This is a list of street railways in Canada by province. Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories and Nunavut are the only places in Canada to not have had any tram (streetcar) system. The list includes all streetcar systems, past and present.
This is a list of street railways in Canada by province. Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories and Nunavut are the only places in Canada to not have had any tram (streetcar) system. The list includes all streetcar systems, past and present.
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary | Calgary Municipal Railway | Electric | 5 Jul 1909 | 29 Dec 1950 | |
| Heritage Park Historical Village | Electric | 1975 | Museum with operational heritage streetcar lines. Operates only during summer season. Streetcars was taken out of service in 2006 in preparation for the park's expansion, and returned to service in May 2010, taking passengers from the parking lot to the newly built CPR replica station and front gate. [1] [ circular reference ] | ||
| Edmonton | Edmonton Radial Railway | Electric | 30 Oct 1908 | 1 Sep 1951 | |
| Edmonton Interurban Railway Company | Petrol (gasoline) | 30 Sep 1913 | 1 Apr 1914 | Connected Edmonton and St. Albert. Closed because of depot (carbarn) fire. | |
| Edmonton Radial Railway Society - Fort Edmonton Park | Electric | 1984 | Operates in Fort Edmonton Park during park operating times. | ||
| Edmonton Radial Railway Society - High Level Bridge Streetcar | Electric | 14 Jun 1997 | Operates daily during summer season. Operates on the highest streetcar bridge in the world. Includes streetcar museum. | ||
| Lake Louise | Lake Louise Tramway | Petrol (gasoline) | 1912 | 1930 | Operated only during summer season (May-Sep). |
| Lethbridge | Lethbridge Municipal Railway | Electric | Sep 1912 | 8 Sep 1947 | |
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson | Nelson Street Railway | Electric | 27 Dec 1899 8 Nov 1910 | 27 April 1908 20 Jun 1949 | Closed 1908 because of depot (carbarn) fire. Operation suspended 21 Dec 1910 - 21 Jun 1911. Ranked as the smallest town in the British Empire with a town tramway system. Heritage tramway opened 15 Jun 1992; see Nelson Electric Tramway. |
| Vancouver | British Columbia Electric Railway Company | Electric | 28 Jun 1890 | 21 Apr 1955 | Heritage tramway opened 29 Jul 1998; operated May – October; service suspended indefinitely in fall 2011 – see Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway. [2] |
| ? New Westminster | Electric | 7 Oct 1891 | 4 Dec 1938 | ||
| ? North Vancouver | Electric | 1 Sep 1906 | 23 Apr 1947 | ||
| Victoria | Electric | 22 Feb 1890 | 3 Jul 1948 | ||
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon | Brandon Municipal Railway | Electric | 2 Jun 1913 | 30 Apr 1932 | Operation suspended 15 Aug 1931 - 1 Oct 1931. |
| Winnipeg | Winnipeg Electric Company | Horse | 20 Oct 1882 | Jun 1894 | |
| Electric | 27 Jan 1891 | 18 Sep 1955 | |||
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moncton | Moncton Electric Street Railway, Heat and Power Company, Moncton Tramways, Electricity and Gas Company, Ltd. | Electric | 11 Aug 1896 30 Nov 1911 | 11 Dec 1897 31 Dec 1931 | |
| Saint John | Saint John Railway Co., New Brunswick Power Company | Horse | 24 Aug 1869 17 Oct 1887 | 1876 May 1893 | |
| Electric | 12 Apr 1893 | 7 Aug 1948 | |||
| St. Stephen | Calais Street Railway Company | International tramway, see Calais, Maine, US . | |||
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | St. John's Street Railway Company | Electric | 1 May 1900 | 15 Sep 1948 | |
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halifax | Nova Scotia Light and Power Company, Limited | Horse | 11 Jun 1866 21 Oct 1886 | 17 May 1876 31 May 1896 | |
| Electric | 12 Feb 1896 | 29 Apr 1949 | |||
| New Glasgow - Trenton | Pictou County Electric Company | Electric | 10 Oct 1904 | 7 May 1931 | |
| Sydney | Cape Breton Electric Company | Electric | 1901 | Oct 1931 | |
| ? North Sydney | Cape Breton Electric Company | Electric | 1903 | 1929 | |
| ? Glace Bay | Cape Breton Tramways Company, Ltd. | Electric | 7 Jan 1908 | 1938 | |
| ? Sydney - Glace Bay | Cape Breton Tramways Company, Ltd. | Electric | Oct 1902 | 15 May 1947 | |
| Yarmouth | Yarmouth Light and Power Company | Electric | 26 Aug 1892 | 20 Oct 1928 | |
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belleville | Belleville Traction Company | Horse | 1876-05-23 | 1891-11-26 | Closed because of depot (carbarn) fire. (One source states that horse tramway operation continued to electrification in 1895.) |
