St. Clair West Subway

The St. Clair Avenue West station is located on the Yonge-University-Spadina line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and was opened in 1978 to the public. I think by far it's been the most captivating of all the subway stations I've been to so far. It has underground tunnels that streetcars pass through that bring you right into a spacious tiled platform leading you right into the subway station. St. Clair Avenue West station is the first station to have an underground streetcar loop as well as the first station to have a bicycle shelter right on the premises. There is a Loblaws store which runs the entire expanse of the upper level of the station. I have since learned that there has been some sad history here though. On a muggy summer day on August 11, 1995 an inexperienced subway driver was travelling southbound from St. Clair West station and rear ended another subway in front of him causing an impact so great it has been to date the worst subway accident in Canadian history. The impact caused the death of 3 passengers and injured over 35 people. Investigation into the incident determined human error and faulty signal design. It has been labelled as the "Russell Hill subway incident". During a walk through the nearby Nordheimer Ravine located just outside the station, I found this emergency exit, that I later read was the exit used during the accident so many years ago. Since that time, grass has grown, leaves have fallen and snow has drifted over the entrance and it has not been used since. I found it quite eerie that such an emergency exit was built even prior to the incident.

I took some pictures while hiking through the ravine and found some breath taking fall views. I could also see Casa Loma and the Spadina Museum were a short distance away as well.

I am amazed every day how beautiful this City of Toronto is, and how much we miss in a car because things just go by so quickly ;)

Chester Subway Station

The Chester Subway Station is on the Bloor-Danforth line of The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It was opened in 1966. I think it’s pretty fair to say that it is without a doubt the most boring station on the system. There are no buses coming in or out of Chester, no street cars or interchanges so it is the least used station. But, boring can have its uses. For example whenever there are problems up ahead, the trains will wait at Chester until all systems are a go.

I got off a Chester station today to meet a friend for lunch at an all you can eat Japanese sushi bar. You can never have enough sushi;) Mariko Japanese Buffet is located just a little walk outside the station. Chester Station is located right off Danforth Avenue and is right in the middle of “Greektown”, so there are plenty of restaurants around, as well as little shops including Toronto’s favourite health food market Mall, “Carrot Common Mall”. Inside the mall they sell gourmet coffee, and plants, books, oils and minerals, unique clothes and of course health food. They have a massage parlour upstairs as well as Yoga facilities.

When my two sons were small, I used to walk down Danforth near Chester station. Just south on Logan is one of the prettiest parks in Toronto, called Withrow Park. The kids and I used to have a ball and spent most of the afternoons there in the summer months playing in the sandboxes, splashing in the wading pool, and playing in the playgrounds. In the winter, we used to take the kids ice skating and tobogganing. It was nostalgic to look at it again now that they've grown ;)