Toronto Street Railways
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After the end of Williams Omnibus Bus Line services in 1861, the city of Toronto issued a transit franchise (Resolution 14, By-law 353) for a street railways. The winner was Alexander Easton's Toronto Street Railways continued to operate omnibuses until 1873, when the TSR converted to horse-drawn streetcars.
As years passed, the city became concerned with the quality of service provided by the TSR and attempted to take over the franchise. Unsuccessful, the city waited for the 30-year franchise to expire and elected to pass on the rights to a new company, the Toronto Railway Company in 1891. In the same year, horse-drawn streetcars gave way to electric (with the witch's broom pole) streetcars.
Contents |
[edit] Routes
- St Lawrence Hall-Yorkville
- Yonge
- Queen
- Front
- Sherbourne
- Carlton
- St Lawrence Market-Woodbine
- Dovercourt-McCaul
- North Toronto-Union Station
- King
- Bloor
- Spadina
[edit] Roster
As for the cars, they were built mostly in-house or by carriage makers of their day. In the first year the TSR had only 11 horse cars on roster. Before the end of the franchise, the TSR had 262 cars, 100 omnibuses, 100 sleighs and 1,356 horses:
| Make/Model | Description | Fleet size | Year acquired | Year retired | Notes |
| John Stevenson Company New York, New York | single end single truck closed horsecar | N/A - builder for TSR Car 16 | |||
| John Speight and Sons Village of Markham ON (later of Acton) | single end single truck carriage | N/A | builders built many of the TSR cars |
[edit] Stables/Carhouse
- King Street (near St Lawrence Market) stables - now a Young People's Theatre
- Yorkville Stables
[edit] References
Not A One Horse Town by Mike Filey
