118-424: The Waterfront West LRT ( WWLRT ) is a proposed streetcar line in Toronto , Ontario, Canada. The WWLRT is currently part of a municipal project called the Waterfront Transit Reset which also includes the East Bayfront LRT . The WWLRT was initially proposed as part of the Transit City plan to expand transit services offered by the Toronto Transit Commission that was announced March 16, 2007. The new line
236-509: A streetcar or trolley in the United States) is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way . The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in
354-603: A tram engine in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included Christchurch , New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; other city systems in New South Wales ; Munich , Germany (from August 1883 on), British India (from 1885) and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway (from 1888) in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on
472-537: A 1967 consolidation. In 1998, its city status and government dissolved after it was amalgamated into present-day Toronto. Etobicoke has a highly diverse population, which numbered 365,143 in 2016. It is primarily suburban in development and heavily industrialized, resulting in a lower population density than the other districts of Toronto. Much of its cityscape is characterized by larger main streets, shopping malls, and cul-de-sac housing developments. Etobicoke has several expressways, including Highways 427 , 401 , 409 ,
590-515: A Vermont blacksmith, had invented a battery-powered electric motor which he later patented. The following year he used it to operate a small model electric car on a short section of track four feet in diameter. Attempts to use batteries as a source of electricity were made from the 1880s and 1890s, with unsuccessful trials conducted in among other places Bendigo and Adelaide in Australia, and for about 14 years as The Hague accutram of HTM in
708-438: A city staff report titled Waterfront Transit Reset said that there was a clear need for a "reset" because recent waterfront transit planning had been ad hoc and incremental, resulting in a lack of a comprehensive plan for the transit network to respond to the rapid changes occurring along the waterfront. In the report, the deputy city manager recommended that: The Waterfront Transit Reset report also said: On November 13, 2017,
826-635: A junior vocational school, opened at a King's Mill site and two other schools erected: Humbergrove Vocational School to the north in 1965 and Westway Vocational School in 1969. At its peak, Etobicoke operated 14 collegiates and 4 vocational schools in 1980. Downsizing occurred in the 1980s when nine high schools were closed due to declining enrollment; Alderwood and New Toronto merged to form Lakeshore Collegiate Institute in 1983 while Humbergrove, Kingsmill and Westway were consolidated to form Central Etobicoke High School in 1988. Etobicoke's first Roman Catholic high school, Michael Power/St. Joseph High School
944-700: A large European population from countries such as Italy, Poland, and Ukraine, and some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Toronto such as The Kingsway . As of 2016, English was the most spoken language in Etobicoke, followed by (in order) Italian , Punjabi , Spanish , Polish , Ukrainian , Gujarati , and Portuguese . Islington–City Centre West is one of several central business districts outside of downtown Toronto . Pizza Pizza and Sunwing Airlines have their headquarters in Etobicoke. Skyservice and Canada 3000 had their headquarters in Etobicoke before
1062-695: A mandate which resulted in the Waterfront Transit Reset study. In November 2017, the study produced a series of recommendations which, if they were all implemented, would result in a Waterfront West line quite similar to the Transit City proposal. In April 2019, the City of Toronto decided to proceed to procurement and construction on the recommendation designated the "Exhibition Place–Dufferin Gate Loop streetcar connection", describing it as "a priority segment of
1180-625: A part of the newly formed regional government, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto ("Metro"). In 1967, the township of Etobicoke was merged with three small lakeside municipalities — the Village of Long Branch, the Town of New Toronto, and the Town of Mimico — to form the Borough of Etobicoke. The borough was reincorporated as a city in 1984. In 1998, six local municipalities (including Etobicoke) and
1298-476: A report about the Waterfront Transit Reset was presented to the TTC board. It included a number of recommendations to improve streetcar service along the lakeshore between Long Branch and Leslie Street. If the recommendations pertaining to streetcar service between Long Branch and Union station had been implemented, the resultant route would have had a strong resemblance to the original Waterfront West LRT. In April 2019,
SECTION 10
#17330857577741416-829: A shortcut for travellers to Peel County (especially modern Brampton). First developed as an urban area by Rex Heslop in the post- World War II years around the new Rexdale (the Elms) community, northern Etobicoke has many apartment buildings as well as a large 'skyway' industrial park to the west, developed after Malton Airport (in nearby Mississauga) became Toronto's main "Pearson International" Airport. Most of Etobicoke's visible minorities and immigrants reside in North Etobicoke, with 62% of its population being foreign-born. Many people from India, Jamaica, Iraq, Guyana, Somalia, Ghana, Philippines, Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh have settled in North Etobicoke. Etobicoke's central and south end has
1534-695: A similar technology, Pirotsky put into service the first public electric tramway in St. Petersburg, which operated only during September 1880. The second demonstration tramway was presented by Siemens & Halske at the 1879 Berlin Industrial Exposition. The first public electric tramway used for permanent service was the Gross-Lichterfelde tramway in Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany, which opened in 1881. It
1652-911: A well-known tourist attraction . A single cable line also survives in Wellington (rebuilt in 1979 as a funicular but still called the " Wellington Cable Car "). Another system, with two separate cable lines and a shared power station in the middle, operates from the Welsh town of Llandudno up to the top of the Great Orme hill in North Wales , UK. Hastings and some other tramways, for example Stockholms Spårvägar in Sweden and some lines in Karachi , used petrol trams. Galveston Island Trolley in Texas operated diesel trams due to
