Street repairs along the Alta Vista TC

We're thinking about resurrecting our annual Christmas Spike Party, but I'm not sure if the layout can be put into reasonable shape in time - we usually would hold the get together around mid-December, a week or two or so before Christmas. I've decided to try a few minor repairs to see if I can get in the groove for the work ahead. Some street track inserts I installed in the spring using transfer tape to hold them in place popped free over the summer. I reinstalled one using white glue this time, using a piece of board and a couple of hammers to weigh down the insert while the glue dried. Hopefully it'll stay in place this time.

Apartment construction on the Alta Vista TC

Not much happening in the streets of the Alta Vista TC these days other than some on-again-off-again construction of a Kibri 38222 apartment building. Assembly started in June a few weeks after the kit arrived from Germany. The walls were tilted up a couple of weeks ago, but there's still lots of work to go. It's a great kit and hopefully I'll do a full post when it's finished.

Time travelling to the '70s via TTC streetcars and trolley buses with an assist from Eastern Airlines

Some interesting TTC streetcar and trolley bus footage, and the video below, an ad by Eastern Airlines, touting the wonders of Toronto - opening with some aerial footage featuring the TD Bank Tower.

Two early neighbours of the TD Bank Tower

[Photo inside the back cover of Bruce West's 1979 book, Toronto. That black slab just to the left of the CN Tower is the TD Bank Tower. And, just to the left and behind the TD Bank Tower is the Commerce Court tower. To the right of the CN Tower is First Canadian Place.]

I was going through my father's books and came across one called Toronto by Bruce West. It is the 1979 second edition to the original published in 1967. It had this to say about the TD Bank Tower.

But, bewildering as it became to many of its residents, Toronto was to continue sprouting outward, upward and even downward in many spectacular and rapid ways during the next ten years. Especially upward. For one thing, the dizzying height of 740 feet achieved by the main tower of the Toronto-Dominion Centre on King Street, which had made it the loftiest building in all of Canada, would soon be surpassed by that of the white and gleaming spire of the Commerce Court building, whose height of 784 feet would in turn soon be eclipsed by the 935 feet of nearby First Canadian Place.

In HO scale, First Canadian Place would stand about 10.75 feet tall, and although much taller than the TD Bank tower, it and Commerce Court never seemed to me to have the raw visual power that the black slab does. 

[Photo inside the front cover of Toronto. Scrunched in the fold the caption says, 'Toronto 1854']

Lies, Gosh Darn Lies, and Statistics

I was looking through the blog's stats this week. It turns out that since 1 January 2017, the #1 post is: Index to the E. L. Moore models posts. Well, all the ELM posts generally are all in the top 100 and beyond and mostly beat out everything else that's been posted here. The first non-ELM post in the popular category is the one in 21st position hits-wise: The omni-circulatory streetcar layout. I found that rather surprising. The next non-ELM post is at the 24th position hits-wise: The Anti-Pesto van is ready for action!. Ok, I'm happy about that one. What is there not to like about Wallace and Gromit. And finally, the 3rd most hit non-ELM post since New Years Day 2017, the relatively boring: A review of some Boswer, Con-Cor, and Bachmann HO-scale streetcars. What does this all mean beyond ELM's popularity? Not sure really.