(Above) The southern wall of Lansdowne used to have a web of wires blocking the sky. The wires are gone, now, and the garage is quiet. Sean Marshall photo. (Below) Western Flyer rebuild coach 9303 and comrade pose outside of Lansdowne garage in 1984. Photo by John J. Guion.

Article by Walter Hoffmann, revised by James Bow

Lansdowne Carhouse still stands at the corner of Lansdowne Avenue and Paton Road, north of Bloor Street, in Toronto’s west end. Although disused by the TTC as an active division since February 17, 1996, Lansdowne Carhouse is a silent, lonely reminder of the extensive network of carhouses and streetcar lines that once served West Toronto during its rapid industrial growth during the late nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.

The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) began work on Lansdowne around 1910. We know this, because according to Louis Pursley, an old “U” class wooden trailer (formerly a TRC horse car), no 102, was burnt at the carhouse prior to its opening, which was on May 17, 1911. (All such trailers were retired by the TTC by March, 1922). Pursley also notes that Lansdowne was considered by the TRC as its “showpiece” facility. Indeed, it contained many features that justified such a designation. The first was its sheer size. At 465 feet in length, the brick carhouse was among the largest in the city. By 1914, the original yard was enlarged, eventually incorporating twelve outside yard tracks, in addition to thirteen within the brick building itself. Pursley also notes that Lansdowne was, in fact, the first TRC facility designed to store cars outside.

The carhouse also had another interesting feature. It was unique among city carbarns due to the fact that its ladder track was contained within the facility. Inside, a series of catwalks ran at the level of the cars’ roofs in order that signs could be replaced. In addition to the carhouse, a small cushion and stove storage building was built on the northwest portion of the property. That building survived into the early 1950s. By 1914 however, Lansdowne was able to hold approximately 102 large cars, 94 small cars, and 18 ex-horsedrawn TRC trailers. At this time, the BLOOR, BATHURST, SPADINA, COLLEGE, HARBORD, and SHERBOURNE routes operated out of the division. BELT LINE cars began operating from there in 1921.

When the TTC actually took over streetcar operations from private companies like the TRC, in 1921, it found a pleasant surprise in Lansdowne. Little work needed to be done on the facility, unlike other TRC assets, such as rolling stock and track. Lansdowne was modern, and more importantly, contained enough room to store the new Witt cars entering service. Indeed, the nearby Royce loop, at Royce (now Dupont) and Lansdowne opened on February 17, 1922 as a new loop (formerly a wye) large enough to handle the Witts operating on COLLEGE, which, at the time, terminated at that corner. Above all, Lansdowne was the only TRC facility eventually retained by the TTC. The other nearby TRC carbarn, Dundas, remained as an active facility until October, 1931. It continued to store Witt trailers until 1938, when it was finally pulled down in the wake of the PCC’s arrival on DUNDAS that year.

Ironically, Lansdowne never housed the LANSDOWNE carline. Prior to the mid-1920’s, LANSDOWNE was split in two by the CPR mainline north of Dupont. The railroad crossed Lansdowne at grade, and the route itself was split between the TRC and the TCR (Toronto Civic Railway). The TCR ran LANSDOWNE NORTH out of its St. Clair (Wychwood) carhouse. When the underpass to the CPR mainline was completed in July, 1931, the LANSDOWNE NORTH route was extended south to Dupont, but the two lines were not physically connected until April, 1933. It was then that the route (St. Clair to Dundas) was finally unified. So it was possible that Lansdowne could have taken over LANSDOWNE during this period, but the line remained the ward of St. Clair. It would have made more sense for the TTC to shift LANSDOWNE operations to the nearby Lansdowne carhouse than to a facility further away from the route itself, although Roncesvalles was in the neighbourhood also. As it was, St. Clair was the division that operated streetcars for LANSDOWNE until their replacement by TC’s (trolley coach) in June 1947, when Lansdowne finally took possession of its namesake.

Another unique feature of Lansdowne was the nearby presence of its own electrical sub-station, known as the Lansdowne Sub-station. It was located on Lansdowne, south of Bloor Street, and provided power to streetcars and TC operations in the area. The sub-station came on-line in January, 1956, and provided approximately 13,000 volts of AC current. From the outside, the sub-station was designed to look like a residence, and became one of a network of twenty-two such substations, seven of which were owned by the Toronto Hydro Electric System, now known as Toronto Hydro. (Unknown as to whether the facility still exists).

The track configurations immediately surrounding Lansdowne changed over time. According to track maps provided by John Bromley, we can trace the changes during the years 1936-1945. In 1936, Lansdowne was supplemented a small storage yard immediately south of the facility, on Wade Avenue. Here, a small yard existed along a private right-of-way that connected Bloor Street and Lansdowne Avenue to the yard. The yard itself ran in an east-west configuration, perpendicular to Lansdowne yard proper. By 1945, the yard remained, only the connection to Bloor was severed. This yard would remain in use well into the TC era, and would be used to store the TC’s when they were taken out of service in 1991, prior to their transfer to Wychwood carhouse, and the eventual scrap heap.

Lansdowne acted as the base for SPADINA and WESTON cars. As a result, the carhouse stored the vast majority of the TTC’s double-ended cars. These were the wooden Preston cars inherited from the Toronto Civic Railways and the Township of York Railways. These cars were originally numbered 200-212 under TCR livery, but were renumbered in the 2100’s when the TTC took over. These cars would eventually disappear as the streetcar routes they operated on were either abandoned, in the case of SPADINA, or were converted to TC operation. This is what occurred in 1947, when LANSDOWNE became a TC route, followed by WESTON in 1948. The trolley bus era, however, would give Lansdowne a new role to play in Toronto transit history.