1770-596: A year-round dedicated right of way, and not be affected by events at Exhibition Place. The streetcar connection would replace the existing 29 Dufferin bus service that operates into Exhibition Place, and often must be suspended because of closure of the grounds for events. The new streetcar connection would also provide significantly improved connections and resiliency in the TTC's streetcar network, and would be designed to serve every-day transit trips as well as periods of high ridership and service demands during events at Exhibition Place. Streetcar A tram (also known as
1888-550: Is a large green space in west Toronto which is a venue for soccer, basketball, skiing, ice hockey, rugby, hiking, track and field. Rexdale (North Etobicoke) is home to the top ranked high school basketball program in Canada, Henry Carr Crusaders. Producing notable US Division 1 and NBA players such as Tyler Ennis and Sim Bhullar. Henry Carr Crusaders were the 2016 AAA Provincial high school basketball champions. Several major expressways, such as Ontario Highways 427 , 401 , 409 , and 27 ,
2006-585: Is an administrative district and former city within Toronto , Ontario , Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario , on the east by the Humber River , on the west by Etobicoke Creek , the cities of Brampton , and Mississauga , the Toronto Pearson International Airport (a small portion of the airport extends into Etobicoke), and on the north by
2124-565: Is filled with entertainment, food, midway, and music. Four public school boards offer primary education and secondary education for residents living in Etobicoke, Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (CSCM), Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV), the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). CSV and TDSB operate as secular public school boards,
2242-493: Is primarily provided by the Toronto Transit Commission 's (TTC) bus , streetcar , and subway system . Line 2 Bloor-Danforth of the TTC subway system has its western terminus at Kipling , along with three other stations. Both Kipling and Islington stations are major transit hubs, with the former serving as a terminal for MiWay bus services to Mississauga . Former transit expansion plans in Etobicoke, including
2360-524: Is still in operation in modernised form. The earliest tram system in Canada was built by John Joseph Wright , brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright , in Toronto in 1883, introducing electric trams in 1892. In the US, multiple experimental electric trams were exhibited at the 1884 World Cotton Centennial World's Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana , but they were not deemed good enough to replace
2478-769: Is the Etobicoke School of the Arts established in 1981. Father John Redmond was designated as the Regional Arts Centre in 2006. Etobicoke has a wide range of indoor and outdoor sporting leagues including baseball, soccer, gridiron football, ice hockey, and ringette. Some of the prominent clubs include the Etobicoke Kangaroos Australian rules football club, the Serbian White Eagles FC club, Toronto Croatia , and FC Ukraine United , which operate in
SECTION 20
#17330857577742596-557: Is the farthest western community within Etobicoke/Toronto; situated along Bloor Street West, it is predominately single family housing with some mixed hi-rise rentals. North Etobicoke ; The 19th-century Etobicoke communities are Clairville , Highfield , Rexdale , Smithfield , Thistletown which grew along two formerly private roads (now Albion Rd. and Rexdale Blvd.) constructed diagonally across farms in Northern Etobicoke as
2714-729: Is the sole survivor of the fleet). In Italy, in Trieste , the Trieste–Opicina tramway was opened in 1902, with the steepest section of the route being negotiated with the help of a funicular and its cables. Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since an expensive system of cables , pulleys , stationary engines and lengthy underground vault structures beneath the rails had to be provided. They also required physical strength and skill to operate, and alert operators to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be disconnected ("dropped") at designated locations to allow
2832-688: The Bleecker Street Line until its closure in 1917. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , had its Sarah Street line drawn by horses until 1923. The last regular mule-drawn cars in the US ran in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas , until 1926 and were commemorated by a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1983. The last mule tram service in Mexico City ended in 1932, and a mule tram in Celaya, Mexico , survived until 1954. The last horse-drawn tram to be withdrawn from public service in
2950-1032: The Canadian Soccer League , and the Toronto Furies of the Canadian Women's Hockey League . Southern Etobicoke is home to the Ford Performance Centre , the home arena for the Toronto Furies, and the practice rink of the Toronto Maple Leafs . The Toronto Patriots of the Ontario Junior Hockey League are based in Etobicoke. Etobicoke is the hometown of Major League Baseball star Joey Votto as well as National Hockey League stars P. K. Subban , Connor Brown , brothers Brendan and Reilly Smith , and National Hockey League Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan . Etobicoke's Centennial Park
3068-649: The Eglinton West subway and the extension of Line 2 from Kipling to Square One Bus Terminal in Mississauga, were cancelled by previous provincial governments. Future transit expansion plans include two light rail transit projects, namely the Eglinton line extension from the future Mount Dennis station to Toronto Pearson International Airport and a new Finch West line between University of Guelph-Humber (Humber College North Campus) and Finch West station . Etobicoke
3186-658: The Etobicoke Board of Education for anglophone public secular schools and the Metropolitan Separate School Board for anglophone and francophone Roman Catholic separate schools. In addition to primary and secondary schools, two post-secondary institutions are within Etobicoke. Humber College is a public college that operates two campuses in Etobicoke, the Humber North campus, and the Lakeshore campus, on
3304-469: The Finch West LRT ). Unlike the other Transit City lines, this service would share infrastructure and 4 ft 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 in ( 1,495 mm ) track gauge with the streetcar system ; the other LRTs would not be compatible with the city's streetcars and use larger LRT vehicles on 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) standard gauge tracking. In 2008,
