Toronto has the largest streetcar network of any city in North America. The TTC's fleet of light rail cars, purchased in the late 1970s and now slowly being replaced by modern, low-floor vehicles, are the backbone of the city's transit network, moving more than 1.4 million people during a typical work week.
Though this is still a streetcar city, there used to be considerably more options when it came to riding the rails in Toronto. Starting after the second world war, the city and the TTC began closing down streetcar lines in favour of high-capacity subways, trolley buses, or, in at least one case, practically no service at all.
Often streetcar tracks were simply paved over to reappear like ghosts whenever there's road work taking place.
Here is a look back at some lost Toronto streetcar routes.
Rogers Road
- Years active: 1924-1974
- Route: The Rogers Road streetcar started at St. Clair and Oakwood, headed north on Oakwood to Rogers Rd. and traveled west to a loop at Bicknell Ave., just beyond Keele.
- Why it was lost: Rogers Road was seen as a prime candidate for conversion to trolley buses in the 1970s. The streetcar was merged with the Ossington trolley bus and, until 1992, buses ran between the Bicknell Rd. end of the Rogers Road streetcar line and King St.
Harbord
- Years active: 1911-1966
- Route: Like the College streetcar, the snaking Harbord route was also the bearer of a name that did little to describe its route. Starting at Pape and Danforth, the line went directly south to Riverdale Ave., turned west to Carlaw, then south to Gerrard, which it followed to Broadview. The cars then turned south, headed west on Dundas to Spadina, north to Harbord, west to Ossington, north to Bloor, west to Dovercourt, and north to Davenport, where the cars turned west and terminated at a loop just before Lansdowne.
- Why it was lost: When the Bloor-Danforth line opened in Feb. 1966, the already trimmed Harbord streetcar line was nixed entirely. As Transit Toronto notes, the winding route, which almost certainly had the most turns of any route on the system at the time, was difficult to manage in an increasingly traffic-heavy city.
The Belt Line tour tram
- Years active: 1973-1975 (TTC)
- Route: During its brief existence, the downtown tourist streetcar loop ran on one of two routes: Queen and Spadina to Queen and Church, south to King then back west to Spadina and north to Queen, or Queen from Bay to Church, then south to Wellington, west to York, and north to Queen. Cars then headed west to McCaul, north to Dundas, and back over to Church back to the start at Queen and Bay.
- Why it was lost: Though there had been other successful belt routes in Toronto, tourists failed to jump at the chance to ride a historic streetcar in a circle, even if transfers were available to other, more practical routes. The service was handed to a private operator in 1975 and cancelled entirely in the mid 1980s without ever serving more than 284 riders in a single day.
Dupont/Dupont
- Years active: 1923-1963
- Route: Most recently, the streetcars started from a loop at York and Queen's Quay, traveled east to Bay, north through downtown to Davenport Road, and west on Dupont to a loop at Christie.
- Why it was lost: Following the opening of the University line, the TTC decided to do away with the streetcar that served Bay and Dupont streets. The Bay corridor was converted to trolley bus operation in the 1970s and, according to Transit Toronto, remained popular until the overhead wires were taken down in 1993. Some track remains between College and Dundas for use during diversions and short turns.
Church
- Years active: 1892-1954
- Route: Like many Toronto streetcar routes, the line was heavily altered from its inception. Most recently, Church cars ran from a loop just north of Bloor and Church south to Front, then west to Scott St.
- Why was it lost: Like other downtown routes, the end for the Church streetcar was brought about by the Yonge subway, but not for the reason you might expect. In the 1950s, the large amount of power required to run the line triggered brownouts, which forced the TTC to run buses on Church in order to ease the strain on the grid.
by Chris Bateman via blogTO
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