Yonge streetcar line
It started off as a horsecar line and closed in 1954 operating two-unit trains of Peter Witt motors pulling a trailer.
[3] The faster, heavier electrical trams had damaged the tracks, forcing a rebuild of the line.
The smaller streetcar vehicles would be replaced by longer, larger radial cars, which resembled railway carriages with trolley poles, motors and motorman cabs at each end.
[7] On November 2, 1922, the TTC opened the Yonge streetcar line to the city limits at Glen Echo Road.
Glen Echo Terminal was constructed as the northern terminal of the Yonge streetcar line, as well as a transfer point to the radial cars going further north as far as Sutton near Lake Simcoe until 1930, and later via the North Yonge Railways to Richmond Hill until 1948, when buses replaced radial service.
[4]: 31 In 1930, the TTC laid tracks along Eglinton Avenue East between Yonge Street and Mount Pleasant Road.
[4]: 34 Beginning in July 1932, ex-TRC cars started to provide night service on the Yonge line.
[4]: 50 On September 5, 1951, the Harbour Yard opened to replace capacity at the Eglinton Carhouse that was lost due to subway construction.
[1] On March 7, 1954, the Yonge streetcar line north of Eglinton Avenue was closed to install trolley bus wires to Glen Echo Loop.
[13] In 1951, the TTC built the temporary Harbour Yard between Bay and York streets, south of the railway viaduct, to replace capacity lost at the Eglinton Carhouse.
[14] In 1953, subway cars 5000 and 5001, after being displayed at the Canadian National Exhibition, were mounted on shop bogies and towed at night by a Peter Witt motor to the Davisville Yard via the Yonge streetcar line using the temporary interchange.
Because of the subway car width, buses had to replace night streetcar service during the movements.
[13] Trains of Peter Witt motor cars pulling a trailer were the mainstay of the Yonge line under the TTC.
[7] Because of the hill between the CPR overpass and Farnham Avenue, large Peter Witt cars of the 4500 and 4600 series were used.
