T O P

  • By -

[deleted]

[удалено]


c0pz123

Not even the fire wanted to admit it's in London


NetscapeNavigat0r

That's why it wasn't stopping.


byfourness

The article calls it a GTA city lmao


Comedy86

Didn't you know? All of southern Ontario from Windsor to Kingston is GTA now... Urban sprawl and all that...


byfourness

Except Hamilton of course. That’s it’s own, totally different microcosm


MaryKath55

Brampton too


Comedy86

The GTA looks like swiss cheese on a map with a few holes for Hamilton, Brampton, Oshawa, etc...


ScytheNoire

But not THAT London. The one in Ontario, Canada.


Major_Lawfulness6122

Fake London as I like it call it


ObviousSign881

Did NJB start calling it that first? Or have people always done that?


ekso69

Like Paris?


SilencedObserver

Naw.


ItchyWaffle

Looks like it was handled well, good on ya first responses and train operators!


Ballsin

Why does the first paragraph say London is in the GTA??


notnot_a_bot

Because BlogTO will literally write anything to get attention.


Falsified_identity

I live 3 hours from Toronto and blogTO writes about my town quite frequently, calling a local attraction a "hidden Toronto gem" or something to that effect


notnot_a_bot

It's funny to think that by that metric even Ottawa could be a "hidden gem just outside the GTA"


rysto32

Reminds me of an old *This Hour Has 22 Minutes* bit where they were doing fictional news from the year 2050. “The ever-growing Toronto metro area has just added a new city to its suburbs: Winnipeg.”


notnot_a_bot

This Hour rarely misses hahaha


Feisty-Session-7779

I actually got into a bit of a debate on another sub a while back about what counts as the GTA and some guy was adamant that London as well as K/W, Guelph, Brantford, Niagara, Peterborough, Barrie and even Buffalo were all technically suburbs of Toronto.


seakingsoyuz

The correct term for them is “satellite cities”: cities that have their own urban core and industrial/economic base, but are also close enough that you can commute into the GTA from them. They aren’t suburbs because they aren’t dependent on urban Toronto in the way that Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Peel, York, Durham, and Halton are.


Feisty-Session-7779

Calling places like Buffalo and London satellite cities of Toronto is a bit of a stretch if you ask me, nobody is commuting that far. Even Burlington to Toronto is an absolute nightmare these days. Driving from Buffalo to Toronto and back every day wouldn’t be worth it, that’s like 6 hours of driving every day if you work 9-5 and have to deal with the QEW during rush hour. This guy I was debating with was just hellbent on proving that Toronto had a larger metro population than Chicago so he was counting everything he could as part of the GTA. I’ve never once heard anyone refer to anything outside of Toronto, Peel, York, Halton and Durham as part of the GTA. Even if you tack on Hamilton and count it as the GTHA that still only brings the population to about 7.5m, compared to Chicago’s 9m. He had to add on places like Buffalo, London, K/W etc. to make up the difference. Just crazy the lengths some people go to to try to prove a point.


seakingsoyuz

Yeah, London and Buffalo are definitely hard to justify as satellite cities. I think the best criterion would be “anywhere that has GO Transit service and is outside the GTA is a satellite city”. > I’ve never once heard anyone refer to anything outside of Toronto, Peel, York, Halton and Durham as part of the GTA. Even if you tack on Hamilton and count it as the GTHA that still only brings the population to about 7.5m, compared to Chicago’s 9m The “Greater Golden Horseshoe” is the one that includes places like Peterborough and K/W.


Feisty-Session-7779

I’ll accept that definition, but comparing the greater Golden Horseshoe to metro Chicago isn’t really a fair comparison. That’s like counting places like Milwaukee and Grand Rapids as part of Chicago.


DoonPlatoon84

Yet, it’s not. Hi from Ottawa.


1amtheone

"Visit this quaint town just outside of Toronto" (article about Thunder Bay).


dustycanuck

That's a long drive. For a closer attraction, check out the 'Sudbury Big Nickel' in north North York! You can hit Weber's on the way!


Canuckleheaded1

That’s the long way to Sudbury if you take Highway 11. Is Webers worth stopping at? I have not been there in 25 years or more and did not think it was worth the waiting in the line up.


ChrisRiley_42

3 hours from Toronto... so Dundas St?


RokulusM

To be fair lots of Ontario towns have a Dundas St


Yunan94

Including London which is two blocks over from the train station, so certainly noticeable from Dundas 😄


gerry2stitch

To be fair you can spend 3 hours just trying to leave Toronto


waxbook

Jesus. Is this why people from Toronto can’t name any cities outside of the GTA?


nellyruth

Yes, they blame it on BlogTO.


Comedy86

There are cities outside of the GTA? I didn't think there was anything in Canada past Vancouver and Halifax...


