In 1921, the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was created to integrate and operate the Toronto streetcar system. The system has had various types of rolling stock throughout its history.

The TTC inherited the infrastructure of two separate streetcar operators: the Toronto Railway Company (TRC) and Toronto Civic Railways (TCR). It immediately embarked on a program to connect the TRC and TCR lines into one network. The TTC had to rebuild most of the track to provide a wider devilstrip so that the wider Peter Witt streetcars it was ordering could pass without sideswiping. Between 1938 and 1945, it placed five orders for air-electric PCC streetcars to replace the old, wooden streetcars of the TRC, and to address rising ridership. Between 1947 and 1951, the TTC placed three orders for all-electric PCC cars, with one order equipped with couplers for multiple-unit operation. Between 1950 and 1957, the TTC purchased PCCs from four American cities (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Birmingham and Kansas City). By 1957, the TTC (later renamed the Toronto Transit Commission in 1954, which uses the same acronym) had more PCCs than any other city in North America. After the opening of the Bloor–Danforth subway (today Line 2 Bloor–Danforth) in 1966, the TTC considered terminating all streetcar service in Toronto. However, in 1972, a citizens group led by Jane Jacobs and Steve Munro called "Streetcars for Toronto" persuaded the City to retain streetcar operation. This led to the development of the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) and its longer, articulated cousin, the Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (ALRV), to replace the aging PCC fleet. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) mandated that the next generation of streetcars be wheelchair-accessible. Thus, to replace the CLRVs and ALRVs, Bombardier adapted its low-floor Flexity Outlook model for the TTC to navigate the Toronto streetcar system's tight curves and single-point switches, characteristics set in 1921 to accommodate Peter Witt streetcars, as well as for the unique broad gauge.

Inherited streetcars When the Toronto Transportation Commission was created in 1921, it inherited the facilities of its two predecessor companies: the Toronto Railway Company (TRC) and the Toronto Civic Railways (TCR).

Ex-TRC streetcars

The Toronto Transportation Commission inherited 830 streetcars from the Toronto Railway Company. However, the TTC found that only 351 of them were worth retaining; thus, the TTC disposed of the remaining 479 by 1924. (Two of the disposed cars were relicshorsecar 64, built in 1879, and streetcar 306, built in 1892. Both were ultimately sent to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.)

The 351 streetcars the TTC chose to retain were single-ended streetcars built between 1906 and 1917 in the TRC's own shops. They were all even-numbered and retained their original TRC car numbers. The TTC modified these streetcars and reclassified them into four classes by sets of features.

The A- and A1-class cars were operated from the mid-1920s as six-motor trains with an A1-class (four-motor) car leading a coupled A-class (two-motor) car. These trains required a crew of three, two for the lead car and another for the trailing car. Six-motor trains lasted until 1933 when the A-class cars were retired due to a decline of ridership during the Great Depression. After the retirement of the A-class cars, the A1-class cars would pull a Class N or Q trailer until 1934.

The Class C cars had a Tomlinson coupler to pull a Class N or Q trailer, which in later years would be semi-permanently attached. The Class C cars were retired in 1949. The trailers were then reassigned. Class C-1 was a variation of Class C omitting the coupler. These cars required a two-man crew.

The class with the largest group of ex-TRC cars was Class BB. Twenty BB-class cars were transferred to other cities during World War II: 5 to Fort William, 10 to Ottawa and 5 to Quebec City. The Class BB cars were the last of the ex-TRC cars to be retired, the last forty being retired in 1951. Class BB car 1326 is preserved at the Halton County Radial Railway museum. These cars required a crew of one.

Between 1923 and 1933, the TTC modified all of its ex-TRC cars, at least once, often twice and in one case (1328) thrice, each time converting the car from one class to another. A common second conversion was from C or C1 (two-man operation) to BB class (one-man operation). All C1 cars and many C-class cars were converted to BB-class by 1933. The following tables reflect the classes of retained ex-TRC streetcars after the final modification. The table is in TRC class and year built sequence, and roughly in car number sequence.

TTCClass Class characteristics Lastretirement Classsize A 1-man, front entrance/exit, rear treadle-operated exit, MU 2nd car, 2 motors 1933 33 A1 2-man, front entrance, rear exit, pay-as-you-leave, MU 1st car, 4 motors 1948 33 BB 1-man, front entrance/exit, rear treadle-operated exit 1951 243 C 2-man, front entrance, rear exit, pay-as-you-leave, Tomlinson couplers 1950 42 Total 351

TRCClass Year built TTCClass Fleet numbers(Cars even-numbered) Fleetsize M3 1906–1907 A 1170–1194 13 N1 1907–1908 A 1202–1234, 1238–1242 20 A1 1244–1300, 1306–1308 31 BB 1310 1 N2 1908 A1 1302–1304 2 O1 1909–1910 BB 1312–1330 10 O2 1910–1911 BB 1332–1356, 1360–1368, 1374–1386 25 O3 1911 BB 1388–1484, 1488–1504, 1510–1526, 1532–1548, 1552–1562 82 O4 1912 BB 1764–1782, 1786–1792, 1796–1800, 1804–1818, 1816–1826, 1830–1860 44 O5 1912–1913 BB 1862–1926 33 C 1928–1974, 1978–1986, 1990–2014 42 P1 1915–1916 BB 2016–2020, 2024–2062 23 P2 1917 BB 2064–2092 15 P3 1917 BB 2094–2112 10 Total 351

Ex-TCR streetcars

The TTC inherited the TCR fleet in 1921, and renumbered the cars (using even numbers only) in May 1923. Many of the TRC cars stayed in passenger service in Toronto until 1948. All TCR cars were double-ended.

