Harbord Route History

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HARBORD Route History
*Last updated October 29th, 2001*	Compiled by James Bow with additional information from Peter Coulman

Jack Knowles was kind enough to heed my request for more information on the early days of the Harbord streetcar. He supplied me with copies of a few pages of Louis Pursley's two books, The Toronto Trolley Car Story and Street Railways of Toronto 1861-1921. Thanks, Jack; your kindness is much appreciated. So, for the readers' interest, I thought I would transcribe the portions as they related to the Harbord car. -- JB

August 29th, 1911

Alternate BLOOR-McCAUL cars operate over new track on Harbord Street between Spadina Avenue and Ossington Avenue, then north on Ossington to Bloor Street.

November 16th, 1911

HARBORD route inaugurated, operating from Lansdowne Division. From Bloor & Ossington wye, via Ossington, Harbord, Spadina, and Adelaide Street to wye at Church Street.

B L O O R	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD

October 18th, 1915

Route extended north from Bloor, via Ossington, Hallam Street, Dufferin Street and Lappin Avenue to wye at Lappin & Lansdowne Avenue.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD

June 1st, 1916

Cars commence to loop downtown via Victoria Street, Richmond Street and Church Street to Adelaide.

March 9th, 1919

Sunday only diversion via College Street, McCaul Street and Queen Street, looping counterclockwise via York Street, Front Street and Bay Street.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD
Monday through Saturday
LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
F R O N T	HARBORD
Sundays

September 1st, 1921

Toronto Railway Company routes taken over by the new Toronto Transportation Commission. Single-truck cars operating from Lansdowne Division are used on the route. Sunday routing revised to loop counterclockwise via York, Front, Bay and Adelaide.

February 22nd, 1922

Extended from Lansdowne & Lappin wye via north on Lansdowne to Royce Loop. [Note: this contradicts Pursley's own statements that the extention to Royce (now Annette Street) occurred a few weeks after October 18th, 1915. -- JB]

June 4th, 1922

Sunday diversion eliminated; cars now follow the same route seven days a week.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD
daily

July 9th, 1922

Sunday route reinstated using March 9th, 1919 looping.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD
Monday through Saturday
LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
F R O N T	HARBORD
Sundays

July 30th, 1922

Sunday route again changed, now running via Lansdowne, Lappin, Hallam, Ossington, Harbord, Spadina, Adelaide and Bay, looping via Front, York and Wellington Street.

August 27th, 1922

Sunday service reverts back to July 9th routing.

July 1st, 1923

General rerouting program initiated, however no change made in daily route. Sunday route changed to operate from Royce Loop via Lansdowne, Lappin, Hallam, Ossington, Harbord, Spadina, College, McCaul, Dundas Street, Broadview Avenue, Gerrard Street East, Coxwell Avenue, Gerrard, Main Street and Danforth Avenue to Luttrell Loop. Sunday cars operate from both Danforth and Lansdowne Divisions.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD
Monday through Saturday
LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
LUTTRELL	HARBORD
Sundays

December 16th, 1923

Sunday routing changed in east end, now running via Dundas, Broadview, Gerrard, Carlaw Avenue, Riverdale Avenue, Pape Avenue and Danforth to Coxwell Loop.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD
Monday through Saturday
LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
COXWELL	HARBORD
Sundays

February 15th, 1926

Former Toronto Railway Company PAYL (Pay As You Leave) cars replaced by PAYE (Pay As You Enter) rear-entrance cars in service since July, 1923.

October 3th, 1926

On Sundays only, one-man ex-TRC cars replace two-man cars.

October 23th, 1927

Sunday route changed at the east end, extended up Pape north of the Danforth to the new Lipton Loop, instead of to Danforth & Coxwell.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
C H U R C H	HARBORD
Monday through Saturday
LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
DANFORTH	HARBORD
Sundays

September 12th, 1932

One-man ex-TRC cars replace all two-man cars on all daily runs.

December 26th, 1932

Holiday routing changed to the same as Sundays.