3422-879: The Lamm fireless engines then propelling the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in that city. The first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio , and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company. The first city-wide electric streetcar system was implemented in 1886 in Montgomery, Alabama , by the Capital City Street Railway Company, and ran for 50 years. In 1888,
3540-557: The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Gardiner Expressway . Etobicoke is the western terminus of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth of the Toronto subway and is served by four suburban rail stations of GO Transit . Humber College is in Etobicoke, encompassing two campuses, one of which is also home to the University of Guelph-Humber . The name "Etobicoke" derives from the Mississauga word wah-do-be-kang ( wadoopikaang ), meaning "place where
3658-435: The Queen Elizabeth Way , as well as the city-maintained Gardiner Expressway , are routed through the area. There are numerous four- and six-lane thoroughfares in Etobicoke, laid out in a grid system. Many exceptions to Toronto's gridded street matrix are found in Etobicoke. A number of overpasses and awkward intersections have been created in an effort to reconcile the grid with these planning anomalies. Public transportation
Waterfront West LRT - Misplaced Pages Continue
3776-692: The Richmond Union Passenger Railway began to operate trams in Richmond, Virginia , that Frank J. Sprague had built. Sprague later developed multiple unit control, first demonstrated in Chicago in 1897, allowing multiple cars to be coupled together and operated by a single motorman. This gave rise to the modern subway train. Following the improvement of an overhead "trolley" system on streetcars for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Sprague, electric tram systems were rapidly adopted across
3894-655: The Toronto Purchase of 1787. However, the Mississauga and government disagreed as to whether the western boundary of the purchase was the Humber River or the Etobicoke River (now, Etobicoke Creek). The Mississauga Indians allowed British surveyor Alexander Aitkin to survey the disputed land, and the British paid an additional 10 shillings for the purchase, although the purchase was never formally agreed to. The dispute
4012-785: The West Midlands Metro in Birmingham , England adopted battery-powered trams on sections through the city centre close to Grade I listed Birmingham Town Hall . Paris and Berne (Switzerland) operated trams that were powered by compressed air using the Mekarski system . Trials on street tramways in Britain, including by the North Metropolitan Tramway Company between Kings Cross and Holloway, London (1883), achieved acceptable results but were found not to be economic because of
4130-407: The alders grow". This was how they described the area between Etobicoke Creek and the Humber River . The first provincial land surveyor, Augustus Jones , also spelled it as "ato-be-coake." Etobicoke was finally adopted as the official name in 1795 at the direction of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe . At different times throughout history, different groups of First Nations peoples used
4248-1202: The 1850s, after which the "animal railway" became an increasingly common feature in the larger towns. The first permanent tram line in continental Europe was opened in Paris in 1855 by Alphonse Loubat who had previously worked on American streetcar lines. The tram was developed in numerous cities of Europe (some of the most extensive systems were found in Berlin, Budapest , Birmingham , Saint Petersburg , Lisbon , London , Manchester , Paris , Kyiv ). The first tram in South America opened in 1858 in Santiago, Chile . The first trams in Australia opened in 1860 in Sydney . Africa's first tram service started in Alexandria on 8 January 1863. The first trams in Asia opened in 1869 in Batavia (Jakarta), Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) . Limitations of horsecars included
4366-692: The 1894-built horse tram at Victor Harbor in South Australia . New horse-drawn systems have been established at the Hokkaidō Museum in Japan and also in Disneyland . A horse-tram route in Polish gmina Mrozy , first built in 1902, was reopened in 2012. The first mechanical trams were powered by steam . Generally, there were two types of steam tram. The first and most common had a small steam locomotive (called
4484-420: The 1980s. The history of passenger trams, streetcars and trolley systems, began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided into several distinct periods defined by the principal means of power used. Precursors to the tramway included the wooden or stone wagonways that were used in central Europe to transport mine carts with unflanged wheels since the 1500s, and the paved limestone trackways designed by
4602-426: The 2017 version would use mixed traffic west of Park Lawn Road. The 2007 version considered using new tracks along Fort York Boulevard and Bremner Boulevard to avoid complex intersections such as at Fleet Street and Bathurst Street; the 2017 version would use existing tracks on Fleet Street and Queens Quay West. The Waterfront Transit Reset study resulted in a number of recommendations to improve streetcar service along
4720-408: The Albion Road Company was incorporated. Its purpose was to build and maintain a road to the north-west corner of Etobicoke, where a new community was planned. At the same time, John Grubb, who had already founded Thistletown , hired land surveyor John Stoughton Dennis to plan a community at the intersection of Islington Avenue and Albion Road , to be named Saint Andrew's. Plan 6 for this community
4838-470: The April 2019 Transit Expansion Update as follows: The new streetcar connection would allow the extension of existing TTC streetcar service west from Exhibition Place to Dufferin Street, and north and west from there on Dufferin Street, King Street, the Queensway, and Lake Shore Boulevard. This service would increase transit capacity and provide new direct TTC journey opportunities in Parkdale, The Queensway, and Humber Bay Shores. The connection would operate in
Waterfront West LRT - Misplaced Pages Continue
4956-422: The Australian state of Queensland between 1909 and 1939. Stockholm , Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of Södermalm between 1887 and 1901. Tram engines usually had modifications to make them suitable for street running in residential areas. The wheels, and other moving parts of the machinery, were usually enclosed for safety reasons and to make the engines quieter. Measures were often taken to prevent
