Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

's Toronto Maintenance Centre is a railway yard in the western end of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, which stores and services Via trains. It lies within the south side of the former Canadian National Mimico Yard directly opposite of the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility on the north side; GO Transit's

Lakeshore West line Lakeshore West is one of the GO Transit rail services, seven passenger lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Union Station (Toronto), Union Station in Toronto to Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, ...

separates the two facilities. The yard is bisected by the

Islington Avenue Islington Avenue is a north–south route travelling through the City of Toronto and York Region. It runs from Lake Shore Boulevard West at 7th Street in the former Town of New Toronto to Highway 27 at the former town of Kleinburg, in the Cit ...

flyover bridge. Its main entrance is located at 50 Drummond Street on the eastern side with a secondary entrance on its southern side along New Toronto Street at Eighth Street. The west end of the yard has an operational

railway turntable A railway turntable or wheelhouse is a device for turning railway rolling stock, usually locomotives, to face a different direction. It is especially used in areas where economic considerations or a lack of sufficient space have served to weig ...

. A large turnaround wye has been constructed out of an industrial spur on the eastern side that formerly served the

Campbell Soup Company The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campbe ...

plant. In 1976, Via Rail took over the passenger services of both Canadian National and

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

. Originally, Via performed maintenance in Toronto at the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and CPR John Street Roundhouse, both just west of

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

. In 1985, Via moved to its current maintenance facility in the southern half of the Mimico Yard. In 2022, Via demonstrated for ''

Trains A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

'' magazine the locomotive simulator in the centre's training complex.

Mimico Yard

Both the Via Toronto Maintenance Centre and GO Transit's Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility lie in south and north halves respectively of the Mimico Yard. The northern part of the yard is also called the Willowbrook Yard after the nearby Willowbrook Road. In 1906, the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

built the Mimico Yard. In 1913, the GTR built a 34-stall roundhouse, a coaling tower and water towers on the south side of the yard. The yard exclusively serviced freight trains, and had facilities to maintain and repair freight cars. Freight trains were assembled and dispatched from the yard. Unlike today, the mainline ran along the north edge of the Mimico Yard. In 1923, the Canadian National (CN) took over the yard along with the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1965, CN moved most of the yard's functions to the then-new MacMillan Yard in

Maple, Ontario Maple is a large neighbourhood in Vaughan, York Region, Ontario, Canada, north of Toronto. It was founded as a small village, located at the intersection of Major Mackenzie Drive and Keele Street. Geography Maple is located across Highway 40 ...

. The Mimico Roundhouse survived to the diesel area, but part of it was rented out to tenants. In March 1965, a fire partly destroyed the roundhouse with the remainder being demolished by 1969. Today, a turntable sits at the site of the former roundhouse, but it was built years after the roundhouse's demolition. GO Transit started using the Mimico Yard in 1967, and in 1978 opened its Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility in the Willowbrook Yard, the name given to the northern half of the Mimico Yard. In 1985, Via Rail opened its Toronto Maintenance Centre in the southern half of the yard. By this time, the mainline was running through the middle of the Mimico Yard, separating the GO Transit and Via Rail facilities.

References

{{Reflist , refs= {{cite web , url=https://www.merx.com/viarail/solicitations/Toronto-Maintenance-Center-Guard-House/0000178976 , title=Toronto Maintenance Center - Guard House , website=Merx , access-date=May 22, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523001757/https://www.merx.com/viarail/solicitations/Toronto-Maintenance-Center-Guard-House/0000178976 , archive-date=May 23, 2021 {{cite web , url=https://transittoronto.ca/regional/2304.shtml , title=GO Transit's Willowbrook Maintenance Centre , work=Transit Toronto , first=Robert , last=Mackenzie , date=May 6, 2018 , access-date=May 17, 2021 {{cite web , url=https://www.trha.ca/trha/history/selected-articles/roundhouses-in-the-toronto-area/ , title=Roundhouses in the Toronto Area , publisher=Toronto Railway Historical association , access-date=May 22, 2021 , archive-date=May 23, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523025256/https://www.trha.ca/trha/history/selected-articles/roundhouses-in-the-toronto-area/ , url-status=dead {{cite web , url=http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/TTR/history_2.htm , title=Toronto Terminals Railway , publisher=TrainWeb , access-date=May 22, 2021 {{cite web , url=https://blog.metrolinx.com/2020/02/24/where-heroically-toiling-go-trains-retreat-to-old-document-tells-origins-story-of-torontos-willowbrook-maintenance-facility/ , title=Where heroically toiling GO trains retreat to – Old document tells origins story of Toronto's Willowbrook Maintenance Facility , publisher=

Metrolinx Metrolinx is a transportation agency in Ontario, Canada. It is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It was created as the Greater Toronto Transportation Au ...

, date=February 24, 2020 , access-date=April 27, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328042559/https://blog.metrolinx.com/2020/02/24/where-heroically-toiling-go-trains-retreat-to-old-document-tells-origins-story-of-torontos-willowbrook-maintenance-facility/ , archive-date=March 28, 2021 Via Rail Rail yards in Toronto