Metropolitan Street Railway of Toronto

Metropolitan radial line
(later Lake Simcoe line)

Metropolitan line on Yonge Street at Sherwood Avenue looking south (1912)
Locale	Toronto
Dates of operation	1885–1930
Successor	North Yonge Railways
Track gauge	1885-1895?: 4 ft 10 7⁄8 in (1,495 mm) Toronto gauge 1895?-1927: 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) 1927-1930: 4 ft 10 7⁄8 in (1,495 mm) Toronto gauge
Length	77 km (48 mi)
Headquarters	Toronto

The Metropolitan Street Railway was the operator of the Metropolitan line in the Toronto area that started out as a local horsecar line and transformed itself into an electric radial line extending to Lake Simcoe. In 1904, the railway was acquired by the Toronto and York Radial Railway (T&YRR) and became the T&YRR Metroplolitan Division. In 1922, the City of Toronto acquired the T&YRR and contracted Ontario Hydro to manage the four T&YRR lines including the Metropolitan. In 1927, the TTC took over the operation of the Metropolitan Line to Sutton, and renamed it the Lake Simcoe line. In 1930, the TTC closed the Metropolitan Line but shortly reopened the portion between Glen Echo and Richmond Hill operating it as the North Yonge Railways until 1948.

This article is more about the Metropolitan line than about the company that spawned it.

The Metropolitan line was a single-track radial line with passing loops. Between 1909 and 1914, the Metropolitan line was at its maximum length running from the CPR crossing at Yonge Street to Sutton. Here is a description of the line during that period.

The Toronto terminal of the Metropolitan line was on Yonge Street at the north side of the CPR crossing which at that time was a level crossing. This is near what is now the Summerhill subway station. Passengers arriving from the south by the Yonge streetcar line, needed to get off on the south side of the CPR crossing and walk across the CPR tracks to board the radial cars. A 1905 photo showed that the terminal was off-street at the south-west corner of Yonge Street and Birch Avenue. However, a 1914 map showed that the terminal was relocated to the east side of Yonge Street.

From its Toronto terminal, the line ran northwards on the west side of Yonge Street until the northern brim of Hogg's Hollow. Just south of Saint Clair Avenue, the line passed the line's carhouse on the west side. At Davisville, the railway had an electrical generation station. At the southern brim of Hogg's Hollow, the line descended a 8% grade. (In 1922, the southern terminal would be at Glen Echo at that southern brim.)