Text by James Bow
See also
On September 1, 1921, the Toronto Transportation Commission took over the operations of the Toronto Railway Company and the city-owned Toronto Civic Railway, as part of its mandate to operate all street railway service within the boundaries of the city of Toronto. Despite acquiring hundreds of miles of track and hundreds of streetcars, the job of acquiring property wasn’t done. Two other street railway systems, the Toronto Suburban Railway, and the railways of the Toronto & York Radial Railways, were still operating at the fringes of the city. Taking over these operations required more negotiations, but it was only a matter of time. The TTC acquired the Toronto Suburban Railway in 1923, and took over the remaining possessions of the T&YRR in 1927, in so doing acquiring its last burst of inherited equipment. This is the story of those cars.
The TTC’s All-Time ex-Radial Roster
Fleet TTC
Numbers Date Make # Class Scrapped Notes
========= ==== ==== === ===== ======== =============================================
38, 42 1896 JGB 2 --- 1930 Acquired Fairmont Park Traction (Philadelphia) 1909
43-50 1911 PC&C 8 --- 1922 Not used by the TTC
51, 52 1906 SOU 2 --- 1930 Acquired Norwich & Westerley (CT) 1911/2
53-56 1906 TRC 4 --- 1930 #55 built by TRC in 1902
58, 60 1906 TRC 2 --- 1930
59, 61 1903 OTT 2 --- 1930 Acquired Grand Valley Rwy, 1905
62,64,66 1906 OTT 3 --- 1930
68-78 (E) 1907 TRC 6 --- 1930
101-105(O) 1900 TRC 3 --- 1927 Rarely, if ever, used by the TTC.
#103&105 former TRC open cars, banned in 1915.
113-119 1915 PC&C 4 --- 1930 Rarely used by TTC after 1928
125 1897 JGB 1 --- 1927 Acquired Fairmont Park Traction (Philadelphia) 1909
Not used by TTC
129,131 1914 PC&C 2 --- 1927 Not used by TTC
139 1906 SOU 1 --- 1928 Acquired Norwich & Westerley (CT) 1911/2
141 1901 STL 1 --- 1929 Acquired Easton Transit 1905
151-155 1911 PC&C 5 R-2 1936 Acquired from Guelph Radial Rwy (#60,70,80,90,100)/Rebuilt 1925
211,213 1913 PC&C 2 R-3 1935 Acquired from Edmonton Radial Rwy (#50,58), 1918
215 1906 TRC 1 --- 1928 Acquired from TRC (#406) 1906
217 1903 TRC 1 --- 1929 Acquired from TRC (#910) 1906
219,221 1901 STL 2 --- 1929 Acquired Easton Transit 1905
223 1897 JGB 1 --- 1928 Acquired Fairmont Park Traction (Philadelphia) 1909
302 1896 GTW 1 --- 1927 Steam railroad coach, used as trailer, not used by TTC
409-416 1924 OTT 8 R-1 1948 M.U-equipped (not used) 416 preserved by HCRY
Abbreviations
====================================================
GTW Grand Trunk Western Montreal QC
JGB J.G. Brill Company Philadelphia PA
McGC McGuire-Cummings Manufacturing Co. Paris IL
NC&M Niles Car & Manufacturing Company Niles OH
OTT Ottawa Car Company Ottawa ON
PC&C Preston Car & Coach Company Preston ON
STL St. Louis Car Company St Louis MO
TRC Toronto Railway Company Toronto, ON
(E) Even numbers only
(O) Odd numbers only
HCRR Halton County Radial Railway Rockwood ON
TTC Toronto Transportation Commission Toronto ON
The Toronto Suburban Railway
In November 15, 1923, after successful negotiations, the TTC took over the operation of the Toronto Suburban Railway operating in the Toronto Junction area. Standard-gauge lines along Davenport Road, Keele Street, Weston Road and Dundas Street (from Keele to Runnymede) had to be upgraded and converted to TTC gauge. Toronto Suburban Railway cars were used with TSR motormen and TTC conductors to provide shuttle services on these streets as they were regauged. Davenport tracks were finished on December 5, 1923. On January 20, 1924, regauging was complete on Dundas and DUNDAS streetcar extended to Runnymede. Finally, on November 25, 1924, the former TSR Lambton line was converted to TTC operation, running along Dundas from Runnymede to Lambton Park near Humber River.
