Could the heart of Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood be in a Rona parking lot?

Today there’s not much “junction” left in the Junction. True, the trains are still there and a few different rail lines connect and cross, but they don’t dominate the neighbourhood like they once did. Trains are aloof now, found high up on bridges over Keele and Dundas Sts., heard but not easily seen, save for the level crossing on Old Weston Rd. next to the new rail underpass for GO and UP Express trains.

However, at the south edge of the Rona Stockyards parking lot, just west of Keele, two remnants of the CPR West Toronto depot can be found. Once a sprawling place with industrial shops and a roundhouse ( http://trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Lambton/wtor/gallery.htm ), all that is left is a turntable and transfer table, a bit forlorn and partially obscured by shipping containers.

“There were very few transfer tables in Canada as they were only at main shops,” says Raymond Kennedy, a CPR historian. “West Toronto was one of the very few shops that had two transfer tables. Thus, the greater significance for its historical preservation.”

In the late 1990s when CPR was selling off some of their land Kennedy was brought in to inspect the site and make recommendations of what should be preserved. Small items were sent to the former CPR roundhouse near the CN Tower and these two pieces were incorporated into the new commercial developments. ( http://trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Lambton/wtor/retail.htm )

Today they’re publically accessible as a sort of walk-through museum with a sidewalk crossing both, though the fence is deteriorating and the operator’s booth is caving in on itself. Toronto redevelops so quickly that derelict scenes like this are rare, but if something isn’t done soon the booth will be lost. A spokesperson for Rona told me there are no immediate plans for these relics, but that they are currently putting together a renovation plan for next year.

There is no plaque here, though Kennedy says he wrote text for one that was planned at the time of preservation with CPR agreeing to pay $5,000 for it, but it didn’t happen. “Nobody knows what these things are, nor the historical significance of this important industrial site and the role it played in WWII,” he says.

The raised sidewalk in between the two pieces provides a good view of what remains of the much smaller rail yard. Engines snort and idle but nothing indicates what was here before, only the name of West Toronto St. running west from Keele remains as a reference to both the yards and that The Junction was once a separate municipality called West Toronto until it was annexed by the City of Toronto in 1909.

On the north side of Rona is a Canadian Tire and Home Depot where the Union Stock Yards once were. The urban density found south of the tracks along Dundas St. is gone. Suddenly there’s space: big sky and big box country. North along St. Clair is the Stockyards retail complex, a warren of parking garages and pavement, including a shuttered Target store. It’s perhaps the ugliest place in Toronto; if only a strategic tornado would come one night when the people are gone and suck this nightmare away for us.

A little further west at Runnymede Rd., tucked in by the Walmart, is the entrance to the CPR’s Lambton Yards, a continuation of the West Toronto site. Again, it’s mostly hidden from view but the extra long tunnels under the tracks along Runnymede and Jane Sts. are an indication of the vast space above.

Back in the Rona lot, the two pieces of Toronto’s mighty steampunk past remain, waiting for a little more love and recognition for keeping the junction alive in The Junction.

Shawn Micallef writes every Friday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef