- When Did the Toronto Subway Open?
The stretch underneath Yonge Street between Union Station and Eglinton opened to the public on the afternoon of March 30, 1954. This was followed by the following extensions (note: official/VIP openings in brackets if different from public openings):
- University (Union Station to St George) -- February 28, 1963
- Bloor-Danforth (Keele to Woodbine) -- February 26, 1966 (Feb 25)
- Bloor West (Keele to Islington) -- May 11, 1968 (May 10)
- Danforth East (Woodbine to Warden) -- May 11, 1968 (May 10)
- Yonge North (Eglinton to York Mills) -- March 31, 1973 (Mar 30)
- Yonge North (York Mills to Finch) -- March 30, 1974 (Mar 29)
- Spadina (St George to Wilson) -- January 28, 1978 (Jan 27)
- Bloor West (Islington to Kipling) -- November 22, 1980 (Nov 21)
- Danforth East (Warden to Kennedy) -- November 22, 1980 (Nov 21)
- Scarborough RT (Kennedy to McCowan) -- March 24, 1985 (Mar 22)
- North York Centre Station -- June 18, 1987
- Spadina (Wilson to Downsview) -- March 31, 1996 (Mar 29)
- Sheppard (Sheppard-Yonge to Don Mills) -- November 24, 2002 (Nov 22)
- Now that Sheppard Subway is Finished, What New Subways Will the TTC Work On Next?
What happens after Sheppard opens is anybody's guess. It has been argued that Toronto's subway network, as built, serves 1980 travel patterns, not 1999 travel patterns, and more construction is needed. The high cost of construction, however, slowed government action down, with studies, more studies, technology alternatives (see the Scarborough RT), and finally halting action. The NDP government of 1990-1995 finally persuaded Metro to get shovels into the ground on the current Sheppard Subway, and an Eglinton West line from Eglinton West Station to Black Creek Road, while a York University extension to the Spadina Subway and a Sheppard East extension to the Scarborough RT remained in negotiation. These were piddling portions of routes that weren't to become really useful until they were built in full, but it was the first real bit of subway construction in fifteen years, so give them that. One of the first things the Harris Conservatives did once elected, however, was to cancel the Eglinton West line, even though construction had already been started.
From 1996 to 2002, the province offered no subsidy to any public transportation expenditures whatsoever (with the exception of the remaining costs of the Sheppard subway), leaving Metro Toronto on the hook for all capital costs of future subway construction. Even with the province making small steps to get back into public transit funding, this represents a lot of money for the city to bear. In these cash-strapped times for the City of Toronto, it may well mean that the Sheppard Subway may be the last subway extension we'll see in quite some time. There are, however, some prospects.
According to the preliminary discussions on the City of Toronto's new Official Plan, the next priorities for subway construction include extending the Sheppard Subway east from Don Mills Station to the Scarborough Centre, relaunching the Eglinton West subway between Allen Road and Black Creek Drive, and extending the Spadina Subway to York University. There is also talk of extending the Bloor-Danforth subway into Mississauga. Proposals to extend the Sheppard Subway west from Yonge to Downsview appear to be on the back burner, as does the idea to link the Yonge and Spadina subways along Steeles Avenue. These correspond fairly closely with priorities the TTC identified a few years ago and, should money become available, either from the provincial government, or through the imposition of new fees and levies within the City of Toronto, shovels could get back into the ground again.
The suburban municipalities surrounding Toronto may also influence where the next subways are built. Vaughan is pushing hard for the York University extension, for it sees it as the first step in getting the subway to its proposed new downtown at Highway 7 and Highway 400. It's willing to pay for the cost of constructing the line north of Steeles, and it's also requesting that federal infrastructure funds be spent on the entire extension north of Downsview Station. Also, if the 2008 Olympic bid is successful, this would turn up the heat on the York University subway proposal, as a number of venues would be located there.
Both the Sheppard Subway and York University extension proposals seem likely to happen within the next ten years. Now that the Sheppard line is being built between Yonge and Don Mills, it is possible that extending service eastward may now be a matter of piecemeal and incrementally more useful station-by-station extensions. The same is true with extending the Spadina Subway to York University. History has proven that building an entire line is politically and physically more difficult than extending established lines. - What is this I hear about Toronto's "lost" subway stations?
Click here for more information. - Why do they no longer use that "Lower Bay" station?
Again, Click here for more information. - Is there anything else on the TTC system that has been blocked off, and why? (Also, what's the deal with the "jail" on the south end of the Museum station platform?)