5074-407: The British newspaper Newcastle Daily Chronicle reported that, "A large number of London's discarded horse tramcars have been sent to Lincolnshire where they are used as sleeping rooms for potato pickers ". Horses continued to be used for light shunting well into the 20th century, and many large metropolitan lines lasted into the early 20th century. New York City had a regular horsecar service on
5192-638: The City of Toronto decided that the "Exhibition Loop–Dufferin Loop streetcar connection" project would proceed to procurement and construction in 2019/2020 as "a priority segment of the Waterfront Transit Network Plan". There are two versions of the route: the Transit City version of 2007 and the Waterfront Transit Reset version of 2017. Both are essentially the same route with only a few differences. The Waterfront West line would run for about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi). The western terminus would be Long Branch Loop at Long Branch GO Station in Etobicoke . The line would run along Lake Shore Boulevard West, following
5310-477: The Entertainment Centre, and work is progressing on further extensions. Sydney re-introduced trams (or light rail) on 31 August 1997. A completely new system, known as G:link , was introduced on the Gold Coast, Queensland , on 20 July 2014. The Newcastle Light Rail opened in February 2019, while the Canberra light rail opened on 20 April 2019. This is the first time that there have been trams in Canberra, even though Walter Burley Griffin 's 1914–1920 plans for
5428-439: The First Military tract, but most did not occupy their land. Many sold their acreage after a short time. The census of 1805 counted 84 people in the township of Etobicoke. In 1806, William Cooper built a grist mill and saw mill on the Humber river's west bank, just south of Dundas Street . The 1809 census counted 137 residents. The Dundas Street bridge opened in 1816, making the township more accessible. On May 18, 1846,
5546-510: The Honourable Samuel Smith, a colonel in the Queen's Rangers, received land grants of 1,530 acres (6.2 km ), extending from today's Kipling Avenue to Etobicoke Creek, and north to Bloor Street . On March 18, 1797, Sergeant Patrick Mealey received the first land patent for a plot on the west side of Royal York Road on Lake Ontario. This was part of the First Military Tract, or "Militia Lands", which extended from today's Royal York Road to Kipling Avenue, south from Bloor Street. The Crown
5664-404: The Humber River over the past few years. The central and northern areas of Etobicoke have many high-density apartment complexes set in the middle of sizable, open fields and parks. The central/southern areas, such as Markland Wood , The Kingsway , New Toronto, Mimico and Long Branch, have large green spaces, many parks, and main street shopping areas. Etobicoke has many public parks. Located on
5782-416: The Irish coach builder John Stephenson , in New York City which began service in the year 1832. The New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. It was followed in 1835 by the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad in New Orleans, Louisiana , which still operates as the St. Charles Streetcar Line . Other American cities did not follow until
5900-458: The Metropolitan Toronto government merged to form the amalgamated city of Toronto . Etobicoke has the lowest population density of the former cities and boroughs comprising the city of Toronto. This is mainly due to its expanses of industrial lands along the various expressways. The residential areas are primarily single-family dwellings, although several large multi-story high-rise condominium developments have been built in south Etobicoke near
6018-430: The Netherlands. The first trams in Bendigo, Australia, in 1892, were battery-powered, but within as little as three months they were replaced with horse-drawn trams. In New York City some minor lines also used storage batteries. Then, more recently during the 1950s, a longer battery-operated tramway line ran from Milan to Bergamo . In China there is a Nanjing battery Tram line and has been running since 2014. In 2019,
SECTION 50
#17330857577746136-436: The North Sydney line from 1886 to 1900, and the King Street line from 1892 to 1905. In Dresden , Germany, in 1901 an elevated suspended cable car following the Eugen Langen one-railed floating tram system started operating. Cable cars operated on Highgate Hill in North London and Kennington to Brixton Hill in South London. They also worked around "Upper Douglas" in the Isle of Man from 1897 to 1929 (cable car 72/73
6254-463: The Romans for heavy horse and ox-drawn transportation. By the 1700s, paved plateways with cast iron rails were introduced in England for transporting coal, stone or iron ore from the mines to the urban factories and docks. The world's first passenger train or tram was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway , in Wales , UK. The British Parliament passed the Mumbles Railway Act in 1804, and horse-drawn service started in 1807. The service closed in 1827, but
6372-413: The Second Street Cable Railroad, which operated from 1885 to 1889, and the Temple Street Cable Railway, which operated from 1886 to 1898. From 1885 to 1940, the city of Melbourne , Victoria, Australia operated one of the largest cable systems in the world, at its peak running 592 trams on 75 kilometres (47 mi) of track. There were also two isolated cable lines in Sydney , New South Wales, Australia;
6490-406: The Township of Etobicoke; namely, Alderwood (originally a suburb of New Toronto), and Humber Bay (a historic gateway community connecting to Toronto) which was originally sprawl from the east side of the Humber River that was subsequently split by the construction of Ontario's first motor vehicle 'freeway' in 1938, which cuts across the top of southern Etobicoke; (the Queen Elizabeth Way). Today,
6608-562: The UK at Lytham St Annes , Trafford Park , Manchester (1897–1908) and Neath , Wales (1896–1920). Comparatively little has been published about gas trams. However, research on the subject was carried out for an article in the October 2011 edition of "The Times", the historical journal of the Australian Association of Timetable Collectors, later renamed the Australian Timetable Association. The world's first electric tram line operated in Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg invented and tested by inventor Fyodor Pirotsky in 1875. Later, using
