte Loop (510 Spadina).
20160729. Under Toronto’s pristine elevated Gardiner Expressway East.
20160622. An aerial view of Toronto Union Station’s historic exposed train shed steel structure.
Progress on the train shed has stalled as the future electrification of Go Transit trains will require either modifying the overhead wiring system to fit under the shed, lowering the floor or raising the roof with the latter being the worst case scenario as it involves considerable cost and harming the historic steel structure.
20160616. The Bessarian perspective on TTC’s Sheppard Line.
20160612. TTC’s Wilson Station mushroom.
Toronto
20160609. Presto fare gates have replaced the old turnstiles at TTC’s Wellesley Station.
20160531. The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant filter building and the hallway of the asylum in John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness.
20160530. Floating Flexity streetcar at TTC’s Leslie Barns Maintenance and Storage Facility.
20160528. Toronto’s first new Flexity LRV (streetcar) 4401 prepares for warp speed.
Ok, in reality it sits in the paint booth at the new TTC Leslie Streetcar Barns during Doors Open Toronto 2016.
20160515. An empty Gardiner Expressway in Toronto frames a shaded double conventional high pressure sodum lighting pole.
The highway is closed this weekend for annual Spring maintenance.
20160510. An aerial view of TTC’s original Eglinton Station bus terminal – soon to be a memory.
This is where the tunnel boring machines that have completed tunneling the western leg of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will be extracted.
20160508. Octogon X. Minimal Aesthetic 89.
20160505. Go visit the Portlands Energy Centre during Doors Open Toronto!
20160502. TTC’s Davisville substation buildings provide a fine example of contextual design in shape, orientation and detailing.
Pardoning the architectural nomenclature, note:
a) how the base course on each building (the stone band running the length of the building) is at the same height;
b) the cornice of the newer building is at the same height of the older building with the additional height of the former in a different colour
c) the masonry is similar in colour and the stone bands equal in number
d) the windows are similar; and
e) although hard to see, the older building and the newer building are each trapezoidal in shape and both buildings fit into a combined trapezoid.
The result is a simple yet elegant addition to a historical building.