Start of service: 1922
End of service: Jun 3 1939
Route: from Cemetery gates on York St to King & James, to form one-way counter-clockwise loop via King, Margaret, Main, Locke, Herkimer and James.
Antecessor routes: York St,
James North & King West
In 1922 the opening of streetcar service to Westdale resulted in changes to the HSR's streetcar system. The York & King West route was created to run from from the Cemetery gates on York St to King & James, and then to form an one-way counter-clockwise loop via King, Margaret, Main, Locke, Herkimer and James.
On June 3, 1939, all streetcar service on York St ended. The York & Aberdeen and the York & King West routes were merged to form the Aberdeen-King West route.
This funeral procession on York St approaching Dundurn on April 15th 1924 is for Chief of Police Robert Whatley. In the background is a Preston DEST streetcar on the York & King West route. (Photo from the Hamilton Police Service Archives)
HSR #402 in front of the old Hamilton City Hall at York and James, circa 1930. (From the Al Paterson collection, used with permission)
HSR #424 on the York & King West route at York and MacNab, sometime in the 1920s. (Photo by Norman Bradshaw, collection of Helmut Ostermann, Vintage Rail Photo's, used by permission)
This aerial photo taken in the 1920s of Dundurn Castle and the surrounding area shows the tracks on York St. If you zoom in, you can see there's a York St streetcar at York & Strathcona. If you follow the line, you can see that York St was double tracked as far as Woodbine Crescent, and then the single track continued to the end of the line at the entrance to the cemetery.
Mills, John M. Cataract Traction; The Railways of Hamilton. Toronto: Upper Canada Railway Society/Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association, 1971
