Davisville Yard

Davisville Yard
North view from the Beltline Trail bridge
Overview
System	Toronto subway
Locale	Chaplin Estates, Toronto
Operation
Opened	1954
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 Finch Lola Road Imperial Street Davisville Avenue Davisville station William McBrien Building   Beltline Trail to Union

The Davisville Subway Yard is a rail yard on the Toronto Transit Commission's Yonge subway line.

Location

The yard is located adjoining the Davisville Station, between Eglinton and St. Clair Stations. The yard is next to the TTC headquarters at 1900 Yonge Street.

History

Davisville Yard under construction, c. 1953

Davisville Yard acted as the main maintenance and storage yard for Toronto's Yonge subway, which opened between Union Station and Eglinton Avenue in 1954.^[1] While the first two subway cars were delivered to the TTC's Hillcrest Complex, subsequent subway cars were delivered to Davisville yard via the Toronto Belt Line Railway.

Davisville was Toronto's sole subway yard until 1966, when Greenwood Yard opened. Subway car deliveries were also shifted to Greenwood at this time. While usage of it began to wane, it remained active even as the larger Wilson Yard opened in 1978.^[2] The yard became deactivated after 1993, when repairs were required to a retaining wall to the south of the yard. Even after this work was completed, the yard remained inactive as the TTC had become quite satisfied with the temporary storage and maintenance arrangement during the closure. The yard was temporarily reactivated during the 1995 Russell Hill subway accident, and also during the retirement of older rolling stock (H-1/H-2, M-1). The subway yard was formally reactivated in June 2002, a few months prior to the opening of Line 4 Sheppard.^[2]

Current operations

A G-series train at Davisville, c. 1969

Trains at Davisville yard, seen from Davisville station c. 2009

Davisville Yard is home to a small portion of the TTC's revenue rolling stock of Toronto Rocket subway trains which operate on Line 1 Yonge-University and Line 4 Sheppard and some of the Commission's work cars.

Facilities

• marshalling yard
• indoor storage facility
• outdoor storage facility

References

1. "A Cavalcade of Progress, 1921-1954". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
2. Bow, James; Lubinski, Robert (19 December 2015). "The Davisville Subway Yards". Retrieved 20 November 2016.

Coordinates: 43°41′50″N 79°23′51″W / 43.69729°N 79.39753°W