Hamilton Street Railway

The Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) is the public transport agency for Hamilton, Ontario. The name is a legacy of the company's early period, when public transit in Hamilton was primarily served by streetcars. Although streetcars are no longer used in the city today, the HSR operates bus and paratransit services, with a ridership of 21 million passengers a year.

On March 29, 1873, the HSR was established after Ontario passed An Act to incorporate "The Hamilton Street Railway Company." It was owned by Lyman Moore and operated as a private business under a city franchise. In 1899, HSR was bought out by the Hamilton Cataract, Power, Light and Traction Company, later known as Dominion Power and Transmission Company. In April 1930, HSR was acquired by Ontario Hydro. Provincial ownership ended in 1946 when HSR became a subsidiary of Canada Coach Lines. Through a corporate reorganization in 1954, CCL became a subsidiary of HSR. HSR and CCL were purchased by the city of Hamilton in 1960. CCL was sold to Trentway-Wagar in 1993. In 1977, the Hamilton-Wentworth Region assumed ownership of HSR. In 2001, regional amalgamation placed ownership back with the city of Hamilton.

The HSR operated horsecars from 1874 to 1892. In May 1874, the first horsecar ran south on James Street, then east on King Street to Wellington Street, a distance of 4.8 kilometres (3 mi). At the end of horsecar operation, there were 5 horsecar routes, 19 kilometres (12 mi) of track, 45 horsecars, 9 sleighs and 160 horses. Fifteen of the horsecars would be converted into electric streetcars. The horsecar system had three barns: North Barn at Stuart and Bay Streets, East Barn at Sanford Avenue and King Street (built 1890) and South Barn at Herkimer and Locke Streets (built 1891). These three locations would continue to be used after electrification. On June 29, 1892, the first electric streetcars went into operation.

In 1895, York Street was mostly double-tracked. In 1896, the first streetcar loop was constructed at Guise Street at the north end of James Street. In 1904, HSR provided rush-hour service north from Barton Street over the tracks of the Hamilton Radial Electric Railway (HRER) along Birch Avenue. In 1907, the 2.3-kilometre (1.4 mi), single-track, side-of-road Bartonville line was built east from Sherman Avenue along King Street East to Strongman Road. Barton Street was double-tracked in 1911. Tracks were extended east along Burlington Street from James Street (1910 and 1913), linking to the double-track HRER line at Birch Avenue. By 1916, tracks had been extended east on Barton Street, north and south on Kennilworth Avenue and west on Main Street; an enlarged Belt Line was created in October 1916 using the new double track and became the city's busiest streetcar line. By 1923, the tracks had been extended west along King Street to Cline Avenue in Westdale. After the Hamilton and Dundas Street Railway ceased operation in 1923, HSR took over a portion of its line along Aberdeen Avenue to Longwood Road.

In 1908, the South Barn was destroyed by fire after which the site continued to be used for streetcar storage. In 1910, the Sanford Barn was opened near north-west corner of King and Sanford Streets, across the street from the East Barn. In 1928, new shops were opened near the East Barn to maintain streetcars and interurban cars. In 1929, the North Barn closed.

The HSR had a mixed fleet of single-end and double-end streetcars. Single-end streetcars were used on the Belt Line where no loops were required. In 1927, turning loops were added at the outer ends of the Aberdeen and Westdale lines.

Bus service was introduced in 1926 along Cannon Street. The first contraction of the streetcar system was the closure of the single-track line to Bartonville, replaced by buses in 1929. The first major streetcar abandonment was along York Street on 1939.

By 1940, the HSR operated the following seven routes: