Toronto Suburban Railway
Overview | |
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Locale | standard gauge |
Previous gauge | from start to 1917: 4 ft 10+3⁄4 in (1,492 mm) (Toronto-gauge)[1] |
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The Toronto Suburban Railway was a Canadian electric
.History
Corporate Timeline
The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incorporated in 1890, and changed its name to the City and Suburban Electric Railway Company the next year. The Davenport Street Railway Company was incorporated in 1891. In 1894, the Toronto Suburban Street Railway Company was incorporated
Allan Royce
In April 1915, the company was authorized to operate all day on Sundays, and to be able to transport milk on the Lord's Day as well.[9]
Under the Municipal Electric Railway Act, 1922,
In 1924, the Township of York acquired the TSR's track within its boundaries, which subsequently became the Township of York Railways. These lines were managed under contract by the Toronto Transportation Commission but with the TofYR paying all capital costs and any operating deficits. Track within the Town of Weston was subsequently transferred to the TofYR in 1925.[15]
The Canadian National Electric Railways let the TSR bond interest go unpaid on 15 July 1931,[16] causing the Guelph line to go into receivership and be shut down on 15 August 1931.[17][18] Eventually, in 1934, CNER paid off the bondholders at 25 cents on the dollar, following which the receivership was ended on 13 September 1935, and the line was promptly dismantled and equipment disposed.[13]
Operational Timeline
- This is a summarized timeline with more details found in the Routes section.
1892 | Davenport route started running from Keele and Dundas Streets to Davenport Road and Bathurst Street. This was the first TSR route.[19] |
April, 1893 | Crescent route began operation running from Keele and Dundas Streets via Dundas Street, south to Evelyn Crescent.[20] |
1894 | Service began on Weston line from Keele and Dundas Streets to the then Village of Weston.[19] |
1896 | Lambton route opened from Keele and Dundas Streets west on Dundas Street to Lambton.[20] |
10 October 1914 | Woodbridge line started operating from Keele and Dundas Streets via the village of Weston to Woodbridge.[19] This was effectively an extension of the Weston line. |
by January, 1917 | TSR standard gauge.[19]
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14 April 1917 | Guelph line opened running from Keele and Dundas Streets to Guelph.[19] |
1923 | Toronto Transportation Commission acquired the Lambton and Davenport lines and converted them to Toronto gauge.[21] |
1923 | TTC took over operation of Weston line, completing the conversion of the line to Toronto gauge to Weston by November, 1925.[19] This isolated the standard-gauge line to Woodbridge. |
28 November 1923 | Crescent route closed south of Dundas Street due to poor ridership.[19] |
1925 | New entrance into Toronto was opened connecting Lambton to Keele Street and St. Clair via private right-of-way.[19] |
1925 | TSR opened Eldorado Park in order to spur Sunday ridership.[19] |
1926 | Woodbridge line was closed.[19] |
15 August 1931 | Guelph line closed.[17] |
Today
Since the TSR's closure, the
A power house on Weston Road is now a lumber store and a power house on James Street East in Guelph has been converted to residential use.[24]
The remains of a TSR bridge can still be found in the
Routes
The Toronto Suburban operated one radial and five city routes during its existence.[14] The following route descriptions are in opening date order.
Davenport
The Davenport route commenced service on 6 September 1892. From Keele and Dundas Streets (in
On 15 November 1923, the Toronto Transit Commission took over the Davenport line, then double-tracked the line and converted it to Toronto gauge. The TTC decided to abandon the TSR track on St. Clair Avenue and Ford Street and to build a new alignment west on Davenport Road from Ford Street, then north on Old Weston Road to the new Townsley Loop at Townsley Street. The former TSR route was split between the TTC Davenport route to Dovercourt Road, and the northern portion of the Dovercourt route to Bathurst Street.[21]
Crescent
In April, 1893,
Weston
The Weston line was constructed in 1894. From Keele and Dundas Streets, the line followed the Davenport route to St. Clair Avenue where a switch allowed the Weston route to proceed north along Weston Road to Church Street in the village of
Lambton
In 1896, the Lambton line was built as an extension of the Crescent Line along Dundas Street west of Gilmore Avenue, across Scarlett Road, down Lambton Hill to a loop in an open field on the east side of the
It was recorded that when the car swung around the Lambton loop "that the conductor would holler to the motorman to go slow around it so he could have a quick thirst-quencher ..."[27] as the car passed the Lambton Hotel where passengers often waited.
