Toronto 1923

The Toronto system the day after the discontinuation of the Belt (circular) line, the opening of the Sherbourne and Spadina lines and a major modification of the King line. The Gerrard St. Bridge over the Don River was undergoing reconstruction at this time, and could not have streetcar traffic over it.

VIDEOS

Above: YouTube^CA video - 1923 "Peter Witt" Streetcar - Length: 2:30 mins.

Above: YouTube^CA video - TTC Peter Witt Streetcars - Circa 1960 - Length: 3:45 mins.

Above: YouTube^CA video - T002 - Bay Brill Witts - Memories of North Yonge - Part 1/3 - Length: 17:51 mins.

PHOTOS

MAPS

Toronto-1923 tram map

INSET: CENTRAL TORONTO

Toronto downtown tram map 1923

INSET: THE GREATER TORONTO AREA

Interurban and suburban routes

Toronto area tram map 1923

ABBREVIATIONS ON THE MAPS

CA	Coxwell Av.	MS	Main Street
CH	City Hall Loop	SS	Sumach St.
GS	George St.	VS	Victoria St.
KR	Kingston Rd.	WS	Winchester St.
LL	Luttrell Loop

I created the above maps by overlaying OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps with my own data. Copyright on the OSM maps is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under a CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence).

Please note that the OSM maps used as templates for these maps correspond to the situation at the time the maps were downloaded and may show features that did not exist at the time the GS Tram Site is supposed to show. In particular, they may show bridges and highways that were built later.

DISCONTINUATION DATES OF STREETCAR TRACKS BETWEEN 1 JULY 1923 AND WORLD WAR II [affected route indicators in parantheses]:

1923 Nov. 28: Gilmour Av. - Louisa St. [now St. Johns Rd.] - Fairview Av. - Evelyn Cr. (CR) [TSR route]
1924 Sept. 19: East Don Roadway - Commissioners St. (A)
1926: Weston - Woodbridge (W) [TSR route]
1928 Aug. 17: Runnymede Rd. - Dundas St. - Lambton Park (LB) [TSR route]
1931: Avenue Road (between Dupont St. and Bloor St.) (BY, DU)
1935 Feb. 9: Long Branch - Port Credit (Port Credit Line, formerly Mimico Line)
1935 Sept. 13: Guelph Interurban [TSR route]

ROUTES

URBAN STREETCAR ROUTES

Operator: Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)

Note: The lettered route designations are of an indicative nature only, they were never used as such. The official names of the routes are given in the second column in capitals.

	ASHBRIDGE	Queen St. - East Don Roadway - Commissioners St.
B	BLOOR	Lansdowne & Bloor - Bloor St. - Danforth Av. - Luttrell Loop
BA	BATHURST	George St. - Front St. - Bathurst St. - Bathurst & St. Clair (Vaughan Loop)
BE	BEACH	Humber Loop - Lake Shore Blvd. - Queen St. - Neville Park
BW	BLOOR WEST	Dundas W & Bloor - Bloor St. - Jane & Bloor
BY	BAY	Union Stn - Front St. - Bay St. - Bloor St. - Avenue Rd. - St. Clair Av. - Caledonia Loop
C	CARLTON	High Park Loop - College St. - Carlton St. - Parliament St. - Gerrard St. - Sword St.
CL	COLLEGE	Lansdowne & Dupont (Royce Loop) - Lansdowne Av. - College St. - Bay St. - Dundas St. - Broadway Av. - Gerrard St. - Main St. - Danforth & Main
CX	COXWELL	Coxwell & Danforth - Coxwell Av. - Coxwell & Queen
D	DUNDAS	City Hall Loop - Bay St. - Dundas St. - Keele & Dundas
DC	DOVERCOURT	Van Horne St. (now Dupont St.) - Dovercourt Rd. - College St. - Ossington Av. - Queen St. - Shaw St. - King St.
DF	DUFFERIN	King St. - Dufferin St. - Dufferin Loop [Rush hours only]
DU	DUPONT	Wellington & Yonge - Wellington St. [back: Front St.] - Church St. - Bloor St. - Avenue Rd . - Dupont St. - Christie Loop (Christie & Dupont)
H	HARBORD	Lansdowne & Dupont (Royce Loop) - Lansdowne Av. - Lappin St. - Dovercourt Rd. - Hallam St. - Ossington Av. - Harbord St. - Spadina Av. - Adelaide St. - Church Loop
K	KING	Dundas W & Bloor (Vincent Loop) - Roncesvalles Av. - King St. - Queen St. - Broadview Av. - Broadview & Danforth (Erindale Loop)
KR	KINGSTON ROAD	McCaul Loop - Queen St. - Kingston Rd. - Birchmount Loop
LN	LANDSDOWNE NORTH	CP Tracks - Landsdowne Av. - Landsdowne & St. Clair
LS	LANDSDOWNE SOUTH	Lansdowne & Dupont (Royce Loop) - Landsdowne Av. - Dundas St. - Roncesvalles Av. - Lake Shore Blvd. - Humber Loop - [Evening, Saturday afternoon and Sunday/Holiday service]
P	PARLIAMENT	Church Loop - Queen St. - Parliament St. - Winchester St. - Sumach St.
PP	PAPE	Gerrard St. - Carlaw Av. - Riverdale Av. - Pape Av. - Pape & Danforth
Q	QUEEN	Roncesvalles Loop - Queen St. - Kingston Rd. - Victoria Park Av.
S	SPADINA	Bloor & Spadina - Spadina Av. - Front & Spadina
SC	ST. CLAIR	Caledonia Loop - St. Clair Av. - Yonge St. - Lawton Loop
SH	SHERBOURNE	Rosedale (Elm, Glen Road & South Drive) - Sherbourne St. - King St. - Union Station
X	EXHIBITION	Exhibition - Fleet St. - Bathurst St. - Bathurst & St. Clair (Vaughan Loop) [During the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) only]
Y	YONGE	Union Station - Front St. - Yonge St. - City Limits (Glen Echo)

