Metropolitan Street Railway (Toronto)


The Metropolitan Street Railway was the operator of the Metropolitan line in the Toronto area that started out as a local horsecar line and transformed itself into an electric radial line extending to Lake Simcoe. In 1904, the railway was acquired by the Toronto and York Radial Railway and became the T&YRR Metropolitan Division. In 1922, the City of Toronto acquired the T&YRR and contracted Ontario Hydro to manage the four T&YRR lines including the Metropolitan. In 1927, the TTC took over the operation of the Metropolitan Line to Sutton, and renamed it the Lake Simcoe line. In 1930, the TTC closed the Metropolitan Line but shortly reopened the portion between Glen Echo and Richmond Hill operating it as the North Yonge Railways until 1948.
This article is more about the Metropolitan line than about the company that spawned it.

Description of the line

The Metropolitan line was a single-track radial line with passing loops. Between 1909 and 1914, the Metropolitan line was at its maximum length running from the CPR crossing at Yonge Street to Sutton. Here is a description of the line during that period.
The Toronto terminal of the Metropolitan line was on Yonge Street at the north side of the CPR crossing which at that time was a level crossing. This is near what is now the Summerhill subway station. Passengers arriving from the south by the Yonge streetcar line, needed to get off on the south side of the CPR crossing and walk across the CPR tracks to board the radial cars. A 1905 photo showed that the terminal was off-street at the south-west corner of Yonge Street and Birch Avenue. However, a [|1914 map] showed that the terminal was relocated to the east side of Yonge Street.
From its Toronto terminal, the line ran northwards on the west side of Yonge Street until the northern brim of Hogg's Hollow. Just south of St. Clair Avenue West, the line passed the line's carhouse on the west side. At Davisville, the railway had an electrical generation station. At the southern brim of Hogg's Hollow, the line descended an 8% grade.
From the northern brim of Hogg's Hollow, the line crossed from the west side of Yonge Street to run along its east side for another except for the sections through Richmond Hill and Aurora in the centre of the street. In Richmond Hill, the radial station was on the north-east corner of Yonge Street and Lorne Avenue, and passengers boarded radial cars in the street in front of the station. At the south-west edge of Bond Lake on the east side of Yonge Street, there were a carhouse and a power station. On the north side of Bond Lake was Bond Lake Park, a major source of excursion traffic for the line. Between Bond Lake and Aurora, there was a junction with the Schomberg and Aurora Railway which was a steam railway until 1916 when it was electrified.
At Mulock's Corners, the line left Yonge Street to continue cross-country to Newmarket where the line ran a short distance in an alley west of Main Street. The Newmarket radial station was on Botsford Street across from the old town hall, with the track running along the town hall's west side.
At about Queen Street in Newmarket, the line continued north cross-country through Sharon, Keswick and Jackson's Point to Sutton, the line's northern terminus. Between Keswick and Jackson's Point, it ran parallel to Metro Road and the shores of Lake Simcoe, often within view of the lake.
The average operating speed was.

Timeline

Pre-T&YRR era (1885-1904)

In 1877, the franchise was granted to the Metropolitan Street Railway of Toronto. The president was Robert Jaffray.
In 1880, brothers Charles and W.A. Warren bought a controlling interest in the Metropolitan Street Railway.
On January 26, 1885, the railway started a horsecar line on Yonge Street between the crosstown CPR rail line north to Eglinton Avenue. The line was single track laid to Toronto gauge, and used double-ended cars to avoid turning loops. At the CPR line passengers could transfer to the horsecars of the Toronto Street Railway.
In September 1890, electric service began on the Metropolitan Street Railway. However, horse-drawn buses were temporarily substituted circa October 1890 to May 1891. The faster, heavier electrical trams had damaged the tracks forcing a rebuild of the line.
In 1892, the Metropolitan line reached York Mills South.
In 1893, the company's name was changed from the Metropolitan Street Railway of Toronto to the Metropolitan Street Railway Company.
In 1895, the province granted the railway the right to build lines in York and Simcoe counties, to use any gauge and motive power of its choice, and to make agreements with other railways for connections, running rights and the interchange of cars. The railway would choose standard gauge.
On February 1, 1897, the Metropolitan line was opened to Richmond Hill ending at a station located on Yonge Street at Lorne Avenue. Each one-way trip between the Toronto terminal to Richmond Hill took 45 minutes, and there were 4 round trips per day.
In 1897, the company's name changed again from the Metropolitan Street Railway Company to the Metropolitan Railway Company. With the extension to Richmond Hill, the line was now more a radial line than a street railway.
By 1899, the Metropolitan line was extended to Aurora and Newmarket. Approaching Newmarket, the line left Yonge Street at Mullock's Corners, crossed fields along the route of the present Cane Parkway and William Street, crossed Eagle Street and proceeded north on Main Street to its terminal at Timothy Street. To support this extension, the company built a steam powerhouse at Bond Lake with a capacity of almost 1,000 horsepower. A trip between Toronto and Newmarket took 90 minutes.
In 1899, the railway acquired 200 acres of lakeshore land to create Bond Lake Park and generate passenger traffic for the Metropolitan line. During the 1901 season, there were 60,000 park visitors.
In 1902, the Metropolitan Railway Company acquired the then unfinished Schomberg and Aurora Railway.

