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Street Railways in the Junction Raymond L. Kennedy There were a number of street railways in and around West Toronto Junction over the years, some privately owned as well as ones municipally owned. They included local lines serving the Junction and neighbouring communities as well as radial lines that connected outlying communities with the Junction. The local lines weren't thought of by the people who used them as being "railways" rather, just street cars operating on tracks in the streets. Even the Woodbridge line was really just big streetcars that ran out into the country. Only the Guelph radial line was a "railway" style operation that included multiple connected cars as well as special express cars and some freight cars hauled by a locomotive. Early History The first street railway to be incorporated on November 12, 1890 under the Ontario Street Railway Act was the Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company, Limited which was intended to be a horse car operation in Toronto, West Toronto Junction, and York and Etobicoke Townships. Before construction started it was changed in 1891 to the City and Suburban Electric Railway Company, Limited. In October 1892 it began operating its route from Dundas and Keele going west on Dundas to Gilmour Avenue. The following year it was built south to Louisa Street (St. Johns Road), east to Fairview Avenue and south to Evelyn Crescent. It was later extended east along Dundas Street to Humberside Avenue, the City Limits of Toronto where it connected with cars of the Toronto Railway Company which had reached there in 1893. This extension was sold on December 23, 1893 to the TRC which extended its Dundas route over it to a wye in the intersection of Dundas and Keele. TRC double tracked the line from Humberside to Indian Grove leaving the last two short blocks as single track. A planned extension west along Humberside to connect with the west end of the line at Evelyn would have made a complete circuit. It was never built and eventually, the portion south of Dundas to Evelyn was later abandoned (November 28, 1922) for the lack of riders. However, an extension was built in the 1890's westward along Dundas from Runnymede to Lambton Park at the Humber River. This was a side of the road line along the north side of Dundas. The only passing track was at Willard Avenue, two blocks east of Jane Street.
City & Suburban Electric Ry. 5 at the end of its route at Evelyn Crescent.
Lambton line views. It was however, another company that actually began operations first. The Davenport Street Railway Company, Limited, incorporated February 11, 1891 and given a 20-year franchise on April 20, 1891 by the Town of West Toronto Junction; began operation on September 6, 1892 making it a close second to the Toronto Street Railway which had begun its changeover from horses to electric on August 15th. The route began in the Junction at Keele and Dundas going north to St.Clair, then east to Ford Street, (one block east of the old Weston Road) south to Davenport Road, east to Bathurst Street and south to the CPR mainline just north of Dupont Street. Along the way the single track line passed through Carlton, Davenport and Bracondale. In 1899, a further 10-year period was added to the franchise under TSSR ownership. Map street and
steam railways in the Junction and Swansea 1894 Gowan's rail cleaner.
Toronto Suburban Railway The Toronto Suburban Street Railway Company Limited was incorporated in February 1894 to acquire the City & Suburban and the Davenport Street Railway companies. Its name was abbreviated in 1900 to Toronto Suburban Railway Company. The Royce family led by Allan H. Royce a barrister and resident of Davenport took control from the original shareholders until they sold out in 1911 to Mackenzie, Mann and Company who bought it primarily for the railway charters it held. Mackenzie owned the Toronto Railway Company which provided service in Toronto, Toronto and York Radial Railway which operated suburban and interurban lines out of Toronto including the former Toronto and Mimico Railway and Light Company and the former Toronto and Scarborough Electric Railway, Light and Power Company as well as the lengthy line from North Toronto to Lake Simcoe of the former Metropolitan Street Railway Company. In addition they owned the Canadian Northern Railway an extensive steam railway running out of Toronto east to Ottawa and north all the way to British Columbia! Toronto Suburban lines used the old Toronto horse car track gauge of 4 feet 10 and 3/4 inches designed to allow horse drawn wagons to ride along the rails avoiding rutting the dirt streets. This was changed January 30, 1917 to standard gauge (4 feet, 8 and one half inches) in connection with the construction of the Guelph radial line. It was opposed by the City of Toronto over fears freight cars would be hauled along the streets however, the railway prevailed and no freight was ever hauled on streets. Map of Local Lines Time Table 1918 Local Lines
Trackwork looking east at Dundas and Keele and below
on Keele looking north August 23, 1912
West End theatre at 215 Mavety Street, one short block
west of Dundas and Keele. Next door is the Robinson
house.
