The new Confederation Line LRT is getting mostly new stuff all along its route. New stations, new tracks, new signals, new bridges.
Here is a pic of the west portal. The new library will go immediately to the right. To the left is a (normally-)grassy slope running downhill that’s actually on a bridge over the aqueduct. It allows people (when there is no construction) to walk from the Good Companions area down to Lett Street (Claridgeland).
Notice the short gray building at the 9 o’clock position. That is an electrical transformer station to power the tracks. It is perched up rather high, on a concrete retaining wall.
Here is the view from the aqueduct side, where the city is installing new fencing:
Note that it is perched on an older concrete retaining wall.
How old?
If my memory serves me right, it used to be a gas station. Here is a view from 1958:
The retaining wall is the sharp straight white line running off from the road/path that crosses the aqueduct and connects to Lett Street. As it will again, in 2019.
The new library will go to the block at the 2 o’clock position, where the dark gray smudge of a building, formerly the Poppy Fund HQ, was until about 1982. It was the last building torn down on the Flats. To the best of my memory.
About that concrete wall. At one time, things were built to last.
And what didn’t last was repaired. Even toasters. My parents had theirs for years, Now nothing is made to last, you just throw it out and get a new one. Are there even small appliance repair shops anymore? I know I went from retaining walls to toasters, but still it’s a not-made-very-well world now.
I ask to repair my electric razor, it would have cost $80, while a new one was $50. So I got a new one.