6726-410: The UK took passengers from Fintona railway station to Fintona Junction one mile away on the main Omagh to Enniskillen railway in Northern Ireland. The tram made its last journey on 30 September 1957 when the Omagh to Enniskillen line closed. The "van" is preserved at the Ulster Transport Museum . Horse-drawn trams still operate on the 1876-built Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man , and at
6844-447: The WWLRT was included in Metrolinx's regional transportation plan The Big Move as part of the 15-year horizon. After taking office in December 2010, Mayor Rob Ford announced cancellation of the line; this decision was never brought to city council for approval and the line's status remained in question. Funding had not been secured for the project. In January 2013, the project was shelved by Toronto city officials. On October 9, 2015,
6962-441: The Waterfront Transit Network Plan". Announced on March 16, 2007, the WWLRT was part of Mayor David Miller 's Transit City proposal. As the shortest and least expensive Transit City line, it was expected to cost approximately $ 540 million. The line was to open in four stages and be completed by 2015 as the third of the seven Transit City lines after the Sheppard East LRT and Etobicoke–Finch West LRT (later reconstituted as
7080-508: The advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Another factor which contributed to the rise of trams was the high total cost of ownership of horses. Electric trams largely replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Improvements in other vehicles such as buses led to decline of trams in early to mid 20th century. However, trams have seen resurgence since
7198-405: The banks of the Humber River, James Gardens , a popular site for wedding photography , features seasonal flowers, walkways, a rock garden, streams, and waterfalls. Etobicoke also has Centennial Park , a large recreational park, and Colonel Samuel Smith Park and Humber Bay Park on the lakeshore. Etobicoke has several golf courses. St. George's Golf and Country Club was ranked in 2007 as one of
SECTION 60
#17330857577747316-460: The busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running once per minute at rush hour. Bucharest and Belgrade ran a regular service from 1894. Ljubljana introduced its tram system in 1901 – it closed in 1958. Oslo had the first tramway in Scandinavia , starting operation on 2 March 1894. The first electric tramway in Australia was a Sprague system demonstrated at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne ; afterwards, this
7434-439: The capital then in the planning stage did propose a Canberra tram system. In Japan, the Kyoto Electric railroad was the first tram system, starting operation in 1895. By 1932, the network had grown to 82 railway companies in 65 cities, with a total network length of 1,479 km (919 mi). By the 1960s the tram had generally died out in Japan. Two rare but significant alternatives were conduit current collection , which
7552-458: The car up the hill at a steady pace, unlike a low-powered steam or horse-drawn car. Cable cars do have wheel brakes and track brakes , but the cable also helps restrain the car to going downhill at a constant speed. Performance in steep terrain partially explains the survival of cable cars in San Francisco. The San Francisco cable cars , though significantly reduced in number, continue to provide regular transportation service, in addition to being
7670-402: The cars to coast by inertia, for example when crossing another cable line. The cable then had to be "picked up" to resume progress, the whole operation requiring precise timing to avoid damage to the cable and the grip mechanism. Breaks and frays in the cable, which occurred frequently, required the complete cessation of services over a cable route while the cable was repaired. Due to overall wear,
7788-430: The city of Vaughan at Steeles Avenue West . The area of Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s. Primarily an agricultural district, it was incorporated in 1850 as Etobicoke Township. The municipality grew into city status in the 20th century after World War II . Several independent villages and towns developed and became part of Etobicoke, first when Metropolitan Toronto was formed in 1954 and later, in
7906-409: The city's hurricane-prone location, which would have resulted in frequent damage to an electrical supply system. Although Portland, Victoria promotes its tourist tram as being a cable car it actually operates using a diesel motor. The tram, which runs on a circular route around the town of Portland, uses dummies and salons formerly used on the Melbourne cable tramway system and since restored. In
8024-504: The classic tramway built in the early 20th century with the tram system operating in mixed traffic, and the later type which is most often associated with the tram system having its own right of way. Tram systems that have their own right of way are often called light rail but this does not always hold true. Though these two systems differ in their operation, their equipment is much the same. Etobicoke Etobicoke ( / ɛ ˈ t oʊ b ɪ k oʊ / , eh- TOH -bik-oh )
8142-436: The closure of these airlines. The construction industry in Etobicoke has been booming, with many new condominium towers developed along the waterfront near Humber Bay and along Bloor street. This has helped increase Etobicoke's population after a brief decline. The area's film and television industry is also promising. Etobicoke is home to a rib fest held every year on Canada Day long weekend at Centennial Park. The weekend
8260-416: The combined coal consumption of the stationary compressor and the onboard steam boiler. The Trieste–Opicina tramway in Trieste operates a hybrid funicular tramway system. Conventional electric trams are operated in street running and on reserved track for most of their route. However, on one steep segment of track, they are assisted by cable tractors, which push the trams uphill and act as brakes for
8378-424: The corner of Efstathia Avenue and Kourabiedes Lane. The University of Guelph-Humber is another post-secondary institution in Etobicoke that is jointly operated by Humber College, and the University of Guelph , based in Guelph , Ontario. Guelph-Humber is not an independent degree-granting institution, with its degrees and diplomas issued from Humber College, or the University of Guelph. In 1924, Mimico High School
8496-652: The downhill run. For safety, the cable tractors are always deployed on the downhill side of the tram vehicle. Similar systems were used elsewhere in the past, notably on the Queen Anne Counterbalance in Seattle and the Darling Street wharf line in Sydney. In the mid-20th century many tram systems were disbanded, replaced by buses, trolleybuses , automobiles or rapid transit . The General Motors streetcar conspiracy