In 1923, the
Woodbridge
The Woodbridge line was built as a 7.9 mi (12.7 km) extension of the Weston line. It commenced operation on 10 October 1914. North of Weston, the line was essentially a cross-country rural trolley ending in
Guelph
The Guelph line ran from Keele and Dundas Streets to the
From April, 1926, there was hourly weekday service east of Georgetown. When the Toronto Transportation Commission took over all TSR lines within the Toronto city limits and converted them back to Toronto gauge, the TSR's Lambton Carhouse became the Toronto terminus of the Guelph line. In 1925 the route was extended to a new station at Keele Street and St. Clair, situated between the TTC's streetcar loop and the CNR tracks. It was connected by new off-street track from Lambton.[19]
In 1925, The TSR opened Eldorado Park in order to spur Sunday ridership. The TSR owned this 100-hectare (250-acre) recreational property, which was located on the
By 1931, the Guelph line was only carrying 300 daily passengers, compared to 1,662 cars and nine buses per day travelling along the essentially parallel Highway 7.[13] A bond interest default[16] caused the Guelph line to go into receivership and be shut down on 15 August 1931.[17][18] After receivership ended on 13 September 1935, the line was promptly dismantled.[13]
Carhouses
The TSR's first carhouse was built on the south side of St. Clair Avenue just west of Old Weston Road. It had a loop to turn single-end cars. It closed in 1923.[19]
Lambton Carhouse, the second TSR carhouse, was opened to service the Guelph radial cars as well as local cars. It was next to Lambton Park and just west of Scarlett Road on the south side of the CPR main line. The car barn and shops were in a large brick building that had six tracks. The facility had some yard tracks and a wye.[13]
The Woodbridge line had its own temporary barn on the
Track gauge
The TSR originally used
Rolling Stock
The cars were constructed at the Preston Car Company. Car 101, for example, was equipped with 68 seats affair with cherry wood finish throughout, an overhead luggage rack and a button to signal when a passenger wished to disembark at the next stop. The Main Room included green, plush, upholstered, high-backed seats with headrests, footrests and polished bronze handles on the aisle sides. The Smoking Room was equipped with low-backed seats of imitation leather. The motorman's compartment was at the front.[24]
The one remaining TSR car is number 24, built in 1914, reusing an 1897-vintage Taylor truck. After the TSR was absorbed by the CNR in 1923, the car was renumbered as CN 15702 and used at Neebing Yard in Fort William, Ontario. It was retired in the 1960s, donated to the Canadian Railway Museum, leased to the Edmonton Radial Railway Society (ERRS) in 1989 then sold to ERRS on April 7, 2022.[29] It has been fully restored and is in operation at Fort Edmonton Park.[30]
Number | Built | Builder | Trucks | Type | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | DEST | city line car | 1–17 in service by 1911 | |||
2 | DEST | sweeper | ||||
3 | known to have existed | |||||
4 | known to have existed | |||||
5 | no details | |||||
6 | no details | |||||
7 | no details | |||||
8 | open | |||||
9 | no details | |||||
10 | open | |||||
11 | DEST | open | ||||
12 | DEST | closed | ||||
13 | open | |||||
14 | known to have existed | |||||
15 | TRCo | DEST | LAMBTON | |||
16 | spare | for CRESCENT or LAMBTON | ||||
17 | DEST | LAMBTON | ||||
18 | WESTON | no details | ||||
19 | DEDT | WESTON | ||||
20 | WESTON | |||||
21 | WESTON | |||||
22 | TRCo | DEST | CRESCENT | |||
23 | CRESCENT | |||||
24 | 1914 | Preston | DEST | DAVENPORT | to Canadian National Railways 15702 in 1923; see above (now with ERRS) | |
25 | DEST | DAVENPORT | ||||
26 | WOODBRIDGE | |||||
27 | WOODBRIDGE | |||||
28 | TRCo | DEDT | COOKSVILLE | |||
29 | TRCo | DEDT | COOKSVILLE | |||
30 | DEDT | semi-convertible | WESTON | ex-Tuscaloosa, AL | ||
31 | DEDT | semi-convertible | WESTON | ex-Tuscaloosa, AL | ||
32 | DEDT | semi-convertible | ex-Tuscaloosa, AL | |||
33 | DEDT | semi-convertible | WESTON | ex-Tuscaloosa, AL | ||
Guelph Radial Cars | ||||||
101 | 1915 | Preston | SEDT | centre entrance | GUELPH | rebuilt to DE in 1924-25 |
102-103 | 1915 | Preston | SEDT | centre entrance | burnt in storage before delivery | |
104-106 | 1915 | Preston | SEDT | centre entrance combine | GUELPH | rebuilt to DE in 1924-25 |
107 | 1924 | NS&T | DEDT | coach | GUELPH | to NS&T 83 in 1927 |
108 | 1926 | NS&T | DEDT | combine | GUELPH | to M&SC 300 in 1927; rebuilt to snow plow |
150-153 | DT | open-platform trailer | GUELPH | ex-New York City, 1918; rebuilt with closed platforms | ||
201 | TRCo? | DEDT | express motor | GUELPH | ||
250 | DEDT | express motor | GUELPH | to Montreal & Southern Counties Railway 305, 1927 | ||
251 | flat trailer | GUELPH | ||||
252 | DT | line car/plow | GUELPH | to NS&T in 1927; scrapped 1947 | ||
300 | 1926 | NS&T | DEDT | 60-ton box cab locomotive | GUELPH | to Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern 7 in 1927 |
Canadian Nitro Products | ||||||
"1000" | c.1916 | DEDT | flat motor | rebuilt from James Bay Railway flat trailer; to Stanstead Granite Quarries Ltd. (Beebe, PQ) in 1920; scrapped 1940
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Builder | Trucks | ||||||||||||||
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Other Toronto lines controlled by Sir William Mackenzie
See also
References
- ^ Old Time Trains
- ^ An Act to incorporate The Toronto Suburban Street Railway Company (Limited), S.O. 1894, c. 94
- ^ a b Raymond L. Kennedy (2009). "Street Railways in the Junction". Trainweb. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
- ^ An respecting the Toronto Suburban Street Railway Company, Limited, S.O. 1900, c. 124
- ^ An Act respecting The Toronto Suburban Railway Company, S.O. 1904, c. 94
- ^ ISBN 0-7735-0983-6.
