Today, the Toronto Transit Commission operates over 83 kilometres of streetcar track, and that number has come down considerably from its heyday during and before the Second World War. The TTC is, first and foremost, a passenger operation, using primarily single-ended equipment. The TTC's streetcars turn around in loops, and occasionally make use of tail tracks and sidings to lay over out of the way of other service vehicles.
What the TTC does not usually have are spurs, tracks which break off the main line and then dead-end. The TTC did not have an extensive freight operation which made use of these tracks, although there were exceptions.
This page offers a gallery of the spurs and special tracks on the TTC network.
Spurs and Sidings Image Archive
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The Money Spur - 192?-1946 Soon after the Toronto Transit Commission took over streetcar operations in Toronto, they established their head office at the corner of Front and Yonge Street. The finance department operated in this building, and collected the day's revenues from all the divisions by use of a special work car (Money Car #28), and a spur near the head-office. This image, showing the two spurs that served the head office during their history was drawn up for the UCRS Newsletter in 1959, and is courtesy Rob Pineault's collection. |
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The first spur, which was located on Front Street, served for a few years before being replaced by the second spur, leading south from of Wellington Street East, in a laneway behind the TTC's properties. Money Car #28 served the second spur until its retirement in 1938. The spur itself was disconnected from Wellington in 1946, though it remained in the pavement for years yet. This image is courtesy the Rob Pineault collection. |
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This shot of the head office spur track, looking north to Wellington, was taken by L. Swanson on November 15, 1953. This track was used by the TTC money cars, which transferred each days fares from the cathouses around the system to the TTC's headquarters at the corner of Front and Yonge. Soon after the YONGE streetcar stopped, and with the TTC's headquarters soon to moved, the track was abandoned, the switch to it removed, and it faded from history. |
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The St. Clair Reservoir Spur, 1929-30 During the construction of the reservoir at St. Clair and Spadina, material had to be delivered and carried out, and the City of Toronto decided to use TTC vehicles to do the job. A special spur line was built backing off of the eastbound track on St. Clair and turning south into the construction site. In this shot, courtesy the Toronto Archives, taken September 18, 1929, we look north towards St. Clair. |
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A TTC flat car sits atop the temporary trestle at the St. Clair Reservoir. This shot, courtesy the Toronto Archives, looks southeast. |
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Another angle of the previous view, with a TTC flat car delivering supplies to the St. Clair reservoir. This image, courtesy the Toronto Archives, looks northeast. |
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This map shows the St. Clair spur, which was shut down and removed by October 21, 1930. At around the same time, the Strachan Dump Track, swinging off of the Bathurst Street tracks to the Exhibition, may have taken some of the fill. Image courtesy the Rob Pineault collection. |
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A view of the St. Clair reservoir construction on September 10, 1930, looking east. A TTC flat car can be seen in the background. Photo courtesy the Toronto Archives. |
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Avon Dump Track, 1943-1960 TTC Dump Car W-16 pays a visit to the Avon Loop dump track. The date of this shot and the photographer is unknown. The dump track, located off of Weston Road, south of Rogers Road, served the TTC from 1943 until the early 1960s. |
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A map of the Avon Loop and Dump Track. The dump track did not have overhead wiring. Visiting cars had to receive power from a flexible cord. Image courtesy the Rob Pineault collection. |