Starting in 1947, Lansdowne became the home of the TTC’s post-war, modern TC’s. As more streetcar routes were converted to TC operation, Lansdowne became home to an ever growing fleet. These were the Can-Car (CCF) TC’s, and by 1948, Lansdowne held 85 such vehicles. The routes they traversed were OSSINGTON (replacing part of the DOVERCOURT car line), and ANNETTE, in addition to LANSDOWNE and WESTON. The TC’s arrival led to the removal of three yard tracks, and alterations to two pits within the carhouse itself. Things stood as such until the opening of the Bloor-Danforth subway in February, 1966.

The B-D subway led to a drastic change in Lansdowne’s role. For one, it became a subway division in addition to a TC facility (thereby giving Lansdowne, along with Eglinton, the distinction of having served in four different functions: streetcar, trolley coach, subway, and diesel). The subway crews (it is thought at least four) posted here were most likely assigned to trainsets that were stored in the still-existing Vincent subway yard, one subway stop away at Dundas West station. It is believed this arrangement ceased upon the opening of Wilson Yard on the Spadina line in 1978.

As carlines such as HARBORD and BLOOR were abandoned, Lansdowne, as a carhouse, became redundant. Nonetheless, it did retain storage tracks for some cars, even though they were not assigned to any regular runs. Only Danforth retained any active cars. By 1967, Lansdowne had been disconnected from the rest of the streetcar network. It was at this time that the diesels moved in, and a new diesel-fuel pumping platform constructed at the western end of the yard was built.

This period also witnessed the modernization of the TC fleet, thanks to the rebuilding of the CCF trolleys by Western Flyer Coach Ltd of Winnipeg. Eventually, 151 of these vehicles would be rebuilt. By 1976, when BAY was electrified from diesel operation, Lansdowne became the pre-eminent trolley coach facility in Toronto. But by the 1990s, the TC fleet deteriorated to the point where further rebuilding was out of the question. Coupled with a decaying overhead network, the decision was made in 1991 to eliminate TC operation on all routes, except for BAY and ANNETTE. These routes would use leased Edmonton TC’s until July 16, 1993, when the last TC’s ran out of Lansdowne. The beginning of the end was in sight. Lansdowne remained an all-diesel division up until its final date of operation, February 17, 1996. A combination of age, budget cutbacks, and declining ridership finally sealed Lansdowne’s fate.

Although the City of Toronto declared Lansdowne a historical building (date unknown), this was not enough to save the structure from being pulled down. The walls fell in the fall of 2003 and the property is now fenced off. There are rumours that the site may become the new headquarters of 14 Division of the Toronto police force, but the site has been contaminated by an industrial property adjacent to the site and discussions on who pays for the cleanup are delaying development.

Lansdowne Then and Now

	This R. Hill photo shows a PCC turning into Lansdowne Carhouse while a CC&F trolley coach waits to pass. This photograph also appears on Dave’s Railpix site.
	The presence of streetcars and trolley buses made the Bloor-Lansdowne interesection quite congested, both on the surface and in the air. Photo by R. Hill, donated by Kenneth Josephson.
	Lansdowne Garage in its heyday, storing lots of pre-rebuild trolley coaches. Note the partially buried streetcar tracks beneath the Weston bus. Photo by R. Hill, donated by Kenneth Josephson.
	Lansdowne Garage was where the first CC&F demonstrator trolley coaches were delivered. A PCC looks on as three potential carhouse-mates are examined. Photo courtesy Alan Gryfe.
	Western Flyer rebuild coach 9334 sits waiting to enter service at Lansdowne Garage in 1984. Photo by John J. Guion.
	Western Flyer rebuild coaches stored outside at Lansdowne Garage. Photo by John J. Guion.
	The garage door arrangement at Lansdowne Garage, taken by John G. Guion when the site was an active trolley bus garage. Special wire bridges get kicked away by the door, section insulators electrically isolate the carhouse from the rest of the system, and a sensor ensures that the door does not close on the back of a bus.
	Another shot, this time from directly below, of the wire bridge across the garage door. Photo by John G. Guion
	A trolley pole, up close. Photo by John G. Guion.
	A panel controlling the bus washer. Photo by John G. Guion.
	At the north end of the property, streetcar tracks which have been hidden for over thirty years are coming to the surface. Sean Marshall photo.
	The western part of the property, now fenced in. Photo by Sean Marshall.

References

• Bromley, John F. and Jack May, Fifty Years of Progressive Transit, Electric Railroaders’ Association, New York (New York) 1975.
• ‘Conversion Completed on Danforth and Lansdowne Carhouses to Garage Operations’ Coupler, September 1967,Toronto Transit Commission, Toronto (Ontario).
• Hood, J. William, The Toronto Civic Railways: An Illustrated History, The Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto (Ontario), 1986.
• ‘New Automatic Sub-Station in Service On Lansdowne Avenue’ Coupler, February 1956,Toronto Transit Commission, Toronto (Ontario).
• Partridge, Larry, Mind the Doors, Please, The Boston Mills Press, Erin (Ontario), 1983.
• ‘PCC 25 year retrospective’ Upper Canada Railway Society Newsletter, November 1963 p162-74, The Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto (Ontario), 1963
• Pursley, Louis H., Street Railways of Toronto 1861-1921, Ira Swett, INTERURBANS, Los Angeles (California), 1958.
• Pursley, Louis H., The Toronto Trolley Car Story, INTERURBANS, Los Angeles (California), 1961.
• Wickson, Ted. ‘TTC Lansdowne Garage Closed’. Rail and Transit, March, 1996. P 4., The Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto (Ontario), 1996