Museum, Queen's Park and St. Patrick stations all have island platforms. When they were built, they had areas which connected the northbound and southbound platforms, and did nothing else. For most of Museum, the way to the exit is very clear, and two of the three original cross-platform connections in Queen's Park and St. Patrick were landings for stairwells leading to the surface. The southern end of Museum station and the remaining cross-platform connections at Queens' Park and St. Patrick were blind alleys. When a teenage girl was attacked in St. Patrick station in November 1975, the TTC decided to close these areas to the public. The blind alleys of Queen's Park and St. Patrick stations were walled off and converted into storage rooms.
There is conflicting reports about Museum getting the same treatment at the same time; some say that the bars were actually in place the moment the station opened. Whatever the case, bars were used instead of a solid wall because of the ventilation fans in place at this part of the station. Used primarily for fire safety, these fans are also used on very humid days to keep air circulating. Solid walls would impede the air flow.
The TTC has blocked off a number of areas on TTC property. Two examples include the connection between the temporary streetcar loops and the original termini of the Bloor-Danforth subway. When the Bloor subway opened in 1966, streetcar shuttles continued from Keele and Woodbine stations out to Jane and Luttrell loops. These streetcar shuttles did not loop at the Keele or Woodbine bus terminals, but at temporary loops connected to different parts of their respective stations.
Woodbine's temporary loop was located just east of Woodbine's current bus terminal, in what is today a parking lot. A tunnel leading from this platform to the mezzanine level of the station was built. When the Bloor subway was extended to Warden and the streetcar shuttle eliminated, the corridor was walled off and the temporary terminal torn down. Shuttle streetcars looping at Keele did so near the Indian Grove exit of the station, on what is today land occupied by a retirement home. A corridor leading from this temporary loop to the eastbound platform of Keele was built, and a moving sidewalk constructed to hurry passengers along. Again, when the subway was extended to Islington, the temporary platform was abandoned, and the corridor blocked off. The moving sidewalk, for all we know, was walled in. You can see evidence of this corridor on the wall of the eastbound platform; the bricks covering over the entrance don't quite match the tiles of the rest of the station wall. - Is there anything else on the TTC system that can be considered "lost"?
Some. Keele Yards, for example, officially referred to by the TTC as Vincent Yards. Click here for an article and photo tour about Vincent Yards. Disused bus platforms also exist at various stations, left over from when the stations were terminals. At Eglinton station, the added building with platforms 11-13; at Wilson, the added building that was called the north bus terminal when open; at St. George, one of two bus platforms.
Also at Eglinton, the back (north) corridor originally used for unloading buses from platforms 1-9 was blocked off, possibly to save the cost of retiling it while allowing its gray Vitrolite tiles to replace damaged ones elsewhere in the station.
Davisville Carhouse was almost abandoned soon after expansions to Wilson took place. It remained open, however, being used as the place where the new T1 cars were inspected. Just before the Sheppard subway opened, it was reactivated to house extra trains for the Yonge line. - Are there any more Gloucester Cars still operating on the Toronto Subway?
The only remaining Gloucester Cars on the system are work and maintenance cars. The Garbage Train numbered RT-38, 39 is no longer used and has been scrapped and replaced by an H-1 garbage train. There are also the rail grinding cars RT34/35 and RT36/37 II, which have actually been freshly painted recently. There is one more set on the property, RT14/15, but these have been retired and await disposal.
The above mentioned Gloucesters are all work cars, and the average citizen would probably not have a chance to ride them. Besides, they aren't even red! The Garbage Train was one of the aluminum sets, and the rail grinder was left unpainted save for a yellow stripe, just like the Garbage Train. What you really want to know is if any red ones exist that you can catch a ride on. Well, there is the Halton County Radial Railway and Museum, open all spring and summer long. Admission is affordable, and this should be a day well spent. The Museum also holds a bunch of other Toronto cars as well as many other vehicles from other cities across Ontario and North America. For more information, visit the HCRR's web site. - Why did the lights in Gloucester Cars always flicker on and off?
Mark Brader supplied us with this answer: "The G cars had incandescent lights, which don't care what sort of power they're operated on. This means that you can power them straight off the 600 V DC traction power by the simple expedient of wiring groups of five bulbs in series to divide the voltage, and I have no doubt that this was done. And, of course, it means that the smallest gap in the third rail would cause the lights to blink off."
