The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a

transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

operator providing services to the suburbs of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It was a subsidiary of the

Toronto Railway Company The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) was the operator of the streetcar system in Toronto between 1891 and 1921. It electrified the horsecar system it inherited from the Toronto Street Railway, the previous operator of streetcar service in Toronto. ...

. The company was created by merging four Toronto-area

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 ...

operations. The company was part of the empire of railway entrepreneurs

Sir William Mackenzie Sir William Mackenzie (October 17, 1849 – December 5, 1923) was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur. Born near Peterborough, Canada West (now Ontario), Mackenzie became a teacher and politician before entering business as the ow ...

and

Donald Mann Sir Donald Daniel Mann (March 23, 1853 – November 10, 1934), who was also referred to as "Dan" or "D.D." before his knighthood, was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur. Biography Born at Acton, Canada West, Mann studied as a Met ...

which included the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Man ...

and the parent Toronto Railway Company.

Lines

The table lists the 4 lines composing the T&YRR. Each line became a separate division of the T&YRR except for the Schomberg and Aurora which was a branch of the Metropolitan Division. Click on the predecessor company name for further details about each line. In 1904, the four predecessor companies were merged to form the Toronto and York Radial Railway.

Timeline

Pre-T&YRR era (1885–1904)

:''Events prior to the merger creating the T&YRR in 1904'' In 1885, the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of Toronto (incorporated March 2, 1877, renamed Metropolitan Railway Company in 1897) started a horsecar line on Yonge Street. On September 1890, electric service began on the

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the lin ...

. On 16 July 16, 1892, 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 ...

(incorporated November 14, 1890) began initial service between Sunnyside (Toronto) and the Humber River. On July 1, 1893, the Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company (incorporated August 18, 1892) started electric, radial operations. On July 5, 1893, the

acquired controlling interest in the

. On July 10, 1893, the

extended service from Humber River to Mimico Creek, and further to Etobicoke Creek (Long Branch) on September 29, 1893. On March 6, 1895, the

acquired controlling interest in the Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company. By 1899, the

was extended to Aurora and Newmarket. In 1903,

changed its name to the Toronto and Mimico Railway Company.

Mackenzie & Mann era (1904–1921)

:''Events when the T&YRR was under the control of William Mackenzie and

'' On August 1, 1904, the T&YRR merged four rail operations, converting them into three T&YRR divisions, with the Metropolitan Division having a branch line: *

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 ...

to become the T&YRR Metropolitan Division *

Schomberg and Aurora Railway The Schomberg and Aurora Railway (S&AR, also nicknamed the "Annie Rooney") was a 36 km long railway in Ontario, Canada, running from the town of Schomberg to Oak Ridges, just south of Aurora. It connected Schomberg to the Metropolitan Line ...

to become the Schomberg and Aurora Branch of the Metropolitan Division * Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company to become the T&YRR Scarboro Division *

to become the T&YRR Mimico Division In 1904, regular passenger service started on the Schomberg and Aurora Branch of the T&YRR's Metropolitan Division. At this time, the line operated with steam trains. On December 24, 1905, the Mimico line was extended from Long Branch to Port Credit. On June 1, 1907, the T&YRR opened a extension of the

from Newmarket to Jackson's Point. On January 1, 1909, the T&YRR opened a extension of the

from Jackson's Point to Sutton. On June 25, 1915, a City of Toronto work team ripped up the tracks of the Metropolitan Line along Yonge Street from the

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spont ...

crosstown line north to Farnham Avenue. This was a result of a dispute between the city led by Mayor

Tommy Church Thomas Langton "Tommy" Church (1873 – February 7, 1950) was a Canadian politician. After serving as Mayor of Toronto from 1915 to 1921, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1921 election as a Conservative from the riding ...

and the T&YRR. Mayor Church complained about the "inadequate services provided by the Mackenzie-Mann traction companies" which included the Toronto Railway Company as well as the T&YRR. This was the first contraction of the T&YRR, albeit only long. In 1916, electrification of the Schomberg and Aurora Branch was completed. In 1921, a plebiscite approved the purchase by the City of Toronto of the

and the T&YRR. 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 ...

was to operate all radial lines within the city limits. On September 1, 1921, the TTC took over operation of all streetcar operations in the city, and shortly after took control those portions of the Scarboro and Mimico radial within the city limits. By fall, 1921, the TTC took over the portion of the Metropolitan line on Yonge Street south of Glen Echo Road (at the city limit).