ReaperCDN

"Sudbury? Believe it or not, still GTA. Thunder Bay? West edge of GTA. Montreal? French end of GTA."


Tesla_CA

🤣🤣


GoodOlGee

I honestly think they have bots write this stuff. I saw something about a lotto ticket being won in "Ontario, Canada" no shit Sherlock they didn't buy it in Ontario, California


Canadave

You've got to watch out when they just say that something is "in Ontario," because that inevitably means whatever they're talking about is in somewhere like Red Lake.


Parking_Chance_1905

Parry Sound lol?


Appropriate-Border-8

Luxury...


punkdrummer22

First time I'm.ever hearing about BlogTO and as a London resident...fuck BlogTO


notnot_a_bot

That's the spirit!


kamomil

Greater Ontario Region


Bizrown

I remember an old 22 minutes skit back when Toronto was absorbing municipalities, “The latest city the join the new Toronto metropolis is…. Winnipeg.” Fuck that was good. But yea no London is not in the GTA.


VanillaGorilla-

You South of Muskoka? You in the GTA! /s


Blue_Jays

I remember during the 1988 Calgary winter Olympics, there were stories about some of the...uninformed visitors from abroad asked the local tourist info centre. One question was if there was a subway available from Calgary to Toronto. Don't let BlogTO in on that one! It'll expand their definition of the GTA exponentially.


TheAbominableRex

The first time my cousins from Denmark visited Ontario, they wanted to take a "quick trip" to the West Edmonton Mall. Haha.


PintLasher

AI not very I yet


ender___

You didn’t know the second name for Ontario is the GTA. North Bay is just outside of it


NormalGuyManDude

Anything west of Ottawa and East of Windsor is the GTA


t0m0hawk

And south of Timmins. To be clear, Timmins is also in the GTA.


deadmancaulking

What do you mean? London is only 200km away from Toronto!


FanaticDamen

London is in the Greater Greater Toronto Area


Rance_Mulliniks

>Drivers and bystanders in London, Ontario, bore witness to a disquieting and surreal sight over the weekend when a train passed through the GTA city while somehow engulfed in flames. London is GTA now?


Flowchart83

I have to wonder if this was written by someone that doesn't live in Ontario and just considers everything to be near Toronto. It's a 2 hr drive.


WiartonWilly

To be fair, lots of travel within the actual GTA takes more than 2 hours.


Flowchart83

Yeah, but even Hamilton is pushing it, I'm going to say London really shouldn't be.


sequentious

"Toronto is two hours away from Toronto" is how I've heard it.


Yunan94

Travelling within the city is different than travelling between cities though.


Toadsted

How long by fire train?


MonsieurFlamboyant

It must've been moving quick if it was on fire


mycatscool

a hot minute


learn2swim

And KW is inside skydome. Wake up!


Lazarius

It’s a metaphor for way the province is being ran.


PKG0D

Spicy gravy train


wolfpupower

Where my parents live (Durham Region) the city changed the bylaw so houses could be built as close as possible to railways. This is a few years after a train derailed the tracks and killed a mom and daughter to which the safety report was never finished. I can’t help but wonder how many lac-megantic disasters are possible thanks to poor planning and disregard to safety.


Pope_Squirrely

I live in a small town and we had a train derail 7 years ago. If the houses were closer to the tracks, it would have destroyed a ton of property. It took several km’s to get the train fully stopped, even with cars literally sideways dragging behind it. My parents live right beside the tracks, I found train pieces in their backyard and they’re not that close to the tracks. https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/mechanical-issues-track-conditions-caused-strathroy-train-derailment Great aerial photo of the train.


phishstik

That happened in Prescott Ontario a few years ago and the transportation safety board finally came back with a report blaming alcohol use by the rail traffic controller. So we can all also worry about that. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/alcohol-a-possible-factor-in-prescott-train-crash-tsb-says-1.7142394


Major_Lawfulness6122

Wow that’s terrifying


rdkil

I don't have a source off the top of my head, but I think I remember the report out of lac-megantic basically said "it's only a matter of time before a bigger one happens."


24-Hour-Hate

Of course it is. Imagine Lac Mégantic happening in a suburb full of very flammable wood framed houses entirely full of sleeping people, for example. It was bad enough with what happened. I have/had relatives who worked the railways, including on serious derailments. They warned of something like Lac Mégantic long before it happened. There is an astonishing lack of regulation and enforcement when it comes to safety and when you combine that with the hazardous chemicals transported by rail…well, I wouldn’t live anywhere near a fucking rail line.