April 3th, 1933

COLLEGE route discontinued and daily route changed. From Royce Loop via Lansdowne, Lappin, Ossington, Harbord, Spadina, Dundas, Broadview, Gerrard, Carlaw, Riverdale and Pape to Lipton Loop. Operated from both Danforth and Lansdowne Divisions.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
DANFORTH	HARBORD

June 28th to July 5th, 1937

Owing to track work in progress on Dundas Street East, cars diverted from Dundas and Broadview via Parliament and Gerrard in both directions.

August 9th to August 14th, 1937

Cars diverted both ways via College and McCaul instead of operating via Spadina and Dundas due to concreting of the track allowance in progress on Spadina between Queen and College.

January 15th, 1939

One-man Peter Witt cars replace ex-TRC cars on all Sunday runs.

February 1st, 1942

PCC (Presidents' Conference Commission) cars replace Witts on Sundays.

February 9th, 1942

Eight PCC cars replace small Witt cars (in service since 1941) on some daily runs.

March 2nd, 1942

Full base service of 15 cars provided by PCCs.

February 24th, 1945

Effective this date a self-restoring electric switch was installed at Dundas & Victoria on the west to south curve, replacing the standard electric switch at this point.

September 28th, 1947

Cars short turn at Lansdowne Carhouse instead of Royce Loop from 1:02 p.m. to 5:52 p.m. due to the Electrical Department installing new overhead at Lansdowne & Royce.

December 8th, 1947

DOVERCOURT cars replaced by OSSINGTON trolley coaches, and route changed. From Townsley Loop via Old Weston Road, Davenport Road, Dovercourt Road, Bloor Street, Ossington Avenue, Harbord Street, Spadina Avenue, Dundas Street, Broadview Avenue, Gerrard Street, Carlaw Avenue, Riverdale Avenue and Pape Avenue to Lipton Loop, seven days a week.

ST. CLAIR	HARBORD
DANFORTH	HARBORD

Peter Witt car 242 is posed at Townsley Loop, located on the west side of Old Weston Road, one block north of St. Clair Avenue. The car is signed "LANSDOWNE", as if it was about to embark on a short-turn run in to the carhouse. The shot was taken while the car was out on a charter, probably sometime during the mid '70s.

J. David Morgan photo

July 16th to August 12th, 1950

Due to the construction of the Yonge subway and the closing of the Yonge & Dundas intersection while this work was in progress, HARBORD service is split in two:
HARBORD WEST, operating from Townsley Loop to Bay Street, looping clockwise via Bay, Albert and Elizabeth Streets, then returning west.

ST. CLAIR	HARBORD
B A Y	HARBORD

HARBORD EAST, running from Lipton Loop over the regular route to Church Street, looping clockwise via Church, Richmond, and Victoria Streets, then returning east to Lipton Loop.

CHURCH	HARBORD
DANFORTH	HARBORD

February 16th, 1953

Second-hand Pullman-built PCC cars from Cleveland, Ohio, replace A-3, -4 and -5 class (4200 series) PCC cars on the HARBORD route. The A-11 class (numbers 4625 to 4674) are the first Pullman cars to be used in city service in Toronto.

November 19th to December 24th, 1956

Route cut back from Townsley Loop to the new St. Clarens Loop during watermain construction on Old Weston Road.

LANSDOWNE	HARBORD
DANFORTH	HARBORD

January 21st, 1957

Western terminus permanently changed to St. Clarens Loop because the railway underpass constructed on Davenport Road west of Lansdowne Avenue made no provision for streetcars. Service west of St. Clarens Loop provided by bus.

June 16th, 1961

An electric Necessity Action switch installed on Lansdowne at the north entrance to Lansdowne Carhouse on the north to west curve.

November 10th, 1961

Necessity Action switches installed at the following locations:

College & Spadina	-	west to north curve
College & McCaul	-	east to south curve
Dundas & McCaul	-	west to north curve

May 8th to November 10th, 1962

Don River bridge closed for demolition and replacement. Service diverted both ways via Parliament and Gerrard.

February 25th, 1966

Last day of operations before opening the of the Bloor-Danforth subway. Portions of the HARBORD route replaced by extensions of the DUNDAS streetcar, and 41 KEELE, 72 PAPE and 94 WELLESLEY buses. Dovercourt Road would have to wait more than twenty years for transit service to return in the form of an extension of the 94 WELLESLEY bus.

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