This photo was taken by my father's friend, David Miller. The picture dates from the 1960s and is of the McCaul/Dundas intersection. This seems a good picture to start with in giving a brief history of McCaul's trackage. The last time McCaul Street featured regular service was in the 1930s, when College and Harbord Cars ran from College to Dundas, on their way to other points in the city. My father remembers boarding Harbord cars at Baldwin Street in the late 1950s, but this was likely a route diversion. Today, only a stub of McCaul Street sees regular service in the form of 502's short jaunt to McCaul Loop inside the Village by the Grange. The track remains in place for diversions and short turns.

The vehicle you're seeing in the centre of the picture, by the way, is a TTC snowsweeper. No such vehicles are in the TTC's service, now that Metro Roads handles all of the snow removal tasks.

This picture is of the same corner as above, but looking in the opposite direction. It illustrates how much McCaul Street has changed, and how much it has stayed the same. The Art Gallery and the Ontario College of Art has replaced the houses you see in the first shot. The large brick buildings are still there, however, as is St Patrick's Church, although what used to be a corner store on the northeast corner of the street is now a bustling Second Cup.

Many of you recognize the Henry Moore sculpture in this picture. A better slide-set for children has never been invented...

The track crews began by ripping out the track entirely. To a young kid who loved streetcars but didn't know what was going on, you could guess at how alarmed I was. However, it wasn't long before new track was brought in and put down. They really are starting from scratch, cutting a big hole in the road, flattening the trackbed and laying down ties.

McCaul Street happened to lie between the Ontario Hydro headquarters, the Board of Education, and the restaurants of Baldwin Street. Thus, the lunchtime traffic was heavy. As you can see, people are taking advantage of the fact that the street has been closed to traffic by walking on the pavement. The workers don't seem to mind that some people are crossing the street, over their newly laid ties...

This TTC work vehicle is pulling a rented construction vehicle. As you can guess, the dust and noise were annoyances, but fortunately, the work stopped for each night...

This worker is walking along sowing spikes and tieplates in anticipation of the arrival of new track

And here's the new track, stretching up to Orde Street.

Now the workers really put their backs into it, fixing the tracks to the ties, as well as putting in metal rods to keep the tracks at the proper distance apart. No pick-hammers to drive the spikes into the ties, and no one singing 'I've been workin' on the railroad', though...

With the track in place, cement is poured between the rails first. This tarp is being drawn along the cement in order to start smoothing it. The tracks 'set' better if they are not subjected to any vibrations, such as that of a streetcar running over it, during this period. On the basis of this fact, the TTC made it a policy to always replace streetcar service for bus service when track rehabilitation takes place. In the short term, this has meant more inconvenience for the passengers, but in the longer term, it has meant for better quality track.

After the tarp, the workers trowel out imperfections by hand. Then, inexplicably, the cement is sprayed with what looked to me like white paint. This must be some sort of sealant, but that's my best guess.

With the tracklaying complete, the TTC's surface railgrinding cars emerge and smooth out the rails over a couple of days. This rear unit of this multiple unit PCC set has bricks which are dragged over the track for this purpose.

This work train (W30-W31) may not be around for much longer. The equipment shown here was very old, dating from at least the 1950s, and soon to be replaced by a rubber-tired vehicle.