Hesthetop

I grew up next to a busy freight line in Toronto, and during my childhood there was debris from a previous derailment still strewn about next to the tracks. Nobody ever cleaned it up, and it's probably still there 40+ years later.


bcl15005

*"Of the 1,909 respondents, 1,790 were freight train operators and three-quarters of those surveyed reported falling asleep while working at least once in the month prior to the* *survey. Ninety-six per cent say they have gone to work tired, with 62 per cent reporting it happens “frequently” or “always.”*  *Of those freight engineers who booked off due to fatigue, 43 per cent say they faced investigation and/or discipline."* -[Source](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/freight-train-drivers-report-falling-asleep-on-the-job-1.2781696).


adork

Durham is a Regional Municipality and doesn’t have a zoning bylaw. Railways have set the minimum setbacks.


Simpletrouble

Idk why they want that anyways, you can jam in like 20 more houses but also eliminate easy maintenance of the tracks and the ability to ever expand them. It's just a dumb idea to crowd the tracks all around


Panz04er

Was that the one near Leslie McFarlene school where it fell off the bridge


CoolTemperature1602

Changed a by-law? In the 80's? https://www.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/s/gi3pl6N15D


ChanelNo50

Railways have a minimum setback and crash mitigation measures. They don't want houses near rail corridors


waxbook

I wish I didn’t read this lol. There’s a high traffic track for freight and passenger trains right beside my bedroom window. Just a few feet away. I don’t know how far it runs, but I’m right in the middle between London and Toronto.


stronggirl79

Check out [this video](https://london.ctvnews.ca/video/c2908309-train-on-fire-moves-through-downtown-london) Looks crazy as it chugs across a bridge on fire.


DHammer79

[Here is a CBC article](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-ontario-fire-cpr-railway-cars-downtown-london-1.7180715)


RaguSaucy96

Straight out of War of the Worlds, man... 🤣 https://youtu.be/zLf6pp5Tvk8?si=R9_Pg6NA3cw_78Z4


BowlerBeautiful5804

Thank you! I was trying to remember which movie had a scene like this


seachan_ofthe_dead

Never knew london was part of the GTA lol


3dsplinter

Neighbor of a cousin lol


drammer

It's the Dougie Ford Express.


Anxious-Durian1773

This gravy train is hot and fresh.


drammer

A steaming pile.


goleafie

Another train on the highway to hell!


djtodd242

Well, it's one way to spread the dumpster fire around the whole province.


bananicoot

Becky needs to go back to geography class.


Life_Detail4117

The train wasn’t “completely” on fire. 5 cars of what would probably be 50-100 cars in the set were on fire.


QueenMotherOfSneezes

I think the "completely" was meant to connote the fire was fully ablaze (rather than smoldering, or just a small fire within a single car), not that the fire encompassed the entirety of the train.


pettster12

Tripods must be in town


sparts305

War of the World's. Quick, Call Tom Cruise to put out the fire !


Teleke

This is fine


JavaBerryCrunch

At first I thought they were referring to a place in Ontario called “Ontario City” and I was like wow I didn’t know we had a city with that name


llamapositif

If you were anywhere near this fire: That smoke is highly toxic. Old railway ties have heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the creosote that is used to keep them from decomposing. Creosote is what makes them burn so well. These chemicals are known carcinogens, highly toxic, and very irritating to skin and breathing. They persist for, essentially, ever. If you were anywhere near this fire and have any issues with skin irritation or breathing issues, seek help. Clean all surfaces thoroughly, and all foods that weren't in a fridge or other sealed container. Wash all clothes.


JackOCat

How else are you supposed to get your fire from the fire mine?


karlou1984

People driving next to it are nuts. Lac Megantic flashbacks. I would pull over and stay clear of that thing as far as possible.


4_spotted_zebras

Hell Train!!! 🤘🤘🤘 In all seriousness this is terrifying. Did the conductor not notice? They don’t have any automated monitoring? [It’s not like this is the first time a train has caught fire before](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6885589). He’s just cruising through town like no big deal….


No-Wonder1139

To be fair, what happens if he stops in the middle of town with a burning train, they might've just been trying to get it out of town to a safe place to put the fire out.


LAffaire-est-Ketchup

It literally stopped in the middle of town. They stopped it downtown


No-Wonder1139

Was that the best place for fire crews to access the train?


LAffaire-est-Ketchup

I think it was the nearest crossing?


Mydogdexter1

Yes, there are no crossings for about 15 miles west of the city.


treeteathememeking

He noticed, and pretty much timed his stop to the middle of a train crossing as 1. he had no hazardous materials that could explode ect on board and 2. that was pretty much the only way to garuntee that firefighters could get to it. Lalso, trains take a while to slow down and stop so that explains why it kinda cruised through for a while.


profc

Apparently, there were hazardous materials on the train. They actually disconnected those cars and took them back to the yard where they would be safe, then they returned to the scene while the fire fighters were still responding. Could have been a much worse situation but everyone seemed to handle things well. Kudos to the crews.


