Toronto Suburban Railway
| Locale | Toronto |
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| Dates of operation | 1891–1931 |
| Track gauge | from 1917 to end: 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Previous gauge | from start to 1917: 4 ft 10 3⁄4 in (1,492 mm) |
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The Toronto Suburban Railway was an electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph.
The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incorporated in 1890, and changed its name to the City and Suburban Electric Railway Company the next year. The Davenport Street Railway Company was incorporated in 1891. In 1894, the Toronto Suburban Street Railway Company was incorporated and acquired these two companies, giving it 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of lines in the northwestern suburbs of Toronto. In 1900, the company name was shortened to Toronto Suburban Railway Company, and in 1904 it was authorized to extend its operations to Hamilton, the Niagara Peninsula, Brampton, Guelph and Woodbridge. The Township of Etobicoke also granted the TSR a franchise to cover the full length of Dundas Street within its limits, west of the Humber River. Expansion plans were hampered because of the shortness of capital and labour, as well as by potential takeover interest by the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, but it did convert its power source from internally generated 500V DC from its own plant, to high-voltage AC power from Niagara Falls.
Allan Royce was the largest shareholder of the TSR, eventually gaining a controlling interest. In 1911, that was sold to William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, who incorporated it into the quickly-expanding Canadian Northern Railway system. At that time, Sir Adam Beck of Ontario Hydro and Henry Thornton of Canadian National Railways had also expressed an interest in the TSR. Under the Municipal Electric Railway Act, 1922, local municipalities were authorized to operate radial lines, or enter into agreements with Ontario Hydro to do so, as part of a larger plan to create a radial network spanning the Greater Golden Horseshoe region, but that did not take place with respect to the TSR lines as that measure was rejected by Toronto voters in a plebiscite held on 1 January 1923, and the issue was not pressed by the Province as the government was subsequently defeated in the 1923 general election. However, routes inside the city were purchased by the City of Toronto in 1923, which then turned them over to the Toronto Transportation Commission. The TTC did upgrade the city routes, and operated the Lambton, Weston and Davenport lines for some years, connecting them with the St. Clair and Dundas routes. In the same year, TSR was amalgamated with the Toronto Eastern Railway, leaving the Canadian National Electric Railways (CNER) with the Guelph and Woodbridge lines.
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Wikipedia