8614-446: The early 20th century and Etobicoke's central Islington community: The Lakeshore ( Etobicoke—Lakeshore ), along the north shore of Lake Ontario and the "Lake Shore Road" (now Lake Shore Boulevard West), comprises three former municipalities that were the first to urbanize and became separate municipalities during the first half of the 20th century: Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch, and related communities that were never separate from
8732-446: The engines from emitting visible smoke or steam. Usually the engines used coke rather than coal as fuel to avoid emitting smoke; condensers or superheating were used to avoid emitting visible steam. A major drawback of this style of tram was the limited space for the engine, so that these trams were usually underpowered. Steam trams faded out around the 1890s to 1900s, being replaced by electric trams. Another motive system for trams
8850-429: The entire length of cable (typically several kilometres) had to be replaced on a regular schedule. After the development of reliable electrically powered trams, the costly high-maintenance cable car systems were rapidly replaced in most locations. Cable cars remained especially effective in hilly cities, since their nondriven wheels did not lose traction as they climbed or descended a steep hill. The moving cable pulled
8968-472: The existing 501 Queen route through Humber Loop , and along the Queensway. A new right of way would parallel King Street West east of Roncesvalles Avenue and follow the rail corridor through the existing Exhibition Loop area. It would continue via the existing 509 Harbourfront route to Union station. In the 2007 version, the Etobicoke portion of the line would travel entirely in an exclusive right-of-way;
9086-439: The fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for about a dozen miles a day and worked for four or five hours, many systems needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. In 1905
9204-409: The former operating French first language institution, whereas the latter operated English first language institutions. The other two school boards, CSCM and TCDSB, operate as public separate school boards, the former operating French first language separate schools, the latter operating English first language separate schools. Before 1998, the boards were responsible for the education in Etobicoke were
9322-400: The lakeshore between Long Branch and Union station. Most of the recommendations could be implemented independently. The recommendations from Long Branch to Bay Street included: In April 2019, the TTC proposed the following features to connect Exhibition Loop to Dufferin Gate Loop at Exhibition Place: The benefits of Exhibition Place to Dufferin Gate Loop streetcar connection were described in
9440-584: The land that is now present day Etobicoke. As the Algonquins gradually moved west from the Atlantic to Lake Erie, it is almost certain they would have occupied this land. By the time they were mostly settled on the shores of Georgian Bay, the Huron-Wendat were the primary residents of Lake Ontario's north shore. During the 17th century, the powerful Haudenosaunee ( Iroquois ) confederacy, made up of nations based to
9558-542: The late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of systems in various parts of the world employed trams powered by gas, naphtha gas or coal gas in particular. Gas trams are known to have operated between Alphington and Clifton Hill in the northern suburbs of Melbourne , Australia (1886–1888); in Berlin and Dresden , Germany; in Estonia (1921–1951); between Jelenia Góra , Cieplice , and Sobieszów in Poland (from 1897); and in
9676-402: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. There was one particular hazard associated with trams powered from a trolley pole off an overhead line on the early electrified systems. Since the tram relies on contact with the rails for the current return path, a problem arises if the tram is derailed or (more usually) if it halts on a section of track that has been heavily sanded by a previous tram, and
9794-402: The meeting were reeve William Gamble , vice-reeve W. B. Wadsworth and aldermen Moses Appleby, Thomas Fisher, and John Geddes. The council convened monthly meetings at a variety of places. In 1850, the township's population was 2904. By 1881, the population of Etobicoke township was 2976. In 1911, the community of Mimico was incorporated on land taken from Etobicoke township. New Toronto
9912-528: The necessity of overhead wire and a trolley pole for street cars and railways. While at the University of Denver he conducted experiments which established that multiple unit powered cars were a better way to operate trains and trolleys. Electric tramways spread to many European cities in the 1890s, such as: Sarajevo built a citywide system of electric trams in 1895. Budapest established its tramway system in 1887, and its ring line has grown to be
10030-419: The north of Islington in the 19th century on Eglinton Ave. (formerly Richview Rd.), as did the gateway Humber Heights communities (connecting to Toronto): Westmount and Humbervale, to the east on Eglinton. Development of the until-then largely undeveloped eastern part of central Etobicoke (originally a forest reserved for the use of government mills as "The King's Mill Reserve"; "Kingsmill"), the "Humber Valley",
10148-528: The oldest communities in Etobicoke developed along the first street, Dundas Street, in the south of this area, which crosses the width of Etobicoke on the escarpment formed by the ancient shoreline of Lake Iroquois. This area centres around the Islington community, the former administrative centre of Etobicoke and later Etobicoke's 'downtown' which is near the central 'Six Points' intersection at its western boundary. The rural Richview community developed directly to
10266-523: The oldest operating electric tramway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram was opened near Vienna in Austria. It was the first tram in the world in regular service that was run with electricity served by an overhead line with pantograph current collectors . The Blackpool Tramway was opened in Blackpool, UK on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. This system
