Birchmount Loop
The Birchmount Loop marked the easternmost extension of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) streetcar system.[1] When it was built the old City of Toronto's eastern boundary ended at Victoria Park Avenue, and extending the Kingston Road streetcar east to Birchmount Road took it deep into the Township of Scarborough, Ontario.[2] However, the TTC's Scarboro radial line, originally a privately operated line, continued farther east until 1936.[1]
When the TTC was created in 1921 it started to build streetcar service farther east.[2] They first extended double track TTC service to the current Bingham Loop, at Victoria Park Avenue, in 1922 replacing a portion of the Scarboro radial.[1]
The TTC stopped running Kingston Road streetcars as far as the Birchmount Loop in 1954[3] after the introduction of a new fare zone system and a reorganization of the suburban bus network.[1] The streetcar route was transferred to Scarborough bus route, 86 Scarboro and now as 12 Kingston Road. The site of the old loop on the southeast corner is now occupied by a series of homes.
References
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James Bow (2013-08-24). "Remembering Birchmount Loop". Transit Toronto. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
The easternmost streetcar loop in the TTC's history is Birchmount Loop, located at the Kingston Road / Birchmount Avenue intersection inside the old City of Scarborough.
- "Birchmount Loop". Scarborough Life. 2012-12-08. Archived from the original on 2014-02-23. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
The line was started as a private enterprise and was later taken over by the TTC in 1921. They began to convert it to a proper streetcar line first by doubling the track along Kingston Road to Walter Ave in the upper-beaches area, just east of Main Street, the next year it was doubled to Victoria park where the Bingham loop is currently. By 1923 the line went through Cliffside to Birchmount Road and there built a loop for the streetcar.
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"Photo of the Day Aug. 22, 2012". Birch Cliff: Birch Cliff News. 1928. Archived from the original on 2014-02-23. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
The streetcars replaced the old radial cars that starting running through Birch Cliff in about 1901. Streetcars continued operating to Birchmount until 1954.
External links
Media related to Birchmount Loop at Wikimedia Commons