In spite of this takeover, the TTC did not acquire any equipment from the suburban railway. The differences in gauges would have required further work on the cars before they could be used, and by and large they were old and built more for rural or interurban rather than city streetcar operation. When the TTC took over and regauged the tracks, the TSR equipment was spread elsewhere among the properties of its owner, Canadian National. Equipment was needed on the TSR’s Guelph and Woodbridge lines. Others were distributed further afield, such as to the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto railway and the Montreal & Southern Counties lines.
Acquiring the Metropolitan
When the TTC took over TRC operations on September 1, 1921, it also had its eye on the Toronto & York Radial railways tracks operating within the city’s boundaries, particularly the old Metropolitan Railway running up Yonge Street from Woodlawn Avenue to the City limits. At the same time, Sir Adam Beck of Ontario Hydro was looking at the T&YRR operations outside of Toronto as a potential component of his planned network of interurban lines across southern Ontario.
The T&YRR owned and operated three lines stretching out from Toronto’s boundaries. One was the old Metropolitan Railway stretching up Yonge Street from Woodlawn Avenue to Lake Simcoe. Another was the old Mimico line following Lake Shore Road through the villages of Mimico, New Toronto, Long Branch and Port Credit. The last was the Scarborough radial line, following Kingston Road from Queen Street to West Hill, near where today’s Old Kingston Road splits off from Kingston Road. The T&YRR was owned by the business partnership of Mackenzie and Mann, the owners of the Canadian Northern railway and the Toronto Railway Company.
In 1922, as part of a deal reached between the T&YRR’s old owners, Ontario Hydro and the TTC, the whole ownership of the T&YRR was assumed by the TTC, although Ontario Hydro had responsibility for operating the lines outside of Toronto. All tracks located within Toronto’s city boundaries were converted to city standards, using TTC gauge and equipment. The portions of these lines outside of Toronto were maintained to interurban standards. By and large, the original cars were used (and the T&YRR had a surplus thanks to the reduction in its route mileage resulting from the conversion of Toronto routes to TTC operation), but the new managers, Ontario Hydro, invested some money in improvements ahead of the anticipated provincial radial network. This included, in 1924, the purchase of steel interurban cars from the Ottawa car company. Eight vehicles, with double trucks, couplers, and large overhead headlights, were delivered for use on the line to Lake Simcoe, giving the route a fresh appearance. The cars were numbered 409-416 consecutively.
Acquiring the Rest of the T&YRR
When Beck’s vision for a southern Ontario network of interurban lines collapsed in the mid 1920s, the TTC took over full operational responsibility of the T&YRR lines. The tracks from the City Limits to Lake Simcoe were regauged from standard to the TTC’s wider streetcar gauge between September 11 and September 17, 1927, allowing T&YRR cars to use the TTC’s facilities at Eglinton Carhouse. Similar regaugings and connections took place in Mimico (Scarborough had always been built to TTC streetcar gauge). In 1928, the tracks along Lake Shore Road from Roncesvalles to Etobicoke Creek were taken up and replaced by city-style streetcar tracks, cutting radial service to a short shuttle between Long Branch loop and Port Credit.
In all, the TTC inherited 54 pieces of equipment from the T&YRR, including some that were built as early as 1896. A number of these (14) were almost immediately scrapped. Another seven fell in 1928 and 1929 as the Mimico radial line was shortened into the Port Credit shuttle. Then, in 1930, the TTC shut down the Lake Simcoe line, resulting in another 23 retirements. At the time, all that was left were seven Preston-built cars (numbers 151-155, 211 and 213) used on thePort Credit and Scarborough radial lines. These would be scrapped when the lines were abandoned and replaced by buses (1935 for Port Credit, 1936 for Scarborough). The Ottawa-built 400 series cars could well have followed their compatriots to the scrap heap had the portion of the Lake Simcoe line south of Richmond Hill not been given a reprieve and renamed NORTH YONGE. Cars 409 to 416 were called back into service, still operating out of Eglinton carhouse.
These remaining T&YRR cars would operate until October 1948 when they were mothballed as part of the NORTH YONGE’s “temporary” replacement by diesel buses. When the temporary replacement became permanent in March 1949, these cars were taken to the scrapheap.