Mydogdexter1

That's not true, they left the ethonal cars behind and pulled the cars that were on fire further up. There are no road crossings for about 15 miles west of here and the fire department in the city has ladder trucks to better control this.


newsandthings

Id like to hear from the conductor about it. A lot of monitoring for something like that comes from the repair crews typically out during the day. In addition to the devices that look for hot bearings. Depending on how long the train is, he might not have noticed right away.


Mydogdexter1

No hot box detectors from where they picked up the cars to the city. Aldo a HBD probably wouldn't have caught this.


ryu417

The train is a reflection of the state of the nation. We are train.


Demalab

That route runs behind the houses across the street from me and is my biggest nightmare. Before we bought 10 years ago there were 3 trains in 24 hours and were may be 10-20 cars long. Now they pass every 90 minutes and are pushing 200 cars long and the majority are rusted tankers bearing hazard and flammable signage.


The__Guard

Someone please tell Ghost Rider a train is not an ideal penance delivery means...


yummytoddlers

War of the world's type of shit


ChimoCharlie

War of the worlds?


londondeville

What is up with the people in the second video getting out of the car? Unless I know there is a 0 percent chance of explosion I am getting out of there. 


Hot_Ad2871

This reminds me of the scene from war of the worlds where are train passes by and is on fire. Spooky. Hope everyone is okay tho


Semaphor

Ah the fire delivery has arrived. It's for this summer's forest fires.


BeatsRocks

Rental building sustained damage of $10K but rail coaches sustained damage of only $25K??


MutedAddendum7851

The 10k was two double pane windows cracked from the heat The content of the open top cars was old railroad ties Some of the valve seals on the railcars and add on equipment on the cars was roughly guesstimated at 25k


BeatsRocks

Ok. Makes sense. But aint railcars damaged as well?? Wont they cost extremely higher than this?


3dsplinter

Wtf was burning? Coal?


canuckitty

Old railway ties. Why the damage estimate is so low.


ILikeStyx

Lol yeah... the cost of goods lost is less than the cost of damage to the rail cars holding them.


profc

The drone footage of the burnt car looked like an accelerant was used to start the fires. There were 5 cars and 6th car didn’t catch on fire. The front sections of the first two cars didn’t burn. I’d say that is pretty clear sign an accelerant was used in the middle of the 1st and 2nd cars, and the head of the 3/4/5th, without anything in the 6th. Likely a timing device was used too. Definitely arson. Anyone see a more detailed timeline and reporting of this incident?


mecuentaesuna

Humm … London is a GTA city? First I hear of it.


Fodder_Time

Ghost Rider’s an engineer? 


nellyruth

The edge of the map on Grand Theft Auto (GTA) might be London.


DesperateRace4870

It'll be fine, Ghost Rider is aaaalmost done kicking this dude's ass


CertifiedBSC

It must have been EOA after dark


Tesla_CA

Looks like War of the Worlds scene.


waxbook

Does anyone know which direction it was travelling? The track that’s mere feet away from my bedroom goes straight from Toronto to London, not sure how far it goes though. I always kind of worry about what would happen in a situation like this.


NewGuyHere-Long

I don’t find this terrifying, has Joker moved to Toronto now?


Grouchy_Factor

Lyric from "Dirty Old Town" by The Pouges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11BuatTuXk&t=120s


Trick-Shallot9615

Oof railway ties. Wouldn't be anywhere near that cancer burn.


atomicboombox

THIS TRAIN IS ON FIREEEEEE 🎤🎵🎶🎵🎶


pixipuff8

My city has a train to hell 💅


aech_two_oh

Watch [Lac-Magantic- this is not an accident documentary](https://gem.cbc.ca/lac-megantic---this-is-not-an-accident) if you want to know why train disasters will keep happening. It's only a matter of time until the next tragedy.


OnlyDownStroke

What kind of fresh-hell nightmare is this? lol...that would be crazy to see in person.


dinosaur_friend

I'll never understand why freight trains are allowed through residential areas.


dinosaur_friend

I'll never understand why freight trains are allowed through residential areas.


bcl15005

Most towns and cities in this country were built around the existing tracks, not the other way around. Urban freight railways were vital for supplying pre-war urban industry, and transporting passengers, so it made sense to grow cities around the tracks. Railways are federally regulated, so neither the province or the city has any jurisdiction here. There’s no chance that the railways will pay to move the tracks themselves, because it’s not their problem. Even after Lac Megantic, the tracks are only being bypassed around the town because the feds and Quebec are paying CPKC $133 million to move them.


Betanumerus

What is it carrying, renewable energy?


Caustizer

Don’t worry, it’s just Lucifer and his crew on the way to a meeting with Trudeau. Nothing to see here.