Canada’s First Subway – Surface Infrastructure

In addition to subway track and station construction, work progressed on other important components of the system. At Davisville, a complete servicing facility for subway trains was built. To the west of the station, a huge yard was reserved for subway cars, and scores of skilled craftsmen were employed on maintenance work at the Davisville Shop Building. Davisville also housed the control panel for the automatic block signal system that used red, green, and yellow lights to direct subway drivers.

Subway tracks and a brick garage with four doors sit under a bridge.
View of the Davisville Yard and Shop Building (at the right), looking south. The street crossing over is Chaplin Crescent.
November 24, 1953
Fonds 1128, Series 381, File 280, Item 2.

 

A shiny subway car sits on the tracks.
Exterior of a G-car at the Davisville Yard. The first subway cars used on the Yonge line were manufactured by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company of Gloucester, England. The initial order comprised 104 bright red cars.
September 17, 1953
Fonds 1128, Series 381, File 264, Item 7.

 

Several subway trains sit on tracks. In the distance is a square, modernist office building with many windows.
Davisville Yard and Shop Building, with the William C. McBrien Building, the TTC head office at the right, looking north
1958
Fonds 1567, Series 648, File 27, Item 2.

 

Meanwhile, at the terminal station of Eglinton, the streetcar carhouse continued to operate after construction of the subway began, but with difficulty. Before the subway was completed, and while streetcars were still running on Yonge Street, this facility was crucial to the continuing smooth operation of service. The Eglinton Division personnel, who were largely streetcar operators and conductors, were understandably worried. What would happen to them once the streetcars were removed from Yonge Street?

The Commission responded by sending them back to school – the TTC School of Instruction – and by March of 1954, 200 operating employees were retrained to be subway motormen, guards, or carhouse operators. The Eglinton carhouse became a storage and washing building for buses and trolley coaches, which supplanted the streetcar at Eglinton. A large number of bus bay platforms were constructed to the west of the station’s entrance. From here, bus service radiated out to the north, west, and east.

 

A blocky concrete tunnel with buses in the background.
The entrance to Eglinton station is shown in the foreground, before the current large office building was constructed over top. Behind, the many bus bay platforms are seen and the Eglinton Garage on Duplex Avenue is visible at the upper left.
April 1, 1954
Fonds 1128, Series 381, File 302, Item 1.

 

 

People are standing in lines in a long room with rows of lights on the ceiling.
Crowds of bus passengers line up underneath the bus loading platforms at Eglinton Station
June 1955
Fonds 1128, Series 381, File 321, Item 2.

 

People are standing in a line beside a bus in an outdoor but roofed bus bay.
A TTC guide keeps a close eye on passengers waiting for the North Yonge bus at Eglinton Station
June 1955
Fonds 1128, Series 381, File 321, Item 5.