[Ellen:] Hey guys, welcome back to the channel!
Today, we're riding down the Yonge subway line to check out another station in the TTC system,
and this time, it's the turn of one of the most unique stations
on the line: Davisville.
Located in midtown Toronto, Davisville was one of the original stations in the system
when it opened with the rest of the original Toronto subway in 1954,
and together with the attached Davisville Yard, they make for quite an interesting area to explore,
especially as they are located in an open cut with lots of great views.
Let's hop on a ride and go take a look.
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Alright, time to get back to the main course of the day.
Located at the intersection of Yonge Street and Chaplin Crescent/Davisville Avenue,
Davisville station has been around for almost 70 years,
but it's been upgraded a few times over the years to keep it in shape,
including being upgraded to have accessibility options back in 2002.
The station isn't located in too busy of an area,
but its ridership is decent at around 26,000 passengers daily,
thanks to its TTC bus connections.
We're starting our tour today on Chaplin Crescent,
the road perpendicular to Yonge Street that crosses right above the station,
and where we can already get some views of the station from above.
The station building and platforms are right underneath us,
and we can watch some Toronto Rockets pass by while we're here.
The TTC headquarters are right here in this building,
and this is where we'll enter the station,
through an integrated entrance on the first floor.
Taking the escalators down, we arrive at the concourse of the station,
greeted by the familiar Presto fare gates and fare machines.
The space is overall quite cramped, and the ceiling is a bit low,
but a lot of this is because of the construction and renovation that this station is going through.
The concourse serves as a connection between the two platforms,
and it fulfils that functionality with a couple of bridges over the tracks to the platforms.
Besides being connected to the TTC headquarters entrance
and the bus terminal attached to the station,
this main bridge also features a viewing area in the middle,
with a uniquely round Gateway newsstand at the centre of it all.
Besides being a great place to railfan,
this concourse also features some unique and old-school signage in fonts you won't see anywhere else.
Alright, time to head down to check out the platforms.
We'll first check out the southbound platform of the station on the far side.
Stepping off the stairs and onto the platforms,
it's clear that this is the more unique platform of the station.
Even though there is a side platform for northbound trains,
this platform is still an island platform,
with the far side occasionally used for trains entering and leaving the yard just up ahead,
or for when the main southbound platform is blocked for any reason.
This means that at any time there could be up to three trains in the station on the platforms,
which makes for a pretty sight if you're into trains like us.
Since the platforms are open-air,
there is a large canopy overhead on both platforms,
and there are shelters all along to protect passengers from the weather,
especially on cold and windy days like this.
These platforms are quite narrow,
but they still have all the essentials such as
a Designated Waiting Area, TV screens, and benches.
The station's age is definitely showing through these platforms and drabby colours,
but it's still quite charming with unique signage and decorations.
And speaking of the yard,
we can spot it right here at the southern end of the station.
There's a maintenance building right beside the tracks,
and of course, a network of tracks and equipment leading up to it.
The yard was the subway system's first subway yard,
and currently it's used to store some trains for both Lines 1 and 4,
and to service and maintain them as necessary.
Also down here at the southern end of the platform is the south stairwell,
which is another place that you can reach the other platform at.
It's currently under some renovations and is closed, though,
so unfortunately we couldn't check it out at this time.
Hopefully it will come out looking pretty dang nice!
Alright, that's about it for this platform.
We'll move on to checking out the other platform now.
This side platform is even narrower compared to the centre platform,
with not a lot of space for passengers to walk through, especially at the shelters,
but thankfully, Davisville isn't a busy station, like Bloor‑Yonge, for example.
The layout and features of the station [platform] is largely the same,
but there is one difference on this platform,
and that is an automatic entrance leading up to the 1910 Yonge Street building.
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We'll go upstairs now to check out the final feature of the station.
Davisville station has a tiny integrated bus terminal that is small,
but serves four different TTC bus routes.
The terminal itself is probably the smallest thing you've ever seen,
with a tiny centre walkway featuring some seating,
and an escalator connection down to the northbound platform.
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With the features of the station done, it's time to check out the surroundings.
As we mentioned before, the station is built inside an open cut,
which means that there's plenty of great places both towards the north and the south to railfan,
with one of them being the Fiona Nelson Parkette north at Imperial Street,
as well as down south at the Kay Gardner bridge,
which is also part of the Beltline Trail.
Great for pedestrians and biking.
With iron horses and the lush trail full of trees,
as well as trains passing by just underneath,
this really is a great place to spend a weekend afternoon,
especially for transit fans like us!
Enjoy some more railfanning footage while we wrap up this video.
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Alright guys, that's the end of today's video.
We hope you enjoyed our tour of Davisville,
and learned a little bit more about this charming station.
Like, subscribe, and comment down below to tell us what your favourite part of Davisville station is.
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Thanks for watching, and we'll see you in the next one!
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