The TTC initially used the four Class I double-truck streetcars (TCR 120–123, TTC 2120–2126) for temporary service on lines being converted from single to double-track. All were scrapped in 1936, with the exception of car 2120, which the TTC converted into a snow scraper and used on the North Yonge Railways until 1948.

The TTC used the double-truck Class H cars (TCR 100–119, TTC 2128–2144 & 2148–2166) mainly on the Weston route and also on Spadina route until 1948. TCR car 109 (TTC 2146) was destroyed by fire in 1921.

The Class J (TCR 200–212, TTC 2168–2192) double-truck streetcars ran mainly on the Spadina route and also on the Weston route until 1948.

The TTC used the Class F, single-truck streetcars (TCR 50–57, TTC 2200–2214) for rush-hour service until 1926 after which they were converted into snow scrapers. The only three survivors of the entire TCR fleet are from this class, and all three are preserved at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum in Milton, Ontario. Preserved TCR car 55 (TTC 2210) was restored to its original TCR condition. The TTC had converted the other two surviving Class F cars into rail grinders and both are preserved as such at the museum. TCR 52 (TTC 2204) became subway rail grinder RT-7, and TCR 57 (TTC 2214) became streetcar system rail grinder W-28.

Class G (TCR: 60–84, TTC 2216–2264) consisted of single-truck Birney cars, which were used on various TTC routes, such as Davenport and Coxwell, until 1940. The cars were sold in 1927, 1940 and 1941 to run in Cornwall and Halifax until 1949, after which they were scrapped.

In May 1923, the TTC renumbered all the TCR streetcars with even numbers only. The year retired column refers to retirement from passenger service in Toronto; it excludes cars sold to other operators (Class G) or retirements from work car service after conversion. TTCClass Builder Description TTC fleetnumbers TCR fleetnumbers Fleet size Year(s) acquired Year(s) retired IMcGuire-Cummings DE-DT 2120–2126 120–123 4 1912 1933 HNiles DE-DT 2128–2144,2148–2166 100–119 19 1913 1933 (4 cars)1948 (15 cars) JPreston DE-DT 2168–2192 200–212 13 1918 1949 F Preston DE-ST 2200–2214 50–57 8 1915–1917 1926 GBrill BirneyDE-ST 2216–2264 60–84 25 1920 1927 (11 cars)1940–1941 (14 cars)

Peter Witt streetcars

The Peter Witt streetcars were the first new vehicles ordered by the Toronto Transportation Commission; however, they required a major change in the trackwork before they could run. The new cars were wider than the older TRC cars, and the devilstrip between parallel tracks was too narrow at . The TTC had to relay track throughout the system to widen the devil strip to .

The Peter Witt streetcars, the first all-steel streetcars in Toronto, came in two versions: large and small. The large Witts were long and had 60 seats; the small Witts, long and 55 seats. The large Witts had a slow speed but the strength to pull a trailer. The small Witts were faster in operation, could move along better in traffic but could not pull a trailer. Trailer-trains were used on heavily travelled routes such as Yonge, Bloor, College and Dundas.

A streetcar gets a "Peter Witt" designation if it was built using the Peter Witt fare payment design. With Peter Witt streetcars, passengers enter by the front doors and pay their fare as they walk past the conductor seated just before centre doors. Passengers must pay their fare when they pass the conductor either to exit the car by the centre doors or to access the rear of the car. This scheme was dubbed "pay-as-you-pass". Passengers could ride in the unpaid front portion of the car or in the paid rear portion. During the Great Depression, which began in October 1929, to cut costs, many Witt cars were converted to one-man operation, eliminating the conductor's position and relocating the fare box at the car's entrance.

The "Peter Witt" trailers were not of the Peter Witt design because of their door arrangement. The Class N trailers had two narrow centre doors flanking the conductor's position, and were slow to load and unload. Thus, the three-door Class Q trailers (also known as Harvey trailers) were introduced with a double door on one side of the conductor's position and a single, narrow door on the other side. One of the doors had a gate so that it could be used as either an entry or exit.

Originally, all but the class P small Witt vehicles had a fully enclosed operator cab. (This feature would not be repeated in Toronto until the introduction of the Flexity Outlook in 2014.) Around 1940, the cab walls were removed.

The first major retirement came in 1938 with the introduction of PCC streetcars. All 60 class N trailers and 30 of the class Q trailers were withdrawn with PCCs replacing Peter Witt trailer-trains on the Bloor and Dundas streetcar routes. These were the first of the new cars purchased by the TTC to be scrapped after only 15 to 17 years of service. The next major retirement came in 1954 with the opening of the original subway, which is primarily along Yonge Street (today a part of Line 1 Yonge–University). All the remaining trailers and all of the large Peter Witt cars were retired. The subway replaced the Yonge streetcar line, which heavily used Peter Witt trailer-trains. The final major retirement, this time of the remaining small Peter Witt cars, came in 1965 following the opening of the University subway in 1963 (also a part of Line 1 Yonge–University).

Motor cars are even-numbered; trailers are odd-numbered: ClassBuilder Description Fleet numbers Fleet size Year(s) built Last retired KCC&F large Peter Witt w/trailer coupler 2300–2498 100 1921 1954 L1 CC&F large Peter Witt w/trailer coupler 2500–2578 40 1921 1954 M Brill large Peter Witt w/trailer coupler 2580–2678 50 1922 1954 P1 CC&F small Peter Witt 2700–2798 50 1922–1923 ? P2 Ottawa small Peter Witt 2800–2898 50 1923 1965 L2 CC&F large Peter Witt w/trailer coupler 2900–3018 60 1923 1954 Trailers: N CC&F 2-door trailer 2301–2419 60 1921 1938 Q CC&F 3-door trailer 2701–3029 165 1923 1954

PCC streetcars