Hillcrest Complex
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Hillcrest Complex
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| Location | 1138 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario Canada |
| Coordinates | 43°40′32″N 79°25′04″W / 43.67556°N 79.41778°WCoordinates: 43°40′32″N 79°25′04″W / 43.67556°N 79.41778°W |
| Operated by | Toronto Transit Commission |
| Construction | |
| Structure type | Maintenance shops; administration offices; Transit Control Centre |
| History | |
| Opened | 1924 |
Hillcrest Complex is the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility and is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersection of Bathurst Street and Davenport Road. The site is also home to the TTC's Transit Control Centre, but the operational headquarters of the organization remain at the McBrien Building at 1900 Yonge Street.
Hillcrest Complex occupies an area of about 13 hectares (32 acres) with a frontage of 270 m (890 ft) along Bathurst Street and 420 m (1,380 ft) along Davenport Road.
In 1922, the TTC purchased the Hillcrest Race Track to use its land for the new shop complex to replace smaller facilities inherited from the Toronto Railway Company and Toronto Civic Railways. The TTC opened Hillcrest Complex on March 13, 1924 with the move of the carbuilding function from the TRC's Front Street location. On June 9, the School of Instruction moved into Hillcrest.
During World War II, the Hillcrest Complex participated in the war effort by producing parts for military equipment.
On July 30, 1953, Toronto's first two subway cars arrived at the Hillcrest Complex. However, all subsequent deliveries of G-series subway cars were made directly to the Davisville Yard.
Named for D. W. Harvey and opened in 1923, the Harvey Shops handle the heavy maintenance of buses as well as high-floor streetcars such as the CLRV and ALRV. The shops occupy a space of 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) and is divided into sections for trades such as upholstery, blacksmith and carpentry. There is also a paint shop.
The building contains a transfer table to access over 50 service bays with about 25 bays on each side of the moving table. The transfer table and most of the bays are only 15 metres (49 ft) long. So, when ALRV streetcars with a length of 23 metres (75 ft) were introduced, an addition was built on the easternmost tracks with direct access from outdoors to allow the ALRV cars to drive through the old building crossing the transfer table into a longer wing on the northeast side of the building where they are maintained.
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