Text by James Bow.

The Route at time of Dissolution

The Mount Pleasant streetcar was one of the shortest routes in terms of lifespan and in terms of route mileage. Starting at St. Clair Station on the Yonge Subway, it headed east along St. Clair Avenue to Mount Pleasant and north along Mount Pleasant to Eglinton Loop, just north of Eglinton Avenue. The route boasted a short-turn loop at Mt Pleasant and St. Clair called Moore Park Loop and, until 1954, tracks ran along Eglinton Avenue between Mt Pleasant and Yonge, before turning north on Yonge (they did not carry through that intersection and so did not connect directly to Eglinton carhouse). These tracks were maintained for five years after the subway opened, and only removed in 1959, even though they had nothing to connect to during the duration.

The Mount Pleasant streetcar service ran from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., and night service was provided by its parent route, the St. Clair streetcar. Abandoned before the arrival of CLRVs to Toronto, it was never assigned an official route number that appeared on the rollsigns.

A Very Short History of the Mount Pleasant Streetcar.

For a discussion of how tracks came to be on Mount Pleasant Road, you should refer to the St. Clair streetcar Page. As for how the eastern half of the St. Clair streetcar became its own route, that took place in 1975. From 1954 to 1975, St. Clair cars straddled St. Clair station, operating between Keele and Eglinton. Extra service west of St. Clair was provided by the Earlscourt car and rush-hour trippers on the Rogers Road route. By the early 1970s, however, traffic patterns on St. Clair Avenue were changing.

The fact that the extra Rogers Road service to the subway disappeared in 1974 (when the route was converted into a branch of the Ossington trolley bus), illustrates that traffic demand on the St. Clair line was dropping. The Earlscourt route was fading as well, to a rush-hour only route, and the base route of St. Clair was being left behind. Passenger traffic on Mount Pleasant may have been dropping as well but, tied as it was to the St. Clair base route, the TTC could not modify service to meet demand without changing service for the rest of the route. For greater flexibility, it was decided to break off the portion of the St. Clair streetcar operating east of St. Clair Station and turn it into its own route: Mount Pleasant. Service began on March 30, 1975.

The Last Days and Why They Came

The Mount Pleasant streetcar stopped operating after July 24, 1976, long after the TTC decided to abandon its streetcar abandonment program. With the Rogers Road streetcar abandoned two years before, the TTC had enough streetcars to maintain service on Mount Pleasant and continue its PCC rebuilding program. So, why did Mount Pleasant fall?

The blame can be laid at the feet of the Metro Roads Department. In March 1976, the Roads Department closed Mount Pleasant to reconstruct the bridge over the former Belt Line Railway. At that time, the track on Mount Pleasant was the same track that had been laid down in 1925, when the route was first built. The road construction forced the TTC to consider whether or not to rehabilitate the whole line. The TTC did a cost estimate and found that retaining streetcar service would cost $875,000, compared to $440,000 for conversion to trolley coach and $249,000 for conversion to diesel buses.

Based on those numbers, it would seem that the TTC would have favoured conversion to diesel buses, but a further cost analysis pointed out that although diesel buses and trolley buses cost less to operate per year than streetcars, this cost savings was nullified by the fact that it would take five buses to meet the carrying capacity of the four streetcars then serving the line. Community activism provided further pressure, with the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association making a number of presentations to TTC Board meetings and chartering Peter Witt #2894 to promote its campaign to retain streetcar service. The TTC bowed to public pressure and announced that streetcar service would be retained.

It didn’t happen. Three months later, public notices appeared along the line announcing that service would end at the end of July. The TTC was forced to reverse its decision through the direct intervention of the Metro Roads Department, in response to complaints from car drivers about streetcars ‘obstructing’ their progress. This reversal was made without any community consultation, and it was a sad comment that drivers from outside the community could effectively override the desires of people living within that community.

Streetcars stopped running on Mount Pleasant after the last St. Clair night car departed Eglinton Loop at 5:15 a.m. on July 25, 1976. Night Service by the same cars to Moore Park Loop continued until the 1st of October that year, before it too was cut back to St. Clair Station and the tracks abandoned. Mt. Pleasant has not had night service ever since.

Echoes of the Mount Pleasant streetcar continue to this day. The Mount Pleasant trolley bus started running about a year after abandonment, following the same route. Eglinton Loop still exists, albeit beneath a new commercial/residential development. These echoes are fading, however: Moore Park loop was turned into a parkette soon after abandonment, and the trolley coaches disappeared in 1992.