Three TSR cars in the Junction. May 1920 Ontario Hydro Archives
CN 15702 (ex Toronto Suburban Ry. 24) Preston Car 1914 Weston Line
Busy traffic scene looking north on Weston Road above St.Clair. Ontario
Hydro Archives
TSR bridge under construction.
New bridge to carry CNER Guelph Radial
line new extension over Weston Road to reach new terminal at
Looking north from on top of new TSR bridge. Hydro substation at right.
Closed car 12 and open car 11 pose for the photographer in this very early scene.
Winter in Weston. The Weston route was built in 1894; it operated from the
Junction north on Keele Street over the existing Davenport line as
TSR combined carhouse and powerhouse on St.Clair just west of northwest corner of (Old) Weston Road. A steam powered power house generated electricity until hydro-electric was brought in from Niagara Falls after which it remained on stand-by. Mackenzie was part owner of this system as well. Toronto Power Company
Line Car No.1 in front of Heydon House northwest corner
St.Clair and (Old) Weston Road in Carlton. 1920
Heydon House, corner of St. Clair West and (Old) Weston
Road, Moores Limited Drugs sign. Circa 1920. Photographer Arthur S. Goss.
Heydon residence 203 High Park Avenue northeast corner Humberside Avenue.
Shortly after built 1912.
J. V. Salmon/Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library S1-4126A
Demolished 1957. There was even a gravel pit operated by Alexander Heydon on the north
side Davenport Road between
Woodbridge Radial Line
Radial car 19 waits on Keele Street to leave for Woodbridge. Looking south at Dundas. Ontario Hydro Archives Note: Mackenzie's office was in the building in right background on the south east corner. A major extension of the TSR Weston line was undertaken soon after Mackenzie took over and was built 7.9 miles to Woodbridge opening on October 10, 1914. This extension was one of many planned by the TSR but, one of the few actually built. It continued the street trackage in Weston to the north limits (Stop 26) Mileage 4.78 (from Keele & Dundas), until a little north of the Grand Trunk Railway main line where it became side of the road for a half mile then, went onto a private right-of-way making its way through Thistletown (Stop 31 Mileage 7.50), to Pine Street in Woodbridge at Stop 36 and Mileage 12.02. This line had a spur running east from near the Humber
River bridge across Albion Road to the CPR where a supply yard was located
on the south side of Wilson Avenue to deliver materials for construction
of the Woodbridge line. A small amount of express as well as milk was
handled by a small 4-wheeled express motor.
Newspapers were also handled on the passenger cars. Another unusual aspect was a World War I ammunition plant Canadian Nitro-Products Ltd. in Mount Dennis. Time Table 1918 Local Lines Map Weston-Thistletown Map Woodbridge Radial
Line Planned extensions that never took place. The TSR had many plans to extend its lines including in 1901 the Lambton line westward to Cooksville and Hamilton and later, in 1904 to Niagara Falls. Also, from Lambton to Brampton (surveyed in 1907); and later to Milton, Guelph, and Berlin (Kitchener). Work actually began on extending the Lambton line west from Lambton Mills/Lambton Park to Summerville with a half-mile of grading and some track laid early in 1903. For some reason things ended here although, it later resumed in 1912 when the radial line was built from Lambton to Guelph, not finally opening until April 14, 1917. Local line extensions were planned including a 1907 survey from the Junction via Keele, Annette Street west to Elizabeth Street (Runnymede Road) and south to the Swansea Bolt Works. The town council did not want tracks on Annette Street so, in 1908, it was resurveyed from the end of the Crescent route on Fairview to Swansea. However, the line was never built nor were a number of other projected lines as shown on this 1894 map. Electric railways built and projected 1894. Another planned local extension was of the Davenport route east along Davenport Road from Bathurst Street to Poplar Plains Road where it would use the Canadian Northern right-of-way to reach Yonge Street where it would connect with TRC streetcars to downtown Toronto. Work began in 1917 with rails being laid as far east as Huron Street about one third of the distance and just short of the railway right-of-way where it all came to an end for uncertain reasons, likely due to the city's doings. Track was removed without ever having been used. |
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