Yonge streetcar line

Yonge streetcar line

Passengers board a Peter Witt car at Yonge and College in 1937
Overview
Status	discontinued
Locale	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
First service	1921
Last service	1954
Successor	Yonge Subway line
Former operator(s)	Toronto and York Radial Railway; Toronto Transit Commission

The Toronto Transit Commission operated a Yonge streetcar line, on Yonge Street, from its creation from earlier private systems, in 1921, until the line was replaced by a heavy rail subway line, the Yonge Subway line, in 1954. The TTCs Yonge line was its busiest and most congested, and the subway that replaced it was not only Toronto's first, but the first in Canada.

History

In 1885, prior to the TTC era, the Toronto and York Radial Railway introduced "radial" streetcar service that connected Toronto to smaller municipalities north, of the city. By 1909 this service had stretched all the way to Sutton, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Simcoe. The TTC continued to operate the radial service until 1930, planning to serve northern municipalities with diesel buses. However, the municipalities of Richmond Hill and York Township sponsored the resumption of service as far as Richmond Hill.

For the last several decades of streetcar service the TTC operated the Yonge line using Peter Witt Streetcars. Even when the TTC operated a large fleet of more modern PCC streetcars they continued to use Peter Witt streetcars on Yonge. Peter Witt cars could be operated in pairs, using special cars called "trailers".

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  The TTC operated a carhouse at Yonge and Eglinton to store and maintain the streetcars that ran on Yonge.

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  To help address congestion the streetcars on Yonge were often slaved in pairs.