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Canada's First Subway |
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Finishing Touches
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Welding sections of track together
May 16, 1952
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 190, Item 9441-3
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Subway car being hoisted from the Bristol City at Port of 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 255, Item 10972-8
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Laying rails
March 1952
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 172, Item 9245-3
To reduce noise and vibration in the underground parts of the subway, heavy rubber pads were sandwiched between the steel rail plates (on which the rails rested) and the concrete floor to which they were bolted.
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Subway car, Davisville yards
September 17, 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 264, Item 11116-7
Subway cars were made by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company in London, England, which had also built many cars for the London tube. The TTC initially ordered 104 cars, of which 100 were steel. The last four cars, identical in appearance, were aluminium, so that the TTC could test whether the lighter aluminium cars cost less to run. (The TTC chose exclusively aluminium cars for the University subway line built in the 1960s.) The cars were 57 feet, 1½ inches long; eight in total could fit the 500-foot station platforms.
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Interior of subway car
June 12, 1952
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 198, Item 9563-1
The subway cars were designed with both comfort and efficiency in mind. The floors were made of cork and rubber to reduce noise, and the paint was of a special sound-deadening type. The windows could be opened at the top. Light levels were high enough to allow reading in the tunnels, and several lights per car were battery-operated in case of power failure. The 62 seats per car were covered in vinyl, and every one was located, said the TTC, "within five steps of the nearest doorway."
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Switch control station, Richmond and Victoria streets
September 5, 1951
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 142, Item 8554-3
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Station entrance
August 27, 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 257, Item 11032-5
All stations but one contained an underground mezzanine level, where passengers paid fares and obtained transfers before proceeding down another escalator to the subway level. The exception was Dundas, where due to soil conditions the track level had to be as close to the surface as possible. Therefore, Dundas station had no mezzanine level, and passengers paid fares on the same level where they boarded the subway trains. |
Token vending machine
November 17, 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 276, Item 11427-12
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Transfer machine
November 17, 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 276, Item 11427-6
Transfers had to be obtained from a dispenser (as this man shown is doing) and then inserted into a separate slot in the centre of the same machine to be stamped with the station name and time.
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Subway drivers in cab
February 15, 1954
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 292, Item 11727-6
The subway cars were attached in pairs, with a driver's cab (a very small control room) at each end. This arrangement meant trains could go in either direction without having to turn around first.
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First test run of new cars, looking from driver's cab north to portal to Summerhill station
September 29, 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 266, Item 11128-10
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First test run of new cars, looking north to Rosedale station (train is moving south)
September 29, 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 266, Item 11128-13
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Looking south from Rosedale station to Ellis portal to Bloor station
March 25, 1953
Photographer: Canada Pictures Limited
City of Toronto Archives
Series 381, File 239, Item 10529-1
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