Ray Corley adds: "The main body lights with 30 volt lamps are in 2-series strings -- 20 plus a resistor on the cab side and 21 on the other side -- across 600 volts. Over each doorway is a 30 volt lamp, powered off the battery (2 in series) as emergency lighting"
Mark continues: "Fluorescent lights, on the other hand, require AC, or at least the usual designs do. Therefore subsequent cars had a motor-generator or MG set: that is, a DC motor powered off the traction supply and simply driving an AC generator (which is also called an alternator, so the term MA set is also used). All that's needed is for the rotating parts to be heavy enough that they'll keep spinning for a second or two when the power goes off, and you have lights that stay on as you cross a section break. If the train stops with the car on a third rail gap, or the power fails, the lights fade and go out after two seconds, following which the emergency lights come on.
"If I read the brochures correctly (and they're not always clear), this technology was used on classes M-1 through H-4, and again on H-6.
The T-1 cars, on the other hand, have AC traction motors, which are a whole different ball game. For the massive levels of DC to AC conversion that this requires, they use a solid-state device called an "inverter", and the lighting power is supplied off this. On these cars the electrical systems of a two-car set are linked, so each car has both traction and lighting power so long as either one is on the third rail.
The H-5 cars have "inverter ballasts", which I take to be the same thing on a smaller scale, just for the lighting circuits. I don't know if they also do the sharing of power between cars thing. - Why doesn't the TTC paint its newer subway cars, like it did with the Gloucesters?
The answer is money. The fact is that it costs the TTC a fair amount of money to maintain paint schemes and, if the TTC can eliminate this expense, they will.
The better question to ask is why the TTC bothered to paint the Gloucesters, and the answer to that was because the Gloucester's bodies were made of steel. Thus, the paint represented a necessary step to protect the Gloucester bodies from rusting. Even with the paint, the Gloucesters stored at the Halton County Railway Museum do show a little sign of rust. The bodies on the TTC's later cars were made of aluminum, which don't corrode as readily.
So, why are the TTC's surface vehicles painted? One answer is probably visibility and identity; customers are happier if they can see the bus or streetcar coming and the paint scheme identifies the transit agency operating the vehicle. This is less of a concern on the subway, of course, where there is no competing vehicular traffic and road conditions. Also, the surface vehicles are made primarily out of steel, and face harsher conditions that can corrode their bodies. The paint helps to protect against that. - How come they only use one platform at the
McCowan RT Station?
You can figure out why they use only one platform at McCowan Station, if you think about it logically. If trains alternated platforms, how would you know which one to take?
Because McCowan Station, unlike most of the other terminal stations in the history of the subway, has platforms on the sides as opposed to between the tracks, passengers would be forced to guess which platform to board the next train on. If the train on the other platform leaves first, they're ticked. If they want to pick a different train, they have to run down the steps, across the mezzanine, and then up the other set of steps. Major inconvenience.
Of all of the stations used as terminal points in the TTC's past, only five, including McCowan, used side-platform options. Keele and Woodbine were like this; Paul Jackson pointed out that both platforms were used at Woodbine Station during the months when it was the eastern terminal of the Bloor-Danforth subway line. If so, it is likely that Keele Station on the west end saw something similar. Passengers were notified as to which train would be departing next through the use of signs by the stairs leading to each platform. When the subway was extended, these signs were modified into typical 'eastbound' and 'westbound' signs. With every second Bloor-Danforth train heading downtown via the University Line, one platform was used for crosstown trains and the other for downtown trains. This ensured that passengers got on the right train right at the beginning. St. Clair West has side platforms, but it's a short-turn terminal, and so the train uses one platform to let passengers off, and another to let passengers on. Even Kennedy Station on the SRT followed this arrangement, before renovations eliminated the loop. - Why was the Kennedy RT station renovated so soon after it was built?
When the Scarborough RT was first conceived, it was supposed to be a high-speed streetcar route, using CLRVs on private right-of-way. The Province of Ontario stepped in, however, and asked that the TTC upgrade the line to the new ICTS (Intermediate Capacity Transit System) technology which now graces this line and Vancouver's Skytrain. The Province wanted to sell this technology, and felt that they needed a system to test it on and showcase it for the world.
A considerable amount of planning had already gone into the Scarborough line, however, but the province convinced the TTC by promising to pay for any and all cost overruns that hit the Scarborough line as a result of the design change. TTC agreed, and the result was that the Scarborough RT opened a year late, and over $100 million over its original budget estimates.
