Keele Yard

Keele Yard
Keele Yard looking west in 2007
Overview
System	Toronto subway
Locale	High Park North, Toronto
Operation
Opened	1966
Operator(s)	Toronto Transit Commission
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 10 7⁄8 in (1,495 mm)
Electrification	Third rail, 600 V DC
Route map to Kipling Indian Road Dorval Road to Kennedy

Keele Yard (originally known as Vincent Yard) is a rail yard on the Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC's) Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway system. Keele Yard is located between Dundas West and Keele stations.

The yard consists of four tracks each long enough to hold two six-car trains. Each track enters an underground carhouse at the east end of the yard providing interior storage for half of the yard's eight train capacity. There is a locked passage for TTC staff between the carhouse and Dundas West Station. The tracks of the Keele Yards join the mainline about 80 metres east of Keele Station near Indian Road. There is a double crossover between Keele Station and the Keele Yard junction.

Since the Keele Yard's 2017 re-opening, most activity occurs in the late evenings and early mornings. Four trains plus some work cars use the yard. Each night, subway workcars typically leave the Keele Yard before 2 a.m. when the four passenger trains start to arrive. At night, the trains are tested and prepared for morning service with some system check tests occurring on the outdoor storage tracks. Workcars will return to the yard before 5:45 a.m. at which time the passenger trains start to go into morning service. The first westbound train is scheduled to go past the Keele Yard at about 6:00 a.m. The number of work cars using the yard will vary depending on work scheduled at the west end of Line 2.

Keele Yard was originally named Vincent Yard after Vincent Street, a short street that used to run east from Dundas Street, north of Bloor Street. The Dundas streetcars turned around at Vincent until the construction of Dundas West station. The street has since been replaced with The Crossways apartment building complex.

Opened in 1966, the yard historically supplemented Greenwood Yard and stored trains for Line 2 Bloor–Danforth and Line 1 Yonge–University subways. The trains would be given some minor maintenance and have their interiors cleaned. This continued until the late 1970s when Wilson Yard was opened and all excess trains could be stored there. From that point, until 2013, it was used to store and retired subway cars. It was also used for track maintenance training. Keele Yard fell into poor condition after years of inactivity.