Preservation
Most (but not all) of the ex-TTC equipment currently preserved at museums across North America are streetcars which were retired after 1951. The early 1950s seems to be a time when railfans found the interest and the resources needed to preserve the TTC’s vanishing history. It was the prospect of losing several pieces of Toronto Railway Company equipment that sparked dedicated railfans to found the Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association and build the Halton County Radial Railway museum. Unfortunately, too much of the Toronto & York Radial Railways equipment was abandoned too early for railfans to save.
One exception was car #416, the last car purchased by the T&YRR when it was still under Ontario Hydro management, and familiar to railfans as one of the cars operating on the North Yonge Railways. All of the other cars of its class had been sold to a scrapyard, but #416 was used as a cottage north of Toronto for many years before being rediscovered and obtained by the HCRY. The car is currently undergoing restoration, and will soon be back in operating condition.
As for the Toronto Suburban Railway, one city-car, #24, was used in the Thunder Bay yard to transport CN workers before retirement. After being saved from the scrapyard torch by Edmonton railfans, it now resides in Fort Edmonton Park in Alberta where it has undergone restoration and now carries passengers through the museum park.
The ex-Radial Fleet Image Archive
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Harvey Naylor captured this image of the logo of the Toronto Suburban Railway on an old piece of equipment on August 9, 1954. This photo is courtesy the John Knight Collection. |
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Toronto Suburban Railway passenger motor #5 sits at the end of Fairview Avenue, seen here in this 1900 shot looking southwest along Evelyn Crescent. This is the end of the line for the CRESCENT streetcar, which operated from Humberside and Dundas via north and west on Dundas, and then south on Gilmour and Fairview to Evelyn. This route was abandoned in 1922 before the TTC took over TSR operations in November 1923. This image is courtesy the Toronto Public Library. |
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The TTC's Preston Car & Coach Company-built double-truck radial car was purchased from the Guelph Radial Railway and put to work on the SCARBORO radial line. It's seen here at Scarboro Division on September 27, 1927. Photo courtesy the Toronto Archives. |
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TTC double-truck radial car #211, built by the Preston Car & Coach Company, was acquired by the Toronto & York Radial Railways in 1918 from the Edmonton Radial Railway, and inherited by the Toronto Transportation Commission. It served on the SCARBORO streetcar line, and is seen here at Scarboro division on September 27, 1927. Photo courtesy the Toronto Archives. |
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An official blueprint of the TTC's North Yonge cars, circa 1946. |
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TTC North Yonge Railways Ottawa Car Company-built car #409 rests in Russell Carhouse on August 2, 1949. It is almost a year after the 'temporary' closure of the North Yonge Railways, and the car is awaiting the scrap heap. Joseph Testagrose took this photograph. |
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TTC North Yonge Railways car #410, heading northbound, is about to be passed by southbound car #409. The exact location and date is unknown, as is the photographer, but the image is from the Pat Lavallee collection. |
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TTC North Yonge Railways Ottawa Car Company-built car #413 poses at the North Toronto terminal in July 1947. The photographer is unknown, and the photo is from the Dave Shaw collection. |
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TTC North Yonge Railways Ottawa Car Company-built car #414 sits at the North Toronto terminal on October 6, 1948, four days before the last day of service for the NORTH YONGE line. The photographer is unknown, and the photo is courtesy the Dave Shaw collection. |
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TTC North Yonge Railways car #415 rests at Glen Echo loop. The date is unknown, as is the photographer, but the image is from the Pat Lavallee collection. |
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TTC North Yonge Railways Ottawa Car Company-built car #415 sits at the North Toronto terminal with an unknown partner on October 6, 1948, in the last days of NORTH YONGE service. The photographer is unknown, and the photo is from the Dave Shaw collection. |
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TTC Ottawa-built North Yonge Railways car #416 is seen here in the East Barn of the Halton County Railway Museum in 1999, after the museum found it and rescued it. It is currently undergoing restoration. Photo by James Bow. |
References
- Bromley, John F., and Jack May. Fifty Years of Progressive Transit: A History of the Toronto Transit Commission. [New York]: Electric Railroaders’ Association, 1973. Print.
- Bromley, John F. TTC ‘28: The Electric Railway Services of the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1928. Toronto, Canada: Upper Canada Railway Society, 1968. Print.
- Stamp, Robert M. Riding the Radials: Toronto’s Suburban Electric Streetcar Lines. Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills, 1989. Print.