- ^ "The Royce family and Earlscourt Park". Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ a b Burnet, Robert G. (1995). "CPR and TSR tracks through Etobicoke" (PDF). Canadian Rail (449). Canadian Railroad Historical Association: 211–239. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
- ^ An Act respecting the Toronto Suburban Railway Company, S.O. 1915, c. 84
- ^ The Municipal Electric Railway Act, 1922, S.O. 1922, c. 69
- ^ The Toronto Suburban Railway Company Act, 1922, S.O. 1922, c. 35
- ^ Due, John F. "Sir Adam Beck and the Hydro Radial Proposals". Bulletin (50). Upper Canada Railway Society. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Raymond L. Kennedy (2009). "Toronto Suburban Railway - Guelph Radial Line". Trainweb. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
- ^ a b Pursley, Louis H. (1961). The Toronto Trolley Car Story: 1921-1961. Los Angeles: Interurbans Press. p. 26.
- ^ a b James Bow (15 June 2015). "The Township of York Railways (deceased)". Transit Toronto. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
- ^ a b "C.N. Electric Railways". Toronto Star. 21 July 1931. p. 15.
- ^ a b c "Radial line abandonment leaves pupils stranded". Toronto Star. 30 July 1931. p. 24.
- ^ a b "English investors sue for lost funds". Toronto Star. 18 August 1931. p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t James V. Salmon (prepared for publication by John F. Bromley and Mike Filey) (1958). Rails from the Junction, The Story of the Toronto Suburban Railway. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
- ^ ISBN 1-55046-008-0. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
Chapter 6 - The Toronto Suburban Railway
- ^ a b c John F. Bromley (1979). TTC '28; the electric railway services of the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1928. Upper Canada Railway Society. pp. 7: TSR City Lines Acquired, pp. 8: Township of York Railways, pp. 18–19: Davenport/Dovercourt, pp. 24–25: Plan showing layout of special work, pp. 23: Buses on Lambton. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
- ^ Dave Hull. "Guelph Trail Club 1970–1975". Guelph Hiking Trail Club. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^ "Guelph Hiking Trail - Radial Line/Speed River". Ontario Trails Council. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
- ^ a b c d https://www.therecord.com/living-story/9533314-flash-from-the-past-from-guelph-to-toronto-and-back-by-streetcar/, Flash From the Past: From Guelph to Toronto and back, by streetcar
- ^ "Toronto Suburban Railway bridge ruins (City of Mississauga, ON)". Retrieved 7 November 2012., located at 43°37′25″N 79°43′56″W / 43.62361°N 79.73222°W
- ^ "Toronto Suburban Railway, Guelph Radial Line - Crossing 4th Line Esquesing Township (Town of Halton Hills, ON)". Retrieved 8 November 2012., located at 43°37′48″N 79°59′45″W / 43.63000°N 79.99583°W
- ^ Given, R.A. (1950). The Story of Etobicoke Centennial Year 1850–1950. Township of Etobicoke. pp. 27–28.
- ISBN 978-1-55488-883-2.
- ^ "Toronto Suburban Railway 24". Edmonton Radial Railway Society. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2007.
- ^ https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4518.shtml, A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TTC'S EX-RADIAL CARS
Further reading
- Hartley Coles (3 August 2006). "Traces of 'Radial' railway still exist in this area". The New Tanner. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
- Hartley Coles (21 May 2009). "Prior to Go Trains there was 'Radial'". The New Tanner. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
- Dawn Livingstone (17 March 2011). "Been there, done that: History shows railway line electrification is nothing new". Independent & Free Press. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
- Mentzer, Marc (2006). "Irrational optimism in a declining industry: Sir Adam Beck's interurban railway proposal". S2CID 971933.
- Salmon, James V.; Bromley, John F.; Filey, Mike (1970). Rails from the Junction: The Story of the Toronto Suburban Railway. Toronto: Lyon Productions. p. 20. OCLC 15901324.
- Handforth, Gordon W. (1977). Toronto Suburban Memories. Oshawa, Ontario: Canadian National Electric Lines Historical Group. p. 12.
- Wyatt, David A. "History of Regional Transit in Toronto, Ontario". Retrieved 21 July 2007.