The Greenwood Subway Yards

Photos by: Aaron Adel (unless where noted).
Text by Aaron Adel and James Bow.

See Also

Greenwood Yard Doors Open Tour, May 23-24, 2005.
VIDEO: Greenwood Yards/Leslie Barns Open House, September 21, 2019, by Damian Baranowski.

Subway travellers riding between Donlands and Greenwood Stations often wonder why there is a sudden fork in the track, and a tunnel which appears to turn south to nowhere. Unlike Yonge and St. George stations, there are no connecting subway lines. Are the tracks part of a secret subway that only those in the know can use to bypass the congestion at Bloor-Yonge station? Has the Downtown Relief Line started construction at last?

Not quite. The tunnel doesn't bypass the Bloor-Yonge station and offer an alternate route downtown, but it is a secret subway that only authorized personnel may use. The tunnel lead to the Greenwood subway yard, where all the trains that operate on the Bloor-Danforth subway are stored overnight. The tunnel makes a turn underneath Greenwood Avenue and heads south, emerging out of a portal into broad daylight a few blocks south of Danforth Avenue. Those at the front of the car are treated to a field of tracks and subway cars.

The Greenwood yards were built in the mid 1960s and opened at the same time as the opening of the first segment of the Bloor-Danforth subway line. With subway mileage almost doubling, the TTC not only needed more space to store its equipment, but it also made more sense to build a yard where repairs and maintenance could be carried out (previously, such work had been shared between Davisville Yard and Hillcrest Shops). Land was purchased (some 31.5 acres!), and some houses knocked down, to make way for the facility. The bulk of the site was originally a clay quarry (as evidenced today with the nearby Torbrick Road), and then a garbage dump. The TTC had to remove up to 75 feet of garbage in order to clear the site for use. The yard's proximity to the CN tracks also offered the opportunity to take deliveries right on the subway system, instead of at Hillcrest as had previously been the case.

Although the subway routes have a Transit Control Centre which controls the switches enroute, each carhouse (Greenwood, Davisville and Wilson) has their own control centre for operations within their boundaries. Prominent in the control centre is a console displaying the track arrangement within the yard. Here, using switches located on the map itself, controllers can move switches remotely and control the signals to control train movements through the yard.

The Greenwood Yards includes a maintenance facility where repairs are carried out. Subway cars come in here to be serviced and repaired, but are otherwise usually stored outside in the elements. The maintenance facility includes tracks elevated on stands to support the subway trains and allow workers to carry out repairs on the cars' undercarriage. The interior of the subway cars are usually accessed through portable yellow stair-ladders placed at the front of each car. Few side platforms exist to allow workers to access the subway interiors the normal way.

Safety is a priority everywhere on the TTC and the yards are no exception. The workers know that they are dealing with heavy and potentially dangerous equipment, and numerous precautions are taken. Trains on the stilt tracks always have their electric pick-up shoes (found on the side of the subway trucks to connect the train electrically with the third rail) marked with a red flag to warn workers that the shoe is live and must be treated with care. No one wants to get shocked with 600 Volts.

The Greenwood yards also played host to a number of Scarborough ICTS cars. The RT's yards east of McCowan are too small to perform duties more involved than storing trains and minor repairs. Greenwood has the facilities to perform major rebuilding work. At the time Aaron visited Greenwood Shops in research of this article, an RT vehicle was in the shops for a complete rebuilding of its truck assembly and its interior. The work was necessitated by the vehicle's derailment in the summer of 1997, causing lasting structural problems to the car. With no physical connection between the Scarborough RT tracks and the subway tracks, the car was probably trucked to Greenwood. Deliveries can also be taken by road through the entrance onto Greenwood Avenue.

The Wilson Yards, built for the opening of the Spadina Subway in 1978, also perform many of the duties performed by the workers at Greenwood. However, since the Greenwood yards opened, Toronto's subway system expanded rapidly. There are enough subway cars around to keep the storage and maintenance facilities at both Greenwood and Wilson busy for many years to come. And only Greenwood can accept delivery of new cars by rail...

Greenwood Yards Image Archive

	An aerial view of Greenwood Yards, with trains laying over, looking northwest. This Toronto Archives image, taken circa 1967, is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation page.
	Richard Glaze captured this shot of more Gloucester train at the south end of Davisville Yard on July 5, 1954. A train departs for St. Clair station at the left end of the picture.
	Greenwood Yard gate sign. Photo by Aaron Adel.
	An unknown photographer took this shot of Greenwood Yard under construction, looking south, on June 19, 1964.
	Gloucester, Montrealer and H1 cars are ready and waiting at Greenwood Yards, even though the opening of the BLOOR-DANFORTH subway is months away. This shot was taken on August 23, 1965 by Robert McMann and is courtesy the John Knight collection.
	At the northern end of Greenwood Yard, seen here looking towards the tunnel portal, is an operator loading platform. Drivers entering the yard usually hand over the trains to yard workers here. The yard workers guide the trains into their storage tracks. Photo courtesy the Toronto Archives.
	TTC H1 subway car 5408, seen from its non-cab end, undergoes maintenance at Greenwood shops in this June 1969 shot. The photographer is unknown and the image is courtesy the John Knight collection.
	An H1 train at Greenwood Shops. Taken circa 1975, this photo donated by Jim Blair.
	Greenwood Yard's control center. Photo taken in 1998 by Aaron Adel.
	A red flag on a subway's electrical pickup shoe emphasizes the potential for electric shock. This photo was taken in 1998 by Aaron Adel.
	n ICTS vehicle on the stands, undergoing repairs. This 1998 shot was taken by Aaron Adel.
	An H2-class subway car undergoing maintenance at Greenwood. This photo was taken in 1998 by Aaron Adel.
	In the part of the shop where the work takes place on the individual train parts, it looks much like an industrial sized machine shop. This photo depicts a worker using an air drill to tighten some bolts on part of a wheel assembly. The bolts probably have to be tightened to a very specific pressure, and must be measured accordingly. This photo was taken in 1998 by Aaron Adel.
	A worker uses a gigantic lathe to ensure that a train axle is properly round. This photo was taken in 1998 by Aaron Adel.
	These are the wheel assemblies that go underneath the trucks. These are not held onto the train with nuts and bolts, but instead through the use of lots and lots of pressure. This photo was taken in 1998 by Aaron Adel.
	Greenwood Yard, looking south from the north end. Photo by James Bow.
	Here we see a number of subway trains on hoists at Greenwood. These hoists allow workers to get underneath the trains.
	A four-car train of H-6s has rounded over the far end of the yard and is approaching the mouth of the tunnel to the Bloor-Danforth subway (located directly below this shot). Soon, it will stop, reverse direction, and head into one of the storage tracks. This shot was taken in the year 2000 by James Bow.
	Here's another view of hte platform where drivers and other workers can board their trains just before heading out onto the line or heading into the yard. This photo was taken in the year 2000 by James Bow.
	An artist's sketch of Greenwood Yards, made before construction. This Toronto Archives image is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation page.
	An aerial view of Greenwood Yards, looking northeast, circa 1965. This Toronto Archives image is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation website.
	Andre Truffi caught this shot of T1 subway trains resting at Greenwood Yards on the evening of December 28, 2019.
	A work car huddles with service T1s at the western end of Greenwood Yard. Andre Truffi took this shot on Saturday, December 28, 2019.