The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) was the operator of the streetcar system in Toronto between 1891 and 1921. It electrified the
horsecar
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar.
Summary
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
system it inherited from the
Toronto Street Railway
The Toronto Street Railway (TSR) was the operator of a horse-drawn streetcar system from 1861 to 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its successor, the Toronto Railway Company, inherited the horsecar system and electrified it between 1892 and 1894 ...
, the previous operator of streetcar service in Toronto. The TRC was also a manufacturer of streetcars and rail work vehicles, a few of which were built for other
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
and
radial
Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Mathematics and Direction
* Vector (geometric), a line
* Radius, adjective form of
* Radial distance, a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system
* Radial set
* A bearing f ...
operators.
On August 15, 1892, the TRC became the second operator of horse-drawn streetcars in the Toronto area to convert to electric trams, the first being the
Metropolitan Street Railway
The New York Railways Company operated street railways in Manhattan, New York City, United States between 1911 and 1925. The company went into receivership in 1919 and control was passed to the New York Railways Corporation in 1925 after which a ...
which electrified its horsecar line along Yonge Street within the
Town of North Toronto on September 1, 1890. (In 1912, the City of Toronto would annex North Toronto.)
History
![King Street looking east from Yonge 1900 Toronto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/King_Street_looking_east_from_Yonge_1900_Toronto.jpg)
In 1891, the 30-year franchise with the
Toronto Street Railway
The Toronto Street Railway (TSR) was the operator of a horse-drawn streetcar system from 1861 to 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its successor, the Toronto Railway Company, inherited the horsecar system and electrified it between 1892 and 1894 ...
(TSR) for horsecar service expired. At the end of the TSR franchise, the city ran the horsecar system for eight months, but ended up granting another 30-year franchise to a private operator, a group involving railway entrepreneur
William Mackenzie. The franchise, which involved converting the horsecar system to electric operation, went into effect on September 21, 1891.
The TRC made a one-time payment to the city of $1,453,788 for the assets of the TSR, the same amount the city paid for TSR assets when it took over the horsecar system in 1891.
Each year, the TRC was required to pay the city $800 per mile of track, plus a percentage of the gross earnings.
Fares were: five cents cash for adults, six tickets for twenty-five cents; three cents cash for children with school tickets at ten for twenty-five cents; ten cents cash for night streetcars. The fare entitled the rider to a free transfer between routes.
A key requirement of the franchise agreement was that the TRC had to electrify the first line within one year of the beginning of the franchise and the last within three years. The TRC met this requirement. The first electric car ran on Church Street starting August 15, 1892, and the last horse car ran on McCaul Street on August 31, 1894.
From 1893 to 1904, the TRC had suburban
radial
Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Mathematics and Direction
* Vector (geometric), a line
* Radius, adjective form of
* Radial distance, a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system
* Radial set
* A bearing f ...
operations, often using vehicles resembling streetcars. In 1893, the TRC took control of the
Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company
The Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company was incorporated in 1890, and operated the Mimico radial line in the Toronto area. The line started operation in 1892 as a short suburban line that later was extended to Port Credit. In 190 ...
along Lake Shore Road, and in 1895, the
Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company
Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company was established in August 1892 to provide street railway service to the Upper Beaches district within the City of Toronto, Ontario and to the neighbouring Township of Scarborough. Exc ...
along Kingston Road. In 1904, both suburban operations were turned over to the
Toronto and York Radial Railway
The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a transit operator providing services to the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a subsidiary of the Toronto Railway Company. The company was created by merging four Toronto-area interurban operatio ...
, thus ending the TRC's suburban operations.
![Toronto streetcar map -1912](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Toronto_streetcar_map_-1912.jpg)
On May 23, 1897, Sunday streetcar service started after city voters gave approval in a referendum earlier that month. This was controversial at the time; churches feared Sunday streetcar service would lead to other activities inappropriate for a Sunday such as sporting events and the sale of alcoholic beverages. The referendum, which had been preceded by two prior unsuccessful attempts, was won by a narrow margin of 0.7 per cent out of 32,000 votes cast.
There came to be problems with interpretation of the franchise terms for the city. A series of annexations, especially in 1908–12, significantly extended the city limits to include such areas as
Dovercourt
Dovercourt is a small seaside town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harwich, in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich, and appears in ...
,
Earlscourt
Earlscourt is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is centred on St. Clair Avenue West, with Dufferin Street, Davenport Road, and Old Weston Road forming its boundaries. It is contained within the larger city-recognized neighbourhood ...
,
East Toronto
East Toronto was an incorporated community, currently part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It covered much of the present day neighbourhood of the Upper Beaches, stretching up to Danforth Avenue in the north, part of it stretching to Lake Ontario in ...
, Midway (formerly between Toronto and East Toronto),
North Toronto
North Toronto is a former town and informal district located in the northern part of the Old Toronto district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Currently occupying a geographically central location within the city of Toronto, the Town of North Toronto ...
, and
West Toronto
West Toronto was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904. It was located in the city of Toronto, in the provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. T ...
. After many attempts to force the TRC to serve these areas, the city created its own street railway operation, the
Toronto Civic Railways
Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) was a streetcar operator created and owned by the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to serve newly annexed areas of the city that the private operator Toronto Railway Company refused to serve. When the Toronto Railway ...
to do so, and built several routes.
The TRC system deteriorated towards the end of the franchise. By 1915, there were complaints of overcrowding due to a shortage of streetcars. In December 1916, a fire destroyed the TRC's King carhouse and 163 motor cars and trailers within it. Repeated court battles did force the TRC to build new cars, but far less than what the city was requesting, and the new cars were of an old design dating from 1906, or 1908 for the newest cars. Streetcars and track were not well maintained, and carhouses and shops were obsolete or deteriorating. The TRC franchise ended on August 31, 1921, and the next day, the
Toronto Transportation Commission
Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954.
H ...
started operating a system that combined the TRC system with the city-operated
Toronto Civic Railways
Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) was a streetcar operator created and owned by the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to serve newly annexed areas of the city that the private operator Toronto Railway Company refused to serve. When the Toronto Railway ...
lines. In 1924, the city paid $11,483,500 for the assets of the TRC. The TRC ceased to exist when it was legally dissolved in 1930.
Track
In 1891, the TRC inherited of horsecar track from its predecessor, the Toronto Street Railway. The TRC learned from the troubled experiences of the
Metropolitan Street Railway
The New York Railways Company operated street railways in Manhattan, New York City, United States between 1911 and 1925. The company went into receivership in 1919 and control was passed to the New York Railways Corporation in 1925 after which a ...
in
North Toronto
North Toronto is a former town and informal district located in the northern part of the Old Toronto district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Currently occupying a geographically central location within the city of Toronto, the Town of North Toronto ...
, which had previously done a horse to electric conversion. Thus, between 1891 and 1894, the TRC replaced all the horsecar track, using heavier rail that could properly support the faster, heavier electric streetcars. The TRC used 69-pound rail on some lightly used lines, and 71-pound rail elsewhere, including all downtown track.
For parallel tracks on the horsecar system, the distance between the tracks (the devil strip) was ;
the TRC widened the devil strip to . Until 1908, the city prohibited the TRC from making the devil strip wider. Because of the narrow devil strip, later cars were built with a taper to the roof on the passing side, and car bodies were offset to the right by four inches, sitting off-centre on the king pin. The offset allowed a wider car to safely pass another traveling in the opposite direction. From 1903, the TRC built all new track with a devil strip of . In 1921, there was still of double track with a narrow devil strip
which the successor TTC widened as it replaced old TRC tracks to handle wider equipment.
Routes
Routes marked ''to TTC'' were operating on September 21, 1921, when the Toronto Railway Company's operations were taken over by the Toronto Transportation Commission.
Routes marked ''1923 by TTC'' were TRC routes discontinued by the TTC as a result of a major reorganization of routes on July 1, 1923.
City-owned tracks
The city built and owned some of the streetcar trackage operated by the TRC. The city-owned, TRC-operated tracks were:
* Queen Street East between Maclean Avenue and Neville Park Boulevard.
* The portion of the
Yonge streetcar line between the CPR line and Woodlawn Avenue built in 1916, to replace
Metropolitan radial tracks that the city ripped up over a franchise dispute.
* A private right-of-way from Bathurst and Front streets through
Fort York
Fort York (french: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of t ...
to the
Exhibition Place
Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments ...
, built in 1916.
* The Ashbridge line in 1917, running south from Queen Street via Don Roadway, then west on Commissioners Street to Charry Street, to serve workers at munitions factories: Unlike other routes at the time, the Ashbridge line had no loops or wyes, and required double-ended streetcars.
* Tracks over the
Prince Edward Viaduct
The Prince Edward Viaduct System, commonly referred to as the Bloor Viaduct, is the name of a truss arch bridge system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, connecting Bloor Street East, on the west side of the system, with Danforth Avenue on the east. The ...
between Sherbourne Street and Broadview Avenue, in 1918.
Subway
By 1909, there were proposals to build subways in competition to the TRC's surface streetcar lines. At this time the city was unhappy with the quality of TRC service and with the TRC's refusal to serve newly annexed areas. The TRC had an exclusive franchise for surface streetcars but competing subways would not violate the franchise.
In 1909, a British syndicate proposed two lines, one under Yonge Street and a second from East Toronto via Queen Street East, Dufferin Street and Dundas Street West to West Toronto. Voters supported this proposal in a referendum during the 1910 election, but also elected a mayor who opposed it. Thus, this proposal died.
By 1912, there was a second city proposal to build three underground routes: streetcar tunnels under Queen and Bloor Streets, and a rapid transit subway along Yonge Street. These routes would have connected with surface streetcar routes and radial railways. The idea died after voters rejected the proposal out of fear of higher taxes.
Roster
![Toronto Railway 1893 tickets20220430 145251 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Toronto_Railway_1893_tickets20220430_145251_%28cropped%29.jpg)
As part of the franchise agreement, the TRC was to build all its streetcars locally. Thus, almost all TRC cars were built in-house at their car shops at Front and Frederick Streets. However, the TRC felt it lacked the capacity to build enough streetcars to convert the horsecar system it inherited to electrical operation by the city-imposed deadline. Thus, the city granted the TRC an exception to purchase ten single-ended, single-truck streetcars from
James Crossen-Cobourg Car Works in Cobourg, Ontario in 1893.
The TRC streetcars were made of wood over a steel underframe. Cars had a
clerestory roof with a destination sign fixed near the front edge of the roof. Seats were wood slat but the TRC provided each with a seating cushion. There was a stove at the front of the car for winter heating. Early streetcars had open platforms; later cars had enclosed vestibules. The rear vestibule could have a single or double rear door. Cars with a double rear door could haul a trailer and had a two-man crew. One-man cars had a treadle-operated single rear door. There was a hook at the rear of each car to hang a baby carriage.
At first, TRC streetcars had hand brakes, but in 1905, a Torontonian developed an air brake for streetcars. Initially, streetcars did not carry an air compressor; thus, air recharging stations were required along streetcar routes. Later, on-board air compressors were installed.
After the TRC completed electrification, some horsecars were converted into trailers where one or two would be hauled by a motor car. However, horsecar trailers were found to be unsuited for the higher speed of electric streetcar operation.
Very early on, in 1894, the TRC decided on single-ended operation. Many of the early streetcars were "open" cars, where there was benches across the width of the car and thus no centre aisle. Passengers had to board on the curb-side of the open car, and for safety, there had to be a barrier along the length of the car on the opposite side. Before the summer of 1893, there were double-ended open cars, which required two men to move the barrier to the other side of the car at the end of the line. Some open cars had one-man crews, requiring a helper to be stationed at the end of the line. Having single-ended cars with
loops or
wyes saved staff time. Also, both open and closed motor cars could pull one or two trailers; thus, single-ended operation eliminated the time needed to rearrange the consist at the end of the line.
Open cars were popular in warm weather. When it rained, there were side curtains that one could unroll from the roof to keep one dry. However, the motorman would stand exposed to wind and rain on the front platform. To handle both warm and colder months, the TSR used the "convertible car" in which the nearside of the car could be removed in the spring, and re-connected in the fall, thus changing from an open car to a closed car. A dangerous feature of open cars was the running board where passengers could stand while the car was in motion. Because of safety concerns, the Railway and Municipal Board banned open cars from the streets on November 22, 1915.
At the end of its franchise in 1921, the TRC had 830 streetcars on its active roster that the city agreed to accept along with a number of work cars. It also had 18 open motors and 43 open trailers in storage which the city refused to accept due to the 1915 ban on open streetcars.
In 1921, the TRC had twelve double-ended streetcars, three double-truck and nine single-truck; all other streetcars were single-ended. Two of the ten Crossan-built, single-truck streetcars survived to 1921. Between 1921 and 1924, the TTC retired 471 of the 830 streetcars the city accepted from the TRC, including the double-ended and Crossan-built streetcars. It retained only 351 single-end, double-track motor cars for longer term use, the last of which were retired in 1951. The TTC did retain one horsecar trailer and a single-ended streetcar from 1892, preserving them as relics ultimately to be given to a museum.
Roster summaries
The following are summaries of the TRC roster at four points during its franchise:
Work cars
The TRC had several types of work cars, all built in the TRC car shops. Here is a brief description of some of the types of non-revenue cars the TRC had:
* Construction cars were single-ended, double-truck motorized flat cars with an enclosed operator cab used to deliver rails to carhouses and yards. The TTC inherited four of them (numbers 2, 4, 7, 8) keeping their TRC numbers but prefixing them with a "W-". Today, W-4 is preserved at the
Halton County Radial Railway
The Halton County Radial Railway is a working museum of electric streetcars, other railway vehicles, buses and trolleybuses. It is operated by the Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association (OERHA). It is focused primarily on the history of t ...
museum.
* Crane car no. 1, built in 1913, was a flat motor with a cab and a five-ton hoist crane. It supported construction projects. Becoming TTC C-1, the crane car is today at the Halton County Radial Railway museum.
* Supply car no. 3, built in 1913, delivered motors and wheels between the motor shops and carhouses. It was essentially a flat motor with cab and an open cargo section behind the cab lined with low side walls.
* Emergency car no. 5 was a single-truck,
box motor, and carried a variety of tools to handle emergency tasks. The TTC retained this car until 1933.
* Compressor cars no. 1 and no. 2 were mobile air recharging stations for streetcars before they were equipped with their own on-board air compressors. Both were box motors; no. 1 had a single truck; no. 2 was double-truck. No. 2 had a varied career with the TTC; it was converted into an express freight motor for the
Lake Simcoe line in 1927, then as snow plow TP-2 in 1936, then as subway rail maintenance car RT-1 for the
Yonge subway Yonge is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), English historian and translator of Philo of Alexandria
* Charles Maurice Yonge (1899–1986), British marine biologist
* Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823†...
.
* The TRC's private car was built in 1892 on a single truck car then rebuilt as a double-truck car in 1904. It had 12 chairs, carpeting, window curtains, hardwood trim, and curved windows at the front vestibule. It carried officials for inspections and special events, including trips to
Old Woodbine Race Course where the TRC had a streetcar siding into the grounds. From 1912, its use declined with increased use of automobiles. The city reluctantly accepted this car at the end of the TRC franchise, but the TTC stored it unused until it was scrapped in 1931.
* Fare box car no. 28, built in 1911, somewhat resembled a passenger car, but had a freight door in the middle. It collected and distributed fare boxes, and delivered tickets and change to the carhouses. The TTC retained this car but replaced it in 1938 with an armoured car.
* The TRC built 17 snow sweepers between 1892 and 1918. The TTC inherited all 17 prefixing their TRC numbers with "S-", thus S-1 to S-17. All were scrapped between 1946 and 1948.
* The TRC built eight sprinkler cars between 1892 and 1909. Sprinklers 1 to 3 had a vertical water tank on a single-truck frame. Sprinklers 4 to 8 had horizontal tanks on a double-track frame. All such cars had operator controls on an open front platform. The TRC had a contract from the city between 1892 and 1915 to flush streets along streetcar lines. In 1915, the city started to use rubber-tire trucks.