Hydro Electric era (1922–1927)

:''Events when the T&YRR was managed by

Hydro-Electric Railways Hydro-Electric Railways, a subsidiary of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario (HEPC or HEPCO), was an operator of radial railways in the province of Ontario, Canada. Its parent agency, the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, would ...

'' In August, 1922, the City of Toronto formally acquired the T&YRR lines. On November 1, 1922, operation of the T&YRR was taken over by Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario and run as the

: Toronto and York Division. Hydro made improvements to both the

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

and

Mimico Mimico is a neighbourhood (and a former municipality) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, being located in the south-west area of Toronto on Lake Ontario. It is in the south-east corner of the former Township (and later, City) of Etobicoke, and was an ...

lines. At the end of 1923, the T&YRR under Hydro management had a deficit. The City blamed Hydro mismanagement. Hydro blamed the TTC's acquisition of the profitable portions of the radial lines within the city limits. By 1925, Toronto City Council felt that integrating the radials within TTC operations would produce efficiency by avoiding duplication of carhouses and shops, by allowing the transfer of vehicles between radial and city lines to meet passenger demand, and by having firmer control over expenditures.

TTC era (1927–1948)

:''Events when the TTC operated the T&YRR lines'' On January 12, 1927, the

started operating the T&YRR lines under contract with operations being the responsibility of the TTC's new Radial Department. Along with 3 radial lines, the TTC acquired 54 double-ended radial cars. The TTC now operated the second largest electric railway in North America with of lines. In June 1927, the Schomberg line was closed. On March 16, 1930, the TTC closed the

. On July 17, 1930, the TTC reopened a portion of the defunct Lake Shore line between Richmond Hill and Toronto as the North Yonge Railways. This line was owned by area municipalities and operated under contract by the TTC. On February 9, 1935, the Long Branch-Port Credit radial service ended. On June 25, 1936, the Scarborough radial service ended. On October 9, 1948, service was terminated on the North Yonge Railways, the last surviving Toronto radial.

Track gauge

Both Toronto gauge and

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

were used. The T&Y radial lines did not use a common gauge until the TTC took over the operation of the surviving lines in 1927 in order to connect the radial lines to the

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 ...

. The Metropolitan radial line started off with Toronto gauge in 1885, but switched to standard gauge after the Metropolitan Street Railway Company received provincial permission in 1895 to use any gauge it pleased. Standard gauge allowed the Metropolitan to exchange freight cars with steam railways. When the TTC took over the line in 1927, it converted the line to Toronto gauge but built a short section of four-rail, dual-gauge track in Aurora to deliver freight cars to a factory there. The Mimico radial line used Toronto gauge until 1922 when the Hydro-Electric Railways converted the line to standard gauge. When the TTC took over the line in 1927, it converted the line back to Toronto gauge. The Scarboro radial line used only Toronto gauge throughout its years of operations. The Schomberg and Aurora line used only standard gauge throughout its years of operations.

Electrical system

The system initially used 550 volts DC and later 600v DC, allowing the system to run into Toronto (the Toronto network runs at 600v DC).

Comments

Unlike the city systems, the radial (interurban) operators used larger rail cars. Radial routes ceased due to introduction of inter-urban buses and new highways that allowed for better access to many areas served by rail service. Rail service returned to some of the communities served by the T&YRR by regional rail service of

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

in the 1970s.

External links

* *
Streetcar, Suburban and Interurban Map 1926
1926 plan of electric rail transit in Toronto and Guelph areas by Roman Fomin published by Transit Toronto. Large PDF.

Other Toronto area lines controlled by Sir William Mackenzie

* Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway * Toronto Suburban Railway *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toronto York Radial Railway Hydro-Electric Railways Rail transport in the Greater Toronto Area Transit agencies in Ontario Defunct Ontario railways Interurban railways in Ontario 4 ft 10⅞ in gauge railways 1904 establishments in Ontario 1948 disestablishments in Ontario Electric railways in Canada Standard gauge railways in Canada History of rail transport in the Regional Municipality of York