Old timer here just wondering if anyone remembers the area in Pickering that used to be called Pickering Pits. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Old timer here just wondering if anyone remembers the area in Pickering that used to be called Pickering Pits.

BillyB

BillyB

Member
Old timer here just wondering if anyone remembers the motorcycle riding area in Pickering that used to be called the Pickering Pits and if they could provide the actual location where it was.
I think it was an old mining pit.
I remember taking the 401 east to Pickering and going north in Pickering (I think it was Brock Rd but not really sure it was 50 yrs ago) and crossing a train track that had a chip truck on the east side, that we used to stop at, but that's all I remember.
I used to practice there in the 70's when I used to race motocross and there was also sanctioned CMA trial competitions there that my neighbour used to compete in.
If I remember correctly there was a scramble track at the north end and there was another track and hill at the south end.
I was driving past where I thought it used to be yesterday, but it was 50 yrs ago since I was last there, and I was just wondering what they ended up doing with the land.
When I used to ride there I was told it was reserved land for the proposed Pickering airport.
 
Maybe now called greenwood conservation area? Church north of taunton if that's the spot.
 
There were two gravel pits along the fifth concession just east of Brock road. One was originally owned by Highland Creek Sand and Gravel and the other just a bit further to the east was a multi-national sand and gravel company whose name escapes me at the moment. There was also an area on the north side where Metro Toronto wanted to turn into their next garbage dump but eventually gave up due to public opposition and the fact that their proposed liner could have leaked into Duffins Creek.
 
I remember there being a creek on the property on the east side because that's where the CMA used to hold their trial events.
When you first entered the north area there was a scramble track and I remember a hydro tower near the scramble track on the north end.
I just looked on Google maps and thanks thwak because I think it actually was north on Brock Rd because I remember the Durham Regional Police station we would pass at Kingston Rd but nothing looks familiar to me on Google maps.
I'm surprised nobody remembers this place because riders used to come from all over the place to ride there, but they also might be old like me and forget the details of the location.
My neighbors and me used to come from central Scarborough and there was always a couple of dozen or more riders there on the weekends and other racers I rode with used to come from all over the Toronto area.
I remember that the south area had a big hill to climb and dune buggies usually took over the hill and also there was a motocross track in the abandoned pit area at the base of the hill on the south end.
The north end was flat and had a scramble track and a creek on the east side for trial riders to practice on.
I just spent an hour searching for CMA trial event results for Pickering in the 70's, but couldn't find anything but I did see a familiar name - Bill Sharpless during my search.
Bill used to own Sonic Motorcycles on Eglinton Ave and I live about 15 houses from there in the subdivision.
 
Rode some trials out there in the 70's i think. Bought my first trials bike from Sharpless.
 
I grew up in Pickering and I recall seeing the Oshawa Competition club holding races at the property close to Taunton Rd. near the hydro tower you mention. In fact, it was seeing one of those races from the back seat of our station wagon one Sunday morning that kindled my interest in motorcycles.

The "pit" portion of the site is now a hill filled with Metro Toronto's garbage from the 1980-1990's, is covered over with layers of soil and I believe still has stacks to burn off the methane. At one time there was a small power generation (??) facility there. I'm actually not certain what it was.

The general area was expropriated by the feds in 1972 to be used as land to build a satellite city around the airport then passed to the province later. In the late 90's early 2000's the government of the day decided to sell some/most of the land. According to the expropriation act they had to offer it to the original owners first so my father bought our farm back. Most of the rest of the original owners were dead, or had moved on to (literally) greener pastures. So much of the land was "sold" to some of the tenants with financial backing of developers.

My personal comment (No MC content):
I remember the night the sheriff came to our house to tell my father that he HAD to sign the sale papers or be forcibly evicted soon after and perhaps arrested, even though the purchase amount was below market values published in the government reports. I was 7. My father emigrated to Canada from Holland after WW2 with a suitcase of clothes and built a successful life and business, working hard as that generation did. My parents separated soon after, my little school closed, the community emptied out of the farming families and transient tenants moved into the houses.

Over time, the governments (all three parties) allowed the buildings to sit vacant and/or deteriorate to the point of uninhabitability clearing the way to demolish most of the farms, much of the 4-corner villages as well as some heritage buildings.

Of course there were politically connected people (party members & donors) who were paid above market value during the expropriation, some of whom had bought the properties cheaply shortly before. There were articles written about it all in the 80's & 90's, but since it was nearly 20 years later nobody suffered any consequences.
 
xrljoel I just drove around the area again earlier today and didn't recognize anything.
Are you saying that the old Pickering pits is at the location where the Oshawa Competition Motorcycle Club is now located at Brock Road and 8th Concession Rd?
I never drove along 8th Concession Rd but I did go up Brock Rd, Altona Rd, Whites Rd and one of the Concession roads today.
Where exactly was the pit portion of Pickering pits? What road or intersection was it at?
50 yrs ago Pickering wasn't as developed and the only reference point I remember was a chip truck right at the train tracks while driving north on Brock or Liverpool Rd on the way to Pickering pits.
Sorry to hear about the government's treatment of your family during the airport planning.
 
@BillyB
IIRC & if we are talking the same place, we use to go just west of the Pick-a-Mix Concrete place is now.
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BillyB said:
xrljoel I just drove around the area again earlier today and didn't recognize anything.
Are you saying that the old Pickering pits is at the location where the Oshawa Competition Motorcycle Club is now located at Brock Road and 8th Concession Rd?
I never drove along 8th Concession Rd but I did go up Brock Rd, Altona Rd, Whites Rd and one of the Concession roads today.
Where exactly was the pit portion of Pickering pits? What road or intersection was it at?
50 yrs ago Pickering wasn't as developed and the only reference point I remember was a chip truck right at the train tracks while driving north on Brock or Liverpool Rd on the way to Pickering pits.
Sorry to hear about the government's treatment of your family during the airport planning.
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To be clear it wasn't government malice, likely just impenetrable bureaucracy mixed with indifference with a helping dose of incompetence and self interest.

