(June 19, 1947 - January 3, 1992).
By James Bow
After the Mount Pleasant experiment of 1922-25, Toronto’s next trolley bus route was 47 Lansdowne. Operating on Lansdowne Avenue from Earlscourt loop at St. Clair Avenue to an on-street loop at Queen Street, it replaced a residential Lansdowne streetcar route operating from St. Clair Avenue to an on-street loop at Dundas. This route included a steep hill north of Davenport Avenue, which used to give streetcars some difficulty, but which the rubber-tired vehicles handled easily.
This route also passed Lansdowne Garage, which came to be where most of Toronto’s trolley buses were stored. Royce Loop, originally a streetcar loop at Dupont and Lansdowne, was also taken over by the trolley buses, and saw extensive use for short-turns, and to allow trolley buses to wait clear of traffic before entering service at the right time. A 47A Lansdowne branch was signed for this loop, but was not part of regular service. This property became surplus to the TTC’s needs in the mid-1990s and was sold off for redevelopment. Earlscourt Loop remains, still seeing some use by the St. Clair streetcar.
The end came on January 3, 1992. In the last days, eight trolley coaches were required to handle five minute intervals on this line, and night service was offered. Few changes had been seen on this line since 1947; there were no provisions made for off-street transfers between this route and the Bloor subway when it opened in 1966. When the trolley buses disappeared altogether, Lansdowne Garage was closed down. Once converted to diesel buses, 47 Lansdowne changed dramatically, merging into the 18 Caledonia bus as part of a major route restructuring in 1994, which wasn’t possible before 1992 without stringing miles of new wire. The TTC has also considered an extension south, on Jameson and Springhurst Avenues to Dufferin loop, something else that wasn’t possible before 1992 without stringing new wires. The southward extension is not considered viable without operation on Springhurst Avenue, and the City of Toronto has vetoed bus operation on Springhurst.
Trolley Buses on Lansdowne
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A pre-rebuild CC&F trolley bus loses its pole as it leaves Lansdowne Garage. Photo by R. Hill; donated from the Kenneth Josephson collection. |
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The hill on Lansdowne south of St. Clair had been one of the steepest grades on Toronto’s streetcar network. It was one of the few places where trolley coaches (like 9123 pictured here) could display their superior hill-climbing abilities. This photo is donated from the collection of Brad O’Brien |
References
- Filey, Mike, The TTC Story: The First Seventy-Five Years, Dundurn Press, Toronto (Ontario) 1996.
- Hood, J. William, The Toronto Civic Railways: An Illustrated History, The Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto (Ontario), 1986.
