CN's York Sub: The super funnel

There are few massive yards in Canada, especially in Ontario. Every one of these yards has a significantly busy subdivision running in and out of it. At the very tip of the CN’s york subdivision boasts one of the largest classification yards in Canada. With it being the second largest, just after CN’s Symington yard in Winnipeg, it makes the 25 mile York subdivision the eastern funnel to the massive yard. With the York subdivision being the only way in and out of this yard for eastern traffic, it’s no doubt that it’s a railroad superhighway. Prior to the construction of the York Sub, CN traffic ran through the downtown core along the CN Kingston Subdivision and through the Union Station area. During the 1950s, CN developed a plan to move traffic off of this line to the once new MacMillan yard north of the city. Traffic normally passing through downtown was switched onto the two new subdivisions, the Halton Sub connecting to the west, and the York Sub to the east. Construction of the York Sub took place between 1959 and 1965. The york sub was built in once farmland but now has little to no room for expansion due to rapid development causing congestion left right and center with everything from intermodal, auto racks to grain cars, this subdivision has it all. Between Pickering junction on the southern edge of Toronto and the mighty Macmillan yard in Vaughan, the tracks slice directly through busy suburbs across the GTA and the lakefront shores of lake Ontario. This is the CN York subdivision. Check out my Instagram here:   / ontariorail12   Credits to:    / thenorthyorkrailfan      / @ctf6420      / hamesjeff      / spongebobhankey