Layout Tour #1 - Mimico Station and the Toronto Maintenance Centre

 

Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario

    Welcome to the western-most part of the layout, Etobicoke, Ontario.  Etobicoke is part of the city of Toronto and is home to VIA Rail's Toronto Mainenance Centre (TMC).  The Etobicoke section of the layout includes the TMC, Mimico GO Station, and the Islington Ave. bridge.  Behind the bridge is staging and a continuous-running track.

    The TMC has four yard tracks, a car wash, fuel depot, a diesel storage tank & pump house, and a three-bay repair facility.  It also has a 90 ft turntable to rotate locomotives and rolling stock.  The real TMC also has a turntable but I'm not sure how often it is used since the property has a wye track to turn consists around.  My layout does not have enough room for the wye and so the turntable probably gets used more often than the real one.

VIA Rail Canada wants its equipment looking nice and clean.  This LRC coach goes through the car wash at the Toronto Maintenance Centre.  

VIA 6426 returns from Ottawa and begins the process of refueling at VIA's Toronto Maintenace Centre.

    There is a dedicated SW1000 yard switcher at the TMC.  The facility also has a Trackmobile that moves cars through the repair and inspections bays.  

The yard switcher, VIA 201, is waiting for the signal to fetch an LRC coach out of Bay 2.  The SW1000 will bring the coach back to the yard for its return to revenue service.

    Mimico station is pretty simplistic.  It has platform space for three GO Bilevel cars.  The station is a small structure, much like its prototype.   The platform has two shelters for waiting commuters.  

A westbound GO Transit train is leaving Mimico Station.  One commuter just missed the train and will have to wait for the next one to arrive.

    What's missing from this part of the layout is GO Transit's facility, Willowbrook Yard.  If I didn't need an aisle to stand in, Willowbrook would be there.  ...So it goes.

The track is a single mainline in this part of the layout before beginning the double mainline through the rest of the layout.  This single track opens to four staging tracks on the other side of the wall as well as the continuous-running track mentioned earlier.

Lakeshore West GO Transit train arriving at Mimico Station before heading to Union Station in downtown Toronto.