Mackenzie & Mann era (1904-1921)

On August 1, 1904, the Metropolitan Street Railway and the Schomberg and Aurora Railway were merged into the Toronto and York Radial Railway both becoming part of its Metropolitan Division.
In 1905, the T&YRR relocated tracks in Newmarket from Main Street to a route running via sidestreets and lanes to a new station on Botsford Street opposite the town hall. The new station was equipped with freight sheds and later stationmaster's quarters on the second floor.
On June 1, 1907, the T&YRR opened a extension of the Metropolitan line from Newmarket to Jackson's Point.
On January 1, 1909, the T&YRR opened a extension of the Metropolitan line from Jackson's Point to Sutton. The Metropolitan line was now at its maximum extent.
In 1912-1913, the T&YRR partially constructed a diversion line west of Yonge Street from Farnham Avenue to the CPR crosstown line in the Town of North Toronto, and then abandoned the project. The T&YRR had laid double-track from Farnham Avenue and Yonge Street south to Walker Avenue with a crossover north of Walker. Starting in 1911, there was a dispute between the T&YRR and the town, which wanted a double-track line but objected to its being on a private right-of-way crossing multiple sidestreets at grade. The railway did not want to build a double-track line on Yonge Street, one reason being it would have to pay the town $600 per mile per track. In 1912, North Toronto voters relieved the railway of the requirement for double track. A legal decision at Osgoode Hall overrode the permission the Ontario Rail Board gave to the railway to build the diversion. However, after the Town of North Toronto was annexed by the City of Toronto in 1912, the dispute over double track continued between the railway and the city.
On June 25, 1915, a City of Toronto work team ripped up the tracks of the Metropolitan Line along Yonge Street from the CPR crosstown line north to Farnham Avenue. This was a result of a dispute between the city and 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. Until 1916, passengers had to walk to transfer between the radial and city cars on Yonge Street.
In 1916, electrification of the Schomberg and Aurora Branch was completed. Some S&A cars operated through to Toronto via the Metropolitan line, but most made connections at Bond Lake.

Hydro Electric era (1922-1927)

On August 16, 1922, the City of Toronto formally acquired the T&YRR lines. The plan was that the city portions of the T&YRR radial lines would be incorporated into the TTC, and the portions outside the city would be managed by Ontario Hydro as the Hydro-Electric Railways: Toronto and York Division.
On November 1, 1922, Hydro-Electric Railways took over operation of the T&YRR lines outside of the city limits. Hydro initiated a number of line improvements including track rehabilitation, a new station at Schomberg Junction, new waiting shelters, more passing sidings and additional service to Thornhill and Bond Lake Park.
On November 2, 1922, the TTC opened the Yonge streetcar line to the city limits at Glen Echo. The old standard-gauge, single-track Metropolitan line along the west side of Yonge Street from Farnham Avenue was replaced by a new double-track, centre-of-the-road streetcar line.
In March 1923, Glen Echo terminal was opened at the city limit at Yonge Street and Glen Echo Road. The terminal had a two-storey, buff-coloured building with Spanish roof tiles. The building had passenger and baggage facilities on the first floor and offices on the second. There was a nine-metre wide platform between the radial and streetcar tracks to facilitate transfers. The site was also home to the Glen Echo Carhouse.

TTC era (1927-1930)

On January 12, 1927, the Toronto Transportation Commission started operating the T&YRR lines under contract. This included the Metropolitan line which the TTC renamed as the Lake Simcoe line.
In June 1927, the Schomberg and Aurora line was closed.
Between September 11–17, 1927, the TTC changed the Lake Simcoe line from standard gauge to Toronto gauge. The TTC also closed the Glen Echo shops and carhouse, and moved their function to the Eglinton Division carhouse. With the gauge conversion, it was possible to run radial cars into downtown Toronto, but except for night express cars and excursions to Bond Lake Park, the TTC took little advantage of this. The Glen Echo carhouse later became North York Township Market and then as Lawrence Motors Limited. The building was later demolished and now occupied by Loblaw's store.
On June 28, 1928, the TTC started a combined radial and bus service between Toronto and Beaverton, with a transfer between the radial cars and the bus at Sutton. A period ad suggested taking a Lake Simcoe radial car from the Toronto Glen Echo terminal at 1:40 pm, and transferring to the bus to Beaverton at 4:10 pm.
After the 1929 season, Bond Lake Park permanently closed.
On March 16, 1930, the TTC closed the Lake Simcoe line after radial car 74 from Thornhill arrived in Toronto at 1:15 am. The line had been losing money for years, and road competition was the major factor. Between 1925 and 1930, auto and truck traffic increased along Yonge Street from 4,925 to 11,163 per day, and bus traffic increased from 2 to 188 per day.