File:TRC sprinkler car 2.jpg, Sprinkler car with upright water tank
File:1917 Toronto TTC Queen and Bond.jpg, Crane car no. 1 placing rails at Queen and Bond streets (April 29, 1917)
File:TTC Ticket car -28.jpg, TTC (ex-TRC) fare box car 28
File:TTC snow sweepers S-14 and S-12.jpg, Ex-TRC snow sweepers
Streetcar sales
![TTC radial passenger coach -58](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/TTC_radial_passenger_coach_-58.jpg)
The TRC sold a small percentage of the streetcars it built to other operators. The TRC had a subsidiary company, the Convertible Car Company of Toronto, that built cars for systems in Mexico, South America, and Western Canada. Some sales were for used streetcars that had run in Toronto.
Here is a partial list of sales:
* Several large radial (
interurban
The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...
) cars were built for the
Toronto and York Radial Railway
The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a transit operator providing services to the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a subsidiary of the Toronto Railway Company. The company was created by merging four Toronto-area interurban operatio ...
.
* Between 1897 and 1904, the TRC sold eight batches of double-ended, single-truck streetcars to the
Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company. The sales totalled 38 closed and 4 open cars.
* The TRC built six new single-ended, double-truck streetcars for the Monterrey Railway, Light & Power Co. in Mexico. These had only a centre door on each side of the car.
* In 1907 and 1908, the TRC sold 14 single-truck open cars to
Monterrey. These cars were part of a group of 24 cars built in 1894 as doubled-ended cars before the TRC decided on single-ended operation. The
Toronto Suburban Railway
The Toronto Suburban Railway was a Canadian electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph.
History
Corporate Timeline
The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incor ...
also bought one of these cars. These were used-car sales.
About that time, the Toronto and York Radial Railway, the Toronto Suburban Railway and the Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company were all affiliated with the owners of the Toronto Railway Company.
According to a source, the Monterrey Railway, Light & Power Co. was founded in Toronto.
Preservation
The following is a list of preserved TRC passenger and work cars. All except car 327 were built by the TRC, and all were used by the TTC.
Facilities
Carhouses
In all, the TRC had seven carhouses, although no more than six at any one time. They are listed here alphabetically by name:
Shops and work yards
The TRC had several facilities near the intersection of Front and Frederick streets. Many of these facilities were inherited from the Toronto Street Railway (TSR), and the TRC repurposed them for the electric streetcar system. In 1924, the TTC moved some functions from the facilities in this area to the then-new
Hillcrest Complex
Hillcrest Complex is the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility and is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersec ...
. The following is a list of facilities in the Front and Frederick area:
Today, only the powerhouse building still stands, now occupied by a theatre. Condominiums occupy most of the former facility sites.
Revenue-generating facilities
Away from downtown, the TRC had a revenue-generating facility:
See also
*
Toronto streetcar system
The Toronto streetcar system is a network of nine streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is the busiest light-rail system in North America. The network is concentrated primarily in D ...
*
Toronto streetcar system rolling stock
In 1921, the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was created to integrate and operate the Toronto streetcar system. It inherited the infrastructure of two separate streetcar operators: the Toronto Railway Company (TRC) and Toronto Civic Railw ...
including ex-TRC vehicles
*
List of Ontario railways
The following railways operate in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Common freight carriers
* Barrie Collingwood Railway (BCRY)
* Canadian National Railway (CN) including subsidiaries Algoma Central Railway (AC), Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GT ...
*
List of defunct Canadian railways
Most transportation historians date the history of Canada's railways as beginning on February 25, 1832, with the incorporation of British North America's first steam-powered railway, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad. This line opened for tr ...
References
*
External links
The charter of the Toronto Railway CompanyTRC trackage as of June 1921prepared by the Upper Canada Railway Society
{{TTC
Toronto Transit Commission
Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Canada
Railway lines opened in 1891
Railway lines closed in 1921
Defunct intermodal transport authorities
Defunct Ontario railways
4 ft 10â…ž in gauge railways
1891 establishments in Ontario
1921 disestablishments in Ontario
Electric vehicle manufacturers of Canada
Canadian companies established in 1891
Electric railways in Canada
Street railways in Ontario