Fleet Loop (above) and Exhibition Loop (below).

See Also:

• A History of Streetcars to the Exhibition

By James Bow.

In 1884, a Belgian inventor named Charles Van Depoele met with J. J. Wright and constructed an electric railway running between the Crystal Palace, inside the Canadian Industrial Exhibition fairgrounds, and Strachan Avenue near the terminal of a Toronto Street Railway horsecar line. It was the first electric railway to be built in Canada. After five years of successful operation, the operators of the line went on to establish successful electric railway systems elsewhere and the experimental line was abandoned. The Toronto Railway Company started electric service to the Ex two years later. Ever since then, streetcars have always been a part of experiencing the Canadian National Exhibition. Service was provided down Dufferin Street to where today's Dufferin Loop stands.

The streetcar loop that we could call the earliest ancestor of today's Exhibition East started operation on August 25, 1916. The route to the Exhibition was very different from what we see today. After arriving at the Bathurst-Front intersection, cars would follow the Bathurst bridge southwest, and then leave the street to follow private right of way through Fort York, entering the loop at Strachan Avenue. Military officials were not pleased with this arrangement, but they had to live with it for more than a decade. This track also featured a spur near Strachan Avenue, where ashes from the TTC's electrical powerplants were dumped. This spur was removed in 1930.

Starting on August 20, 1923, the first Exhibition loop was modified to offer runaround capability. but in a rather unusual fashion. At the time, the loop featured an inner and outer track, and to run through the loop again, streetcars had to run into the inner loop, and use the runaround switch. This switch brought the cars onto the outer track, meaning that streetcars could only runaround the loop once. Exhibition Loop may have only seen service during the C.N.E. until 1931, when development south of the railway tracks and east of Strachan provoked the realignment of the Bathurst bridge into a north-south alignment. New tracks were built along Bathurst and Fleet Street, and the new Fort Streetcar began operation.

It was at this time that Fleet Loop came into being. Opened on June 22, 1931, its distinctive feature was the historic lighthouse it turned around. The Lighthouse had been rescued from demolition and moved to the site in 1929. Fleet Loop offered no runaround capacity, and served only to turn westbound Fort cars back east. As for the Exhibition Loop, it was rebuilt and reopened on July 31, 1933, enhanced to store a large number of streetcars to handle the Exhibition crowds. The loop remained relatively unchanged (even during World War II when the C.N.E. became a military base) until July 15, 1982, when cross-over tracks were added. Fleet Loop was renovated at this time, to allow cars leaving the C.N.E. to turn around and return; thus, Fleet Loop became the run-around track for the Exhibition Loop, allowing streetcars to drop patrons off and move into the storage tracks.

The construction of a World Trade Centre in 1995 brought about the end of the old Exhibition East Loop. A new loop was built to the north of the Coliseum, beneath the Gardiner Expressway. Accessed by private right of way and featuring extensive storage and passenger facilities, this loop is an ultra-modern stop worthy of an LRT line. It opened for business on June 11, 1996, and currently handles Bathurst cars, as well as serving as the terminus of the 509 Harbourfront streetcar route.

In the long term, the new Exhibition loop is designed to serve an LRT that may extend further west, connecting Union Station to the Queensway, Mimico and Long Branch. Those plans have cooled, for now (if Toronto gets the Olympics, the loop may be connected to the tracks at Dufferin Street and Dufferin Loop). Until then, it serves as a fine terminal for a venerable fairground.

Exhibition Loop and Fleet Loop Image Archive

	A map of Exhibition Loop, showing all the changes from 1916 to 1931. Image courtesy the Rob Pineault collection
	A view of Exhibition Loop, looking west, taken for the Toronto Archives on September 28, 1933.
	Old Exhibition Loop was a lot more rustic than the current version. TTC PCC #4548, in FORT service, prepares to enter the private right-of-way at the beginning of the loop in this early 1950s scene. Photo donated from the Curt Frey collection.
	TTC A14-class ex-Kansas City all-electric PCC enters one of the storage tracks at Exhibition loop on January 31, 1965. This shot is looking east-southeast. John F. Bromley took this photograph, which comes courtesy of the John Knight collection.
	In this view of Exhibition Loop, taken on July 13, 1969, we see A8 class PCC 4519 and A9 class ex-Cincinnati PCC 4550 operating on a quiet day. The Coliseum Building can be clearly seen in the background; the loop looks like it's blocking the building's entrance. Photo by John F. Bromley.
	This view of Exhibition loop, looking west, was shot by John F. Bromley on July 15, 1969. You can see A8 class all-electric PCCs 4534 and 4541 preparing to pick up passengers, in service on the BATHURST streetcar.
	An all-electric PCC pulls into Exhibition Loop circa September 1971. This photo was taken by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A14-class all-electric ex-Kansas City PCC #4759 pauses at Exhibition Loop in front of the Boliva Tower during a charter circa January 1972. Photo by Richard Glaze.
	TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4504 heads into the turn at Exhibition Loop on June 20, 1976. Photograph by J. Bryce Lee.
	TTC PCC #4500 poses next to a CLRV on the double tracks of Exhibition Loop as of 1998. The Coliseum is in the background. The building was originally designed with the expectation that the streetcar loop would go here. The first loop was built to the south of the building. Photo by James Bow.
	TTC ALRV #4239 departs the east end of Exhibition loop on June 28, 1998. Photo by James Bow.
	A rare CN freight passes PCC 4549 at the northern end of Exhibition Loop in this photograph, taken May 31, 1999. Photo by James Bow.
	TTC A15-class rebuilt PCC #4500 lays over at Exhibition loop on a charter in the late afternoon of December 5, 1999. Photo by James Bow.
	In this shot of Exhibition loop, taken in the year 2000 by Rob Hutchinson, we see the lengthy storage tracks available to streetcars there. These tracks have been called into use for overnight storage during times when there wasn't enough space at the TTC's regular carhouses.
	TTC Flexity LRV #4410 in service under pantograph on 509 HARBOURFRONT is trailed by TTC Orion VII "Next Gen" bus #1393 in streetcar substitution service on 511 BATHURST at the north end of Exhibition Loop on September 28, 2017. Photo by James Bow.
	PCCs pull in and out of Exhibition Loop during the C.N.E. Richard Glaze took this photograph circa August 1970.
	Sometime in September 1972, Lewis Swanson captured this image of a timetable sign at the CNE Express Bus terminal advertising runs to various suburban locations. Photo courtesy the John Knight collection.
	TTC PCC #4500 circles Fleet Loop, and the Lighthouse that makes it famous. This 1998 shot was taken by James Bow.
	Here we see TTC Brill-built Peter Witt car #2666 at Fleet Loop, circa 1953. The photographer is unknown and the image is courtesy the Curt Frey/Pat Lavallee collection.
	TTC A10-class ex-Cincinatti air-electric PCC #4586 pauses beside the lighthouse at Fleet Loop in this July 1971 shot. This photo was taken by J. Bryce.
	TTC CLRV $094, on a charter, loops into Fleet Loop on Sunday, September 22, 2019. Photo by Damian Baranowski.

References

• Bromley, John F., and Jack May Fifty Years of Progressive Transit, Electric Railroaders' Association, New York (New York), 1978.
• Filey, Mike, Not a One-Horse Town: 125 Years of Toronto and its Streetcars, Gagne Printing, Louiseville (Quebec), 1986.
• Filey, Mike, The TTC Story: The First Seventy-Five Years, Dundurn Press, Toronto (Ontario) 1996.