10384-410: The original remnant residential (northern) section of Humber Bay is north of The Queensway, east of Mimico Creek to the Humber River. The commercial, southern section of Humber Bay retains only Christie's Biscuits bakery, as high-rise condominium towers and clustered row housing have forced out virtually all other commercial/industrial employment uses. In the late 1990s, the former McGuiness Whisky factory
10502-617: The poor paving of the streets in American cities which made them unsuitable for horsebuses , which were then common on the well-paved streets of European cities. Running the horsecars on rails allowed for a much smoother ride. There are records of a street railway running in Baltimore as early as 1828, however the first authenticated streetcar in America, was the New York and Harlem Railroad developed by
10620-519: The rural areas between the old communities including Thorncrest Village , Princess-Rosethorn and Eringate – Centennial – West Deane as well as the older Eatonville community to the west of Islington. Central Etobicoke includes Etobicoke's most exclusive neighbourhoods, with fine housing stock and many large treed properties. Along the East and West Mall parallel to Highway 427 exists a mix of hi-rise rentals, townhouses and post-war bungalows. Markland Wood
10738-681: The south of the lake, pushed them out. After continued harassment from the Iroquois to the south, a coalition of the Ojibway , Odawa , and Potawatomi Algonquin nations, known as the Three Fires, gradually pushed the Haudenosaunee off this land. The Algonquian-speaking Mississaugas settled here by 1695, fishing and growing crops more locally in the summer and hunting farther afield in the winter. The British officials intended Etobicoke to be included in
10856-529: The suburban tramway lines around Milan and Padua ; the last Gamba de Legn ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan- Magenta -Castano Primo route in late 1957. The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a tram engine (UK) or steam dummy (US). The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in Rockhampton , in
10974-402: The three best golf courses in Canada. Etobicoke is generally divided into three large areas roughly corresponding to its political ridings. Each has neighbourhoods, mostly developments of 19th-century ' postal villages ' (rural neighbourhoods), that were built at key points along the early roads and railways; especially the three former 'Lakeshore Municipalities' that separated from Etobicoke in
11092-545: The tracks. Siemens later designed his own version of overhead current collection, called the bow collector . One of the first systems to use it was in Thorold, Ontario , opened in 1887, and it was considered quite successful. While this line proved quite versatile as one of the earliest fully functional electric streetcar installations, it required horse-drawn support while climbing the Niagara Escarpment and for two months of
11210-416: The tram and completing the earth return circuit with their body could receive a serious electric shock. If "grounded", the driver was required to jump off the tram (avoiding simultaneous contact with the tram and the ground) and pull down the trolley pole, before allowing passengers off the tram. Unless derailed, the tram could usually be recovered by running water down the running rails from a point higher than
11328-460: The tram loses electrical contact with the rails. In this event, the underframe of the tram, by virtue of a circuit path through ancillary loads (such as interior lighting), is live at the full supply voltage, typically 600 volts DC. In British terminology, such a tram was said to be 'grounded'—not to be confused with the US English use of the term, which means the exact opposite. Any person stepping off
11446-427: The tram, the water providing a conducting bridge between the tram and the rails. With improved technology, this ceased to be an problem. In the 2000s, several companies introduced catenary-free designs: Alstom's Citadis line uses a third rail, Bombardier's PRIMOVE LRV is charged by contactless induction plates embedded in the trackway and CAF URBOS tram uses ultracaps technology As early as 1834, Thomas Davenport ,
11564-804: The wider term light rail , which also includes systems separated from other traffic. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line ; older systems may use a trolley pole or a bow collector . In some cases, a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets and diesel in more rural environments. Occasionally, trams also carry freight . Some trams, known as tram-trains , may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are often indistinct, and systems may combine multiple features. One of
11682-409: The winter when hydroelectricity was not available. It continued in service in its original form into the 1950s. Sidney Howe Short designed and produced the first electric motor that operated a streetcar without gears. The motor had its armature direct-connected to the streetcar 's axle for the driving force. Short pioneered "use of a conduit system of concealed feed" thereby eliminating
11800-524: The world's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao . The chief engineer of the CSR subsidiary CSR Sifang Co Ltd. , Liang Jianying, said that the company is studying how to reduce the running costs of the tram. Trams have been used for two main purposes: for carrying passengers and for carrying cargo. There are several types of passenger tram: There are two main types of tramways,
11918-401: The world. Earlier electric trains proved difficult or unreliable and experienced limited success until the second half of the 1880s, when new types of current collectors were developed. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train , limiting the voltage that could be used, and delivering electric shocks to people and animals crossing
12036-665: Was a case study of the decline of trams in the United States. In the 21st century, trams have been re-introduced in cities where they had been closed down for decades (such as Tramlink in London), or kept in heritage use (such as Spårväg City in Stockholm). Most trams made since the 1990s (such as the Bombardier Flexity series and Alstom Citadis ) are articulated low-floor trams with features such as regenerative braking . In March 2015, China South Rail Corporation (CSR) demonstrated
12154-486: Was built by Werner von Siemens who contacted Pirotsky. This was the world's first commercially successful electric tram. It drew current from the rails at first, with overhead wire being installed in 1883. In Britain, Volk's Electric Railway was opened in 1883 in Brighton. This two kilometer line along the seafront, re-gauged to 2 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 825 mm ) in 1884, remains in service as
