Pick a Day to See Lower Bay; Bring a Camera, Snap Away

Posted by Ian
Filed in City
February 19, 2007

20070219_lowerbay.jpgBack in December the TTC announced it would temporarily bring interlining back to the subway so repairs to the tunnel roof between Bay and St. George stations could be completed. On Saturdays and Sundays from February 24th to March 31st, both Eastbound and Westbound trains on the Bloor-Danforth line will have an ersatz terminus at Museum Station, meaning you'll have to change trains to keep moving in the same direction. Both lower St. George and Bay stations will be closed on these weekends.

It's not too complicated a service change, but the city was good enough to provide a detailed explanation if you want to make sure you don't get any surprises. I'm lucky that this change actually SAVES me a transfer and will probably give me at least 3 or 4 more minutes to sleep in, but that's not even the best news. The service interruption will allow those traveling from Yonge to Museum station the chance to get a glimpse of the oft-spoken of but rarely seen Lower Bay station.

You can read about the history of Lower Bay station on James Bow's excellent Transit Toronto site, and there are more than a few pictures online to excite your imagination. The hidden subway station is occasionally used for movie shoots and turning trains around, but otherwise it's locked up and unavailable for public viewing. Anyone passing Lower Bay station on their commute should bring a camera to take some photos and record this rare moment for posterity (and for those who won't get a chance to see it).

Feel free to upload your pictures to the blogTO flickr pool and tag them with "lowerbay." This isn't a formal photo contest since it's hard to expect a great deal of variety from pictures taken from inside a moving train, but even having a collection of pictures of the (haunted?) station should be reward enough. We might even feature some of the photos here at the end of the construction . . .

Image from UECanada.

Sameer Vasta on February 19, 2007 at 12:13 PM

What? You mean I don't have to sneak through the tunnels to see lower Bay? Boo...that was the most fun part. =)

(Not that I condone sneaking through subway tunnels or anything.)

Jerrold on February 19, 2007 at 12:18 PM

Do NOT, and I repeat... DO NOT attempt to visit Lower Bay any other way than from the inside of a passing train during the construction period. Your chances of getting smoked by a train are much greater during this time, since it'll be in high use.

Sameer Vasta on February 19, 2007 at 1:55 PM

Very true Jerrold, I guess I sounded a bit too cheeky up there.

Robin on February 19, 2007 at 9:25 PM

Awesome! I didn't even know lower bay existed! But that will definatly make my 'hungover ride to work on a saturday' more exciting...well at least the first few times.

Jonathan on February 20, 2007 at 10:14 AM

I think even better pics will be ones showing people actually using Mausoleum station!

I really hope the TTC is going to pull this off. I can see Museum in total chaos with people who have no idea what's happening.

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