Postscript

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 October 9, 1948, service was terminated on the North Yonge Railways, the last surviving Toronto radial.
The Toronto route section became a bus route and subway line up to Finch Avenue from 1970s, while the section from Steeles Avenue to Newmarket is now served by York Region Transit and VivaBRT.

Stops

Metropolitan line stops south to north prior to 1922

  • Toronto
  • Eglinton - stops 14 & 15
  • Glengrave Park - stop 21
  • York Mills P.O. - stop 28
  • Lansing P.O. - stop 31
  • Willowdale P.O. - stop 33
  • Finch's - stop 35
  • Newtonbrook P.O. - stop 38
  • Thornhill - stop 41
  • Richmond Hill at Lorne Avenue - stop 49
  • Hill's Bakery in Richmond Hill - stop 50
  • Elgin Mills - stop 51
  • Bond Lake Park - stop 56
  • Schomberg Junction - stop 57
  • Aurora - stop 68
  • Newmarket - stop 71
  • Sharon - stop 74
  • Queensville - stop 75
  • Ravenshoe - stop 80
  • Keswick - stop 83
  • Orchard Beach - stop 85
  • Roche's Point - stop 87
  • Island Grove - stop 92
  • Trivett's - stop 94
  • Winch's - stop 95
  • Sunnyside - stop 96
  • Jackson's Point - stop 99
  • Sutton - stop 100

Facilities

South of Glen Echo before 1921

This section describes radial facilities south of Glen Echo Road before they were closed to radial operations circa 1921-1922.
Here is a list of Metropolitan line facilities from south to north in 1926:

Standard gauge era (1895?-1927)

Once the Metropolitan line converted to standard gauge, it could interchange carload freight with steam railways, which it did with the CNR. Carload freight accounted for 10-15% of the line's revenue for many years. There was also milk traffic and train loads of ice from Lake Simcoe.

Toronto gauge era (1927-1930)

With the change of the Metropolitan line to Toronto gauge, express motors and trailers carrying less-than-car load freight and produce were run into downtown Toronto. The TTC converted the former TRC shops on Sherbourne Street into a freight terminal. There were 4 round trips per day from Sutton. Express service ended in 1930 with the closure of the Lake Simcoe line.
The TTC continued a standard-gauge freight service between the CNR and Collis Leather in Aurora. To do this, the TTC laid of four-rail, dual-gauge track. The TTC stationed a former passenger car there for standard-gauge shunting.

Fleet

This section describe a few of the cars used on the line.

1906-1907 purchase

The T&YRR purchased 15 new dark-green radial cars in 1906-1907 for the Metropolitan line. According to a 1907 article in The Railway and Marine World, the cars had the following features:
The TTC inherited several series of radial cars from the Hydro-Electric Railways in 1927. Here is a description of a few of those cars, all of which were double-ended.

Car
numbers		BuilderYear
built		CommentsImage
51,52Southern Car Company1906Purchased in 1909 from the Norwich and Westerly Railway, Norwich, Connecticut.
53,54,56,58,60Toronto Railway Company1906
68,70,72,74,76,78Toronto Railway Company1907

TTC streetcars

In early 1928, the TTC modified 7 double-ended ex-TCR cars 2160-2166, 23 single-ended Peter Witt cars 2500-2522 and 4 six-motor trains 1244/1170-1250/1176 for radial service. These cars were fitted with air whistles, large-flange wheels, and flag and marker light brackets. They were mainly used to handle heavy crowds to Bond Lake. However, on one occasion, such cars went all the way to Sutton to accommodate an Orangemen's picnic, where the single-ended cars were reversed on a wye at Jackson's Point.

Preservation Status

Here is a list of preserved and surviving structures with stop numbering as of before 1922:
LocationStopDescriptionPhoto-
AuroraRadial railway bridge abutment to support a bridge carrying the radial line over the Grand Trunk Railway tracks south of Aurora.-
NewmarketRadial Arch: A concrete arch that supported part of a trestle to carry the radial line over Holland River and Grand Trunk Railway tracks in Newmarket.-
Queensville75Station moved to Queensville Sideroad as a private residence.-
Keswick83Station on Radial Road location now a legal office.-
Willow BeachPower sub-station on Metro Road east of the 6th Concession now a private residence.
Trivett's94Waiting shelter moved to Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives.-
Winch's95Waiting shelter moved to Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives.-
Sutton100Station located at Dalton and High Streets, now a real estate office. It is listed as a protected structure by the Town of Georgina, protected since 2009 under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. The station was built in 1908.
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