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| An obdurate starship in an industrial wasteland |
I was previously harsh in my expression of disappointment regarding the RT line, as presently integrated into our transit network. Alas, Midland does nothing to alleviate that vexation.
But let’s flip the switch, and embrace this doomed stop with a deliberate sense of rhapsodical wonder. Because who wants to be negative all the time?
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| Bare-bones unmanned station exit |
Midland is unique because of its alien dystopian setting. The neighbouring Atlantic Packaging plant thrums with power, spewing odiferous steam and reminding coddled travellers that industrial Toronto still exists. Were I to film a low-budget ripoff of Blade Runner, where the replicants used public transit instead of flying cars, Midland station is where I’d place the opening scene.
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| The sights! The sounds! The smells. |
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| A zesty confusion of lights and lines |
Straddling Midland Avenue like a rough beast slouching towards [ahem] Birchmount, the station opened March 22, 1985 as part of the Scarborough RT line. Midland defiantly eschews any pretense at comeliness, and I commend it for doing so. Highly recommended for fans of urban desolation.
Update: an incongruously pleasing vinyl art mural was installed on the station platform in 2018 for the Nuit Blanche festival, and retained following the event.
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| A blue RT enters the station with Natural Love as a backdrop. |
Natural Love by Planta Muisca shows off a hyper-kinetic array of day-glo Indigenous cultural imagery from South and Central America.
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| Exploring the language of love. |
Muisca’s blotch of cuddly purple madness blows up my thesis of Midland as a melancholic marker of remote alienation—but at least we now have something to daydream about, waiting for the train to come and take us away; something to soothe the rumbling, squalling passage of the Scarborough RT into the velvet night of transit history.
Photo Gallery
Tour the station, and view captioned historical images from its past (hint: turn on the captions):
Transfer:
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| Midland station transfer |
More about Midland
TTC Station info | Map | Wikipedia: MidlandMy next stop: Ellesmere
Previous station: Don Mills
Alphabetical Station Selector