Mount Pleasant Streetcar Image Archive

	Richard Glaze caught TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4504 heading eastbound on St. Clair, approaching Mount Pleasant. Although signed for MOUNT PLEASANT, the presence of a loudspeaker in the window suggests this is on a fantrip.
	TTC A14-class ex-Kansas City PCC #4759 and another PCC pose at Mt. Pleasant Loop. PCC 4759 is on a charter. Richard Glaze caught this photo circa February 1976.
	TTC A14-class ex-Kansas City all-electric PCC #4759 pulls into Moore Park loop on a charter in this February 1976 shot by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A8-class PCC #4527 pauses at Eglinton loop in service on the MOUNT PLEASANT streetcar in this July 1976 shot by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4528 turns from eastbound St. Clair onto northbound Mt. Pleasant in MT. PLEASANT service. Richard Glaze took this photograph in July 1976, during the last days of the route's operations.
	TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4526 turns from St. Clair onto Mount Pleasant Road in the last days of MOUNT PLEASANT service. This July 1976 shot was taken by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4526 turns from St. Clair Avenue East onto Mount Pleasant Road during the last days of MOUNT PLEASANT service. This July 1976 shot was taken by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A6-class PCC #4528 heads southbound on Mount Pleasant, past the Crest Theatre and Mount Pleasant Stereo in this July 1976 shot by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4528 heads southbound on Mount Pleasant passing Moore in the last days of MOUNT PLEASANT service. This July 1976 shot was taken by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4528 heads southbound on Mount Pleasant approaching St. Clair Avenue East in the last days of MOUNT PLEASANT service. Photo by Richard Glaze.
	This shot of Moore Park Loop was taken by R Hill, and printed on Dave's Railpix site. The loop was the last of the Mt. Pleasant line to lose service (served by the St. Clair Night car a few weeks after the rest of the route was abandoned) has now been turned into a park.
	PCC 4695 loops through Moore Park loop in this February 1971 scene. Photo by Ian Folkard.
	On June 29, 1971, PCC 4521 is heading south on Mount Pleasant in St. Clair service, about to turn west onto St. Clair Avenue. Note the branching tracks in the bottom right-hand corner, where cars short-turning at Moore Park Loop would return to service. Photo by Joseph Testagrose.
	TTC A14-class ex-Kansas City all-electric PCC 4768 heads east along St. Clair Avenue East, pausing at Inglewood before turning north onto Mount Pleasant on June 29, 1971. Photo by Joseph Testagrose.
	Joseph Testagrose caught PCC 4524 at Eglinton Loop on July 7, 1974, about a year before the Mount Pleasant streetcar was inaugurated. The loop remains to this day, having served streetcars, trolley buses and diesel buses and surviving redevelopment. With a plan afoot to combine the Mount Pleasant bus with the Nortown East bus, however, this loop's days may be numbered...
	This shot, captured by Richard Kunz of the New Electric Railway Journal, shows Eglinton Loop in a 1974-75 scene. The streetcar would be gone two years later, and the trolley buses would follow in less than twenty...
	TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4525 heads north on Mount Pleasant, crossing Eglinton Avenue, approaching Eglinton loop in this June 1975 shot. The photographer is Edward Emery.
	In 1975 and 1976, photographer Bill Robb made a few pilgrimages to the new MOUNT PLEASANT line and snapped pictures of the real McCoy, bearing the MT PLEASANT rollsign exposure. This picture was taken as PCC 4541 paused at Eglinton loop.
	PCC #4541, southbound on Mt. Pleasant at Merton with the Dominion Coal and Wood silo in the background. Circa 1975-76. Photo by Bill Robb.
	TTC A8 class all-electric PCC #4524 leaves Eglinton loop and prepares to cross Eglinton Avenue, southbound on Mount Pleasant in the last days of MOUNT PLEASANT streetcar service (July 15, 1975). The photo is by Robert McMann.
	TTC A8 class all-electric PCC #4543 picks up passengers at Davisville while heading southbound in service on MOUNT PLEASANT on August 19, 1975. Photo by R. McMann, from the John Knight collection.
	TTC A8 PCC #4512 loops through Eglinton loop at the north end of the MOUNT PLEASANT streetcar on February 14, 1976. This route would have just five months left to live. Photo by R. McMann, from the John Knight collection.
	On one of the last days of MOUNT PLEASANT operation, A8 class all-electric PCC #4528 passes Western Flyer rebuilt trolley coach 9327 at Eglinton loop at the north end of the line on July 22, 1976. This photo was taken by Robert McMann and comes to us courtesy of Rob Hutchinson.
	TTC A8 class all-electric PCC #4527 has turned from southbound Mount Pleasant onto westbound St. Clair in service on MT. PLEASANT on July 22, 1976. This photo is by R. McMann, from the John Knight collection.
	Shots of streetcars bearing a MOUNT PLEASANT route sign are rare because the route was so short lived. The route linens were adjusted when the route materialized, however, and here's proof. PCC 4500 leaves St. Clair station as part of a fan trip on October 30, 1999, bearing a sign a Mount Pleasant car could have used, if it was heading off duty. Photo by James Bow.

References

• Roschlau, M.W., ‘Adieu, Mt Pleasant’ Rail and Transit, Sept-Oct 1976, The Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto (Ontario), 1976.

Thanks to John Bromley and Ray Corley for their corrections to this web page. Thanks to New York City Subway Resources for the use of their photographs.