INTERURBAN STREETCAR ROUTE

Operator: Toronto & York Radial lines

M	MIMICO	Humber Loop - Mimico - Long Branch - Port Credit
MP	METROPOLITAN	Glen Echo - Yonge St. - Thornhill - Richmond Hill - Aurora - Newmarket - Sutton (Lake Simcoe)
SB	SCARBORO	Victoria Park Av. - Kingston Rd. - West Hill

The Mimico line was managed by the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission.

SUBURBAN STREETCAR ROUTES

Operator: Toronto Suburban Railway (TSR)

CR	CRESCENT	Keele & Dundas - Dundas St. - Gilmour Av. - Louisa St. [now St. Johns Rd.] - Fairview Av. - Evelyn Cr.
DP	DAVENPORT	Bathurst St. - Davenport Rd. - St. Clair Av. - Weston Rd.
G	GUELPH	Keele & Dundas - Dundas St. - Lambton - Streetsville - Georgetown - Acton - Guelph
LB	LAMBTON	Keele & Dundas - Dundas St. - Lambton Park
W	WESTON ROAD	Keele & Dundas - Keele St. - Weston Rd. - Woodbridge

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM

NETWORK LENGTH

Urban streetcars: ? km.
Interurban/Suburban streetcar lines: ? km.

HISTORY

Urban treetcars: (horse-powered) 11 Sept. 1861 - 30 Aug. 1894; (electric) 15 Aug. 1892 - today.
Interurban streetcars: (horse-powered) 26 Jan. 1885 - 1890; (electric, on Yonge North) 1 Sept. 1890 - 10 Oct. 1948; (electric, to the Humber River, then to Mimico & Port Credit) 16 July 1892 - 27 Sept. 1928.
LRT (Scarborough Rapid Transit): 22 Mar. 1985 - 24 July 2023.
LRT (Finch West): 7 Dec. 2025 - today.
Subway: 30 Mar. 1954 - today.

GAUGE

Urban streetcars (Toronto): 1495 mm.
Interurban streetcars: 1435 mm. (1885 - 1927); 1495 mm. (1927 - 1948).
Toronto Suburban Railway (TSR): 1435 mm.
LRT (Scarborough Rapid Transit; Finch West): 1435 mm.
Subway: 1495 mm.

SOURCES

PRINT

Bromley, J.F. TTC '28: The electric railway services of the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1928. Toronto: Upper Canada Railway Society, 1968.
Filey, M. Not a one-horse town: 125 years of Toronto and its streetcars. Toronto: [Author], 1986.
Filey, M. The TTC story: The first seventy-five years. Toronto/Oxford: Dundurn Press, 1996.
Simons, V. "Toronto: Making the move", Tramways & Urban Transit, Oct. 2013 (76:910), p.420-426.
Skelsey, G. "Toronto: The TTC's streetcars at 80 (Part 4)", Tramways & Urban Transit, Jan. 2001 (64:757), p.15-18.
Taplin, M.R. Tramways of North America, including rapid transit.Hassocks (England): Light Rail Transit Association, 1982 (?).
Wickson, E.A. "Toronto's new Light Rail Line". In: Light Rail Review 2. London: Light Rail Transit Association, 2000 [p.63-65].

WIKIS

WEB SITES

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TORONTO

ONTARIO, CANADA

1 July 1923