The OCMC property on Brock Rd. has been such since some time in the mid 90's I believe.

The place I saw and call the Pickering Pits was south of Taunton not too far west of 4th concession road. There were a few sand pits in the area, including one off Church St. I believe that had remnants of the old Canadian Northern Railway running through it.
just-me said:
@BillyB
IIRC & if we are talking the same place, we use to go just west of the Pick-a-Mix Concrete place is now.
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Click to expand...
Could be. The place I was think of is the area north of where the label seaton hiking trail is. That's the dump.

There were trails from where the label Old Bridge Foundation Remains running north and south along the Grand Valley.

It's unrecognizable to me now.
 
I rode there too a couple of times in my late teens, early twenties. Would have sworn it was northeast corner of Brock and Taunton Road.

I remember there were two tracks there and a bit of a hill that separated them.
 
JZ67 are you talking about 1970-1974 timeframe?
The place I'm talking about I rode on in the early 1970's and they were talking about shutting it down way back then.
@just-me also mentioned that same location.
I will check that area out the next time I'm passing through the area.
 
JZ67 said:
I rode there too a couple of times in my late teens, early twenties. Would have sworn it was northeast corner of Brock and Taunton Road.

I remember there were two tracks there and a bit of a hill that separated them.
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It's possible. I don't recall anything there, but I started riding in 1980.

They've realigned Taunton & Brock Rd. area with the railway bridge. Taunton west of Brock used to be the 4th concession which intersected with Brock just north of the CPR. Taunton was just south with a an old gas station and a couple small houses on the corner.

Looking at the map linked it's hard to place landmarks from memory.

The 407 has also changed the area. I remember a small Carin that was erected at the spot where the village of Brougham was founded. It was essentially a mill site with the creek running through it. You could see the remains of the mill pond, the spot where the old road would have crossed the creek on a small bridge and the foundation of the mill. I was there before the 407 came east of Brock but for the life of me I can't figure out where it was or if it's still there.
 
xrljoel said:
The place I saw and call the Pickering Pits was south of Taunton not too far west of 4th concession road. There were a few sand pits in the area, including one off Church St. I believe that had remnants of the old Canadian Northern Railway running through it.
Click to expand...
Correct, I remember it being on Church st north of Taunton.
 
BillyB said:
JZ67 are you talking about 1970-1974 timeframe?
The place I'm talking about I rode on in the early 1970's and they were talking about shutting it down way back then.
@just-me also mentioned that same location.
I will check that area out the next time I'm passing through the area.
Click to expand...
Nope, late 80's early 90's.
 
The area I used to ride that was referred to as the pickering pits was just north of 3rd concession(Rossland) and Valley Farm where they put in the dump.I had a 1978 RM 125 so the pits must have still been there in the early 80s. I heard a rumor that someone from Sonic got hurt badly there and thats when they started to close it down.I took my bike from Morningside up the big hill where the zoo is now all the way on hydro fields to the pits,I carried a gas can and extra spark plugs just in case lol.
 
My memory is fading, but I actually remember talking to a rider that said they arrived by riding along the hydro fields and I also remember hearing about a rider getting seriousy hurt there.
I was just a kid racing in the schoolboy class, so I didn't drive back then.
I also remember riding at a place on Morningside that had a hill and another place near the DVP or Don Mills Rd in the city, but we usually went to the Pickering Pit location.
Thanks @canuckwr250, I will check out Valley Farm Road and Rossland the next time I pass through the area.
 
BillyB said:
My memory is fading, but I actually remember talking to a rider that said they arrived by riding along the hydro fields and I also remember hearing about a rider getting seriousy hurt there.
I was just a kid racing in the schoolboy class, so I didn't drive back then.
I also remember riding at a place on Morningside that had a hill and another place near the DVP or Don Mills Rd in the city, but we usually went to the Pickering Pit location.
Thanks @canuckwr250, I will check out Valley Farm Road and Rossland the next time I pass through the area.
Click to expand...
Thats so funny,when I lived by Fairview mall I rode my mini bike there south of 401
 
Eglinton at Etobicoke Creek back in the 70's and 80's. The good old days.
 
@Wingboy I raced a few MRAC races at Centenial Park in the 70's and they were just opening up a riding area in the park south of Eglinton for dirt bikes when I stopped riding.
@canuckwr250 I thought it was just south of the 401 where I rode in the 70's, but when I looked on Google maps it didn't look familiar.
We used to park in the parking lot of some company and then ride around.
My sister actually had a picture of the hill in what I called Pickering Pits and there was a motocross track near the hill in the basin, but it's not visible in the picture.
The other end of what I thought was Pickering Pits had a scramble track and there was a Hydro tower near the track.
I just watched several YouTube videos of people riding Pickering Pits in 2016-2018 but it doesn't look anything like where I rode in the 70's.
When I rode there was only film cameras and I don't even know if cameras had zoom back then.
Here is a really old picture from the 70's of the hill at what I thought was Pickering Pits and it's actually higher than it looks in the picture or maybe my memory is fading again.
My sister didn't have a picture of the scramble track near a Hydro tower though.
Pickering Pits hill in the 70's.jpg
 
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