Toronto and York Radial Railway

The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a transit operator providing services to the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a subsidiary of the Toronto Railway Company. The company was created by merging four Toronto-area interurban operations. The company was part of the empire of railway entrepreneurs Sir William Mackenzie and Donald Mann which included the Canadian Northern Railway and the parent Toronto Railway Company. The line was abandoned by the TTC in 1948.

Lines

The table lists the 4 lines composing the T&YRR. Each line became a separate division of the T&YRR except for the Schomberg and Aurora which was a branch of the Metropolitan Division. Click on the predecessor company name for further details about each line. In 1904, the four predecessor companies were merged to form the Toronto and York Radial Railway.

{| class="wikitable"

! Line !! Predecessor company<br>that created the line !! Maximum extent of line under T&YRR !! Line<br>Opened !! Line<br>Closed

| Metropolitan<br>(Lake Simcoe)

| Metropolitan Street Railway

| CPR midtown line – Sutton

| 1885

| 1930

| Schomberg and Aurora

| Schomberg and Aurora Railway

| Schomberg Junction (Oak Ridges, south of Aurora) – Schomberg

| 1904

| 1927

| Mimico

| Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company

| Sunnyside – Port Credit

| 1892

| 1935

| Scarboro (Scarborough)

| Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company

| Kingston Road & Queen Street – West Hill

| 1893

| 1936

Timeline

thumb|right|Timetable effective November 1919 for Toronto divisions of the T&YRR service

Pre-T&YRR era (1885–1904)

:Events prior to the merger creating the T&YRR in 1904

In 1885, the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of Toronto (incorporated March 2, 1877, renamed Metropolitan Railway Company in 1897) started a horsecar line on Yonge Street. and later 600v DC, allowing the system to run into Toronto (the Toronto network runs at 600v DC).

Comments

Unlike the city systems, the radial (interurban) operators used larger rail cars.

Radial routes ceased due to introduction of inter-urban buses and new highways that allowed for better access to many areas served by rail service.

Rail service returned to some of the communities served by the T&YRR by regional rail service of GO Transit in the 1970s.

External links

Streetcar, Suburban and Interurban Map 1926: 1926 plan of electric rail transit in Toronto and Guelph areas by Roman Fomin published by Transit Toronto. Large PDF.

Other Toronto area lines controlled by Sir William Mackenzie

Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway
Toronto Suburban Railway
Toronto Railway Company