Toronto Suburban Railway

TSR Guelph Line

Mileage Station Stop 48.30 Guelph 100 Guelph Radial Railway 46.30 Speedwell 45.00 Eramosa 98 42.00 Eden Mills 95 Halton County Radial Railway 37.60 Blue Springs 90 34.70 Acton 85 32.80 Dolly Varden 80 32.30 Limehouse 77 28.00 Georgetown 70 24.50 Norval 60 21.10 Huttonville 54 18.80 Churchville 50 17.30 Meadowvale 47 15.30 Streetsville 42 12.10 Centre Road 37 10.00 Cooksville 31 8.50 Dixie 25 7.10 Summerville 20 6.20 Eaton’s Farm 18 4.30 Islington 9 2.00 Lambton 1 carhouse 0.00 Keele & Dundas to local lines

The Toronto Suburban Railway was an electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph.

History

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^[2] and acquired these two companies,^[3] giving it 7.5 miles of lines in the northwestern suburbs of Toronto. In 1900, the company name was shortened to Toronto Suburban Railway Company,^[4] and in 1904 it was authorized to extend its operations to Hamilton, the Niagara Peninsula, Brampton, Guelph and Woodbridge.^[5] The Township of Etobicoke also granted the TSR a franchise to cover the full length of Dundas Street within its limits, west of the Humber River. Expansion plans were hampered because of the shortness of capital and labour, as well as by potential takeover interest by the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, but it did convert its power source from internally generated 500V DC from its own plant, to high-voltage AC power from Niagara Falls.^[6]

Allan Royce^[6][7] was the largest shareholder in the TSR, eventually gaining a controlling interest. In 1911, that was sold to William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, who incorporated it into the quickly-expanding Canadian Northern Railway system. At that time, Sir Adam Beck of Ontario Hydro and Henry Thornton of Canadian National Railways had also expressed an interest in the TSR.^[8]

Timeline

The Davenport section was the first to come into operation in 1892. Service operated from Keele and Dundas Streets, along St. Clair Avenue, Ford Street, and Davenport Road. An extension in 1892 went west along Dundas Street from Gilmour Avenue to Lambton Park, on the east side of the Humber River. The TSR Lambton Line track "crossed Scarlett Road, descended Lambton Hill, then swung around the loop [laid] in an open field."^[9] It was recorded "that the conductor would holler to the motorman to go slow around it so he could have a quick thirstquencher ..."^[10] as the car passed the Lambton Hotel where passengers often waited.

By 1914, extensions had increased the length of the Toronto Suburban lines to approximately 10 miles. In that year, service began from Weston to Woodbridge. By 1917, through extension of service to Guelph, the Toronto Suburban was over 65 miles long.^[11] In the course of that line's construction, the TSR entered into a notable dispute over a crossing with a spur line of the Grand Trunk in Acton, that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada for resolution.^[12] In 1918, as a consequence of Canadian Northern's bankruptcy, the Guelph and Woodbridge lines were transferred to Canadian National and vested in its subsidiary Canadian National Electric Railways as the Toronto Suburban District.^[8]

In order to spur Sunday ridership, the TSR also owned a 100-hectare recreational property called El Dorado Park, which was located on the Credit River near Churchville.^[13]

Under the Municipal Electric Railway Act, 1922,^[14] local municipalities were authorized to operate radial lines, or enter into agreements with Ontario Hydro to do so, as part of a larger plan to create a radial network spanning the Greater Golden Horseshoe region,^[15] but that did not take place with respect to the TSR lines as that measure was rejected by Toronto voters in a plebiscite held on 1 January 1923,^[16] and the issue was not pressed by the Province as the provincial government was subsequently defeated in the 1923 general election.^[17] However, routes inside the city were purchased by the City of Toronto in 1923, which then turned them over to the Toronto Transportation Commission.^[18] The TTC did upgrade the city routes, and operated the Lambton, Weston and Davenport lines for some years, connecting them with the St. Clair and Dundas routes. In the same year, TSR was amalgamated with the Toronto Eastern Railway, leaving CNER with the Guelph and Woodbridge lines.^[8]

In 1924, the Township of York acquired the TSR's track within its boundaries, which subsequently became the York Township Railways, managed under contract by the TTC. Track within the Town of Weston was subsequently transferred to the YTR in 1925.

In 1926, the Woodbridge line was abandoned. By 1931, the Guelph line was only carrying 300 passengers a day, compared to 1662 cars and nine buses per day travelling along the essentially parallel Highway 7.^[17] CNR let the TSR bond interest go unpaid on 15 July 1931,^[19] causing the Guelph line to go into receivership and be shut down on 15 August 1931.^[20][21] Eventually, in 1934, CNR paid off the bondholders at 25 cents on the dollar, following which the receivership was ended on 13 September 1935. The Guelph line was subsequently sold to Ontario Hydro,^[22] and the track was torn up in World War II.^[23]

Today

Since the TSR's closure, the right of way became popular for strolling and hiking. From 1970, the Guelph Hiking Trail Club was formed to establish and maintain a formal trail on it between the Bruce Trail at Limehouse and Guelph.^[24][25] A small part of the Guelph line's right-of-way is operated as the Halton County Radial Railway museum.

A power house on Weston Road is now a lumber store and a power house on James Street in Guelph has been converted to residential use.

The remains of a TSR bridge can still be found in the Meadowvale neighbourhood of Mississauga, Ontario.^[26] In Halton Hills, the railbed can be readily seen running parallel to the Canadian National track between Acton and Limehouse.^[27]

Routes

1921 map of electrified rail lines serving Toronto at that time

The Toronto Suburban operated one radial and five city routes during its existence.^[18]

Radial

• Guelph: from Keele and Dundas (later Keele and St. Clair) to Guelph.

City

• Crescent: a short-lived short local route west and south from Keele and Dundas.
• Davenport: from Keele and Dundas north to St. Clair Avenue, then east, and along Davenport Road to Bathurst Street.^[3]
• Lambton: from Keele and Dundas west on Dundas Street to Lambton.
• Weston: from Keele and Dundas north to Weston.
• Woodbridge: from Keele and Dundas, continuing north beyond Weston to Woodbridge.

Rolling Stock

The one remaining TSR car is number 24. It was built in 1914 by the Preston Car Company, 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, then leased to the Edmonton Radial Railway Society in 1987.^[28]

Other Toronto lines controlled by Sir William Mackenzie

• Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway
• Toronto and York Radial Railway
• Toronto Railway Company

See also

• Wilbur Lake

References

Further reading

• Hartley Coles (2006-08-03). "Traces of 'Radial' railway still exist in this area". The New Tanner. Retrieved 2012-11-07. 
• Hartley Coles (2009-05-21). "Prior to Go Trains there was 'Radial'". The New Tanner. Retrieved 2012-11-07. 
• Dawn Livingstone (2011-03-17). "Been there, done that: History shows railway line electrification is nothing new". Independent & Free Press. Retrieved 2012-11-07. 
• Mentzer, Marc (2006). "Irrational optimism in a declining industry: Sir Adam Beck's interurban railway proposal". Management & Organizational History 1 (4): 371–384. doi:10.1177/1744935906071910. 
• 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 2007-07-21. 

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