But the problems did not stop there. The streetcar influence remained at Kennedy Station, where the Scarborough RT cars were asked to perform an operationally frustrating maneuver of entering the station on the northernmost tracks, dropping passengers off, travelling through a loop designed to handle streetcars, and entering the station again on the southern tracks to pick up passengers. It was soon discovered that the cars didn't have the turning capabilities that had been advertised. Speeds through the loop were reduced to 5 km/h, but derailments still stalled the system. It soon became impossible to run four-car trains as a result of this loop. Other problems included flat spots on the wheels caused by an overly efficient braking system and the resulting noise that angered neighbouring residents; there were problems keeping the snow off the tracks, computer difficulties, but the Kennedy Station design proved the most costly of all of the problems.
So, about two years after the Scarborough RT opened, in the summer of 1987, the TTC embarked on $27 million worth of renovations. I believe the Province paid for the cost. One of those renovations included installing a crossover at Kennedy Station (or, rather, a wye). Kennedy Station was cut to one track instead of two, and the southern platform was extended to meet the northern track, so now the Scarborough RT vehicle opens all of its doors to board and detrain passengers simultaneously. This was done because a traditional subway crossover probably wouldn't have fit, and also because, with platforms on the sides of the stations, only one of the tracks would see use anyway (just like at McCowan).
So, Kennedy Station was renovated about two years after the Scarborough RT opened, and the Scarborough RT took on the shape it has today. - Why is there a glassed-off platform on the side opposite the Kipling Station bus platforms?
On the upper level of Kipling Station, on the side opposite the bus loading bays, there is what appears to be a platform and a shallow trench. This area is closed off from the public by a long glass wall.
This would be where the Etobicoke RT would have connected with the Bloor-Danforth subway. Although not as far along in the planning process as the Scarborough RT, the TTC still expected that a streetcar on private right-of-way or, possibly, an ICTS line would extend out from the western end of the Bloor-Danforth subway line. When Kipling and Kennedy Stations were opened, the TTC thought that these would be the last extensions to the Toronto subway system. Subway construction was extremely expensive, and the high density corridors that best supported subway development had, by and large, already been served by subways. To extend rapid transit into the lower density suburbs, the TTC envisioned high-speed, but lower capacity (and, hopefully, cheaper) service running out from the subway terminals.
As I said, the Etobicoke RT was not nearly as far along the planning stages as the Scarborough RT when Kipling Station was built, and no progress has been made on the idea ever since. However, the TTC's long term plans for rapid transit development called for service to be extended either westward to Sherway Gardens and into Mississauga, or west then north up Highway 427, into northern Etobicoke and possibly the Airport. The extreme long-term plans for the Sheppard Subway, as detailed in the Network 2011 proposal released in 1985, called for the line to be extended west and north to follow the Hydro Right-of-way north of Finch into northern Etobicoke. The line would then turn south and follow Highway 427 before connecting with the Bloor-Danforth Subway at Kipling. By the time this proposal was made, however, the expectation was that the Sheppard Subway would use traditional subway equipment, so we can assume that this idea would be a direct interlining between the Bloor-Danforth and Sheppard Subways (the Scarborough RT would end up being the gap preventing the original 'Subway Circle' plan from taking place), and that the Etobicoke RT platform would remain unused in this case. This shows, however, that the TTC saw the eventual need for a north-south Etobicoke rapid transit corridor, and that was one thing an Etobicoke RT was supposed to address.
Today, the priority for westward rapid transit expansion (such as it is - this is a priority more for the politicians than for the TTC) calls for the Bloor-Danforth subway to be extended west to Sherway Gardens and possibly into Mississauga. If the Etobicoke RT platform is to be used, it will likely be for a high-speed streetcar service connecting Kipling Station with the Airport. An express bus between Kipling and the Airport is already in operation. If successful, who knows what services may follow...
Davisville Carhouse was almost abandoned soon after expansions to Wilson took place. It is still active, however, being used as the place where the new T1 cars are inspected. Its use will increase in 2002 when it becomes the carhouse where all Sheppard line trains are stored.
Also, for a treat, go out to Rogers Road and follow it from Old Weston Road to Bicknell Avenue. Here, you will see the odd sight of streetcar tracks at least a kilometre away from any point in the rest of the streetcar system. These are the remnants of the Rogers Road streetcar, the last route to be abandoned under the TTC's streetcar abandonment policy. The rest of the line from Oakwood & St. Clair to Rogers Road was taken up quickly, but because this remaining segment was reworked so close before abandonment, it ended up remaining in place -- likely reinforcing the roadway as it did so.
The Painted H-1
Actually, there was a pair of H-1 cars that were painted in Gloucester red. For more on this story, consult the Interesting H1 Series Facts section of the H-1 Subway Page. |