12272-598: Was converted into a high-rise loft condominium which became the centrepiece of the Mystic Pointe development. Etobicoke's first railway opened through the area in 1855, just north of the Lake Ontario shoreline, leading to the first period of growth as it replaced Dundas Street in Central Etobicoke as the main means of transportation and the industrial centre along its right-of-way. Central Etobicoke (Etobicoke Centre);
12390-732: Was first opened in 1949 as St. Joseph's High School in the village of Islington with 150 girls by the Sisters of St. Joseph . Next door, the Basilian Fathers established an all-boys school Michael Power High School in 1957. In September 1982, the two schools were merged. Today, Michael Power/St. Joseph serves many students in the southern and central Etobicoke areas predominantly populated by Polish and Ukrainian Byzantine Catholics, who attend southern Etobicoke's two other high schools: Father John Redmond Catholic Secondary School (1986) and Bishop Allen Academy (1989). The first art school in Etobicoke
12508-413: Was incorporated on January 1, 1913. Early on, there was talk of merging Mimico and New Toronto. A 1916 referendum on amalgamating the two communities was approved by the residents of Mimico, but rejected by residents of New Toronto. In 1917, Mimico became a town and in 1920, New Toronto became the Town of New Toronto. Long Branch was incorporated in 1930 as a village. In 1954, Etobicoke Township became
12626-482: Was installed as a commercial venture operating between the outer Melbourne suburb of Box Hill and the then tourist-oriented country town Doncaster from 1889 to 1896. Electric systems were also built in Adelaide , Ballarat , Bendigo , Brisbane , Fremantle , Geelong , Hobart , Kalgoorlie , Launceston , Leonora , Newcastle , Perth , and Sydney . By the 1970s, the only full tramway system remaining in Australia
12744-399: Was largely the work of Robert Home Smith starting about 1900 and including the communities of The Kingsway and Humber Valley Village . The Kingsway neighbourhood has attracted many affluent individuals and families (as of 2001, over 50% of households have an income in excess of CA$ 100,000 /year). As Etobicoke developed in the post-war years, low-density residential areas filled in most of
12862-476: Was opened in the village of Mimico . This was followed by Etobicoke Collegiate Institute in 1928 in central Etobicoke. Today, the Mimico school building is used by John English Junior Middle School. Other secondary schools were built: In the village of New Toronto , New Toronto Secondary School was constructed in 1949 and opened in 1950 as a vocational trade school. Beginning in 1963, Kingsmill Vocational School ,
12980-686: Was providing land to Loyalists in compensation for property they left behind in the U.S. and to veterans of the American Revolution in payment for service. In other parts of Ontario, the Crown granted land to the Iroquoian First Nations who had served as allies during the war and were forced to cede most of their land in New York to the state. The Crown granted more land to members of the Queen's Rangers in
13098-494: Was registered on October 15, 1847. The French master of Upper Canada College , Jean du Petit Pont de la Haye, contracted land surveyor James McCallum Jr. to create a plan for the community planned by the Albion Road Company, and Plan 28 was registered for Claireville on October 12, 1849. The township of Etobicoke was incorporated on January 1, 1850. The first meeting of the town council was held on January 21. Present at
13216-548: Was restarted in 1860, again using horses. It was worked by steam from 1877, and then, from 1929, by very large (106-seat) electric tramcars, until closure in 1960. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, and no street tramway appeared in Britain until 1860 when one was built in Birkenhead by the American George Francis Train . Street railways developed in America before Europe, due to
13334-575: Was settled between the government and the Mississauga First Nation in 2010. Immigrants from the British Isles were among the new settlers, as well as Loyalists who had left the rebellious Thirteen Colonies, by then the United States. Early settlers included many of the Queen's Rangers , who Simcoe gave land to help protect the new capital of Upper Canada and develop this frontier area. In 1793-95,
13452-616: Was tested in San Francisco , in 1873. Part of its success is attributed to the development of an effective and reliable cable grip mechanism, to grab and release the moving cable without damage. The second city to operate cable trams was Dunedin , from 1881 to 1957. The most extensive cable system in the US was built in Chicago in stages between 1859 and 1892. New York City developed multiple cable car lines, that operated from 1883 to 1909. Los Angeles also had several cable car lines, including
13570-616: Was the Melbourne tram system. However, there were also a few single lines remaining elsewhere: the Glenelg tram line , connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of Glenelg , and tourist trams in the Victorian Goldfields cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as the largest urban tram network in the world, has been considerably modernised and expanded. The Adelaide line has been extended to
13688-411: Was the cable car, which was pulled along a fixed track by a moving steel cable, the cable usually running in a slot below the street level. The power to move the cable was normally provided at a "powerhouse" site a distance away from the actual vehicle. The London and Blackwall Railway , which opened for passengers in east London, England, in 1840 used such a system. The first practical cable car line
13806-414: Was to use existing parts of the Toronto streetcar system , extending from Union station to Long Branch Loop via Exhibition Place . The originally proposed WWLRT was abandoned when Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford cancelled the entire Transit City project on December 1, 2010. However, an October 2015 city report recommended that the project be reconsidered in the context of other Waterfront transit projects,
13924-851: Was widely used in London, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and the surface contact collection method, used in Wolverhampton (the Lorain system), Torquay and Hastings in the UK (the Dolter stud system), and in Bordeaux , France (the ground-level power supply system). The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. Electric trams largely replaced animal power and other forms of motive power including cable and steam, in
#773226