| Electric | 1895-08-03 | 1901-09-12 | |||
| Brantford | Brantford Municipal Railway | Horse | 1886-09-04 | 1893 | |
| Electric | 1893-03-31 1933-01-09 | 1932-09-30 1940-01-31 | |||
| Chatham | Chatham Street Railway Company | Horse | 1885 1891-06 | 1890-03-29 1895 (?) | [3] |
| Cornwall | Cornwall Street Railway, Light and Power Company, Ltd [4] | Electric | 1896-07-07 | 1949-07-27 | Used for freight under catenary until 9 October 1971 [4] |
| Guelph | Guelph Radial Railway Company | Electric | 1895-09-17 | 1937-09-30 | [5] |
| Hamilton | Hamilton Street Railway | Horse | 1874-05-15 | 1893 | |
| Electric | 1892-07-02 | 1951-04-06 | |||
| Kingston | Kingston, Portsmouth and Cataraqui Electric Railway Company | Electric | 1893-09-26 | 1930-03-04 | Closed because of tramcar depot (carbarn) fire. |
| Kitchener and Waterloo | Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway | Horse | 1889-06-13 | 1895 | Converted to electric |
| Kitchener and Waterloo | Electric | 1895-05-18 | 1923 | Ownership transfer to Kitchener PUC | |
| Kitchener and Waterloo | Berlin & Bridgeport Electric Street Railway Company 1902–1912; | Electric | 1902 | 1923 | Renamed Berlin & Northern Railway Company 1912, Waterloo Wellington Railway Company 1919; ownership transfer to Kitchener PUC 1923 |
| Kitchener and Waterloo | Kitchener PUC Street Railway Department | Electric | 1923 | 1946-12-27 | Converted to bus, trolleybus |
| Kitchener and Waterloo | Ion rapid transit | Electric | 2019-06-21 | ||
| London | London Street Railway | Horse | 1875-05-24 | 1896-05 | |
| Electric | 1895-09-12 | 1940-11-27 | |||
| Niagara Falls | Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway | Horse | 1886-12-06 | 1900 | |
| Electric | 1900-08-15 | 1947-11-26 | |||
| Oshawa | Oshawa Railway Company | Electric | 1895-06-13 | 1940-01-28 | |
| Ottawa | Ottawa Electric Railway Company | Horse | 1870-07-21 | 1891 | |
| Electric | 1891-06-29 | 1959-04-30 | Diesel light rail transit (DLRT), opened 15 Oct 2001. | ||
| Peterborough | Peterborough Radial Railway Company | Electric | 1893-08 1902 | 1898 1927-03-31 | |
| St. Catharines | Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway | Horse | 1879-11-01 | 1887 | |
| Electric | 1887-09 | 1948-05-07 | |||
| St. Thomas | St. Thomas Municipal Railway | Horse | 1879 | 1898 | |
| Electric | 1898-06-16 | 1926-02-12 | |||
| Sarnia | Sarnia Street Railway Company | Horse | 1875 | 1901 | |
| Electric | 1901-01 | 1931-02-25 | |||
| Sault Ste. Marie | International Transit Company | Electric | 1903-03-30 | 1941-11-01 | |
| Temiskaming Shores | Temiskaming Streetcar Line | Electric | 1910-04-30 | 1935-02-09 | |
| Greater Sudbury | Sudbury and Copper Cliff Suburban Electric Railway Company | Electric | 1915-11-11 | 1950-10-01 | |
| Thunder Bay | Tramways in Fort William and Port Arthur closed prior to amalgamation. | ||||
| ? Fort William | Fort William Street Railway | Electric | 1892-03-02 | 1948-02-15 | First electric streetcar system in Canada |
| ? Port Arthur | Port Arthur Civic Railway | Electric | 1893-06-01 | 1948-10-16 | |
| Toronto | Toronto streetcar system | Horse | 1861-09-11 | 1894-08-31 | |
| Electric | 1892-08-16 | ||||
| Waterloo | see Kitchener. | ||||
| Welland | Niagara, Welland and Lake Erie Railway Company | Electric | 1912-01 | 1930-07-04 | |
| Windsor | Sandwich, Windsor and Amherstburg Railway Company | Horse | 1874-07-20 1878-05 | 1877 1893 | |
| Steam | 1877 1888-04 | 1878-05 1888 | |||
| Electric | 1886-06-06 1891-08-15 | 1888-04 1939-05-06 | |||
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Broughton | Québec Asbestos Company | Electric (?) | ca. 1924 (?) | 1942 (?) | Peschkes (Part Four, 1998, Page 25) states that, according to one source, Québec Asbestos Company operated a small town tramway network with three tramcars acquired second-hand from Sherbrooke. No other sources confirm this information. |
| Gatineau | Hull Electric Company | Electric | 1895 | 6 Dec 1947 | Tramway in Hull closed prior to amalgamation with neighboring towns. |
| Lévis | Levis Tramways Company | Electric | 1903 | 23 Nov 1946 | Operation suspended 1921 - 1922 because of depot (carbarn) fire. |
| Montréal | Montreal Tramways Company | Horse | 27 Nov 1861 | Oct 1894 | Montreal City Passenger Railway became Montreal Street Railway Co in 1886 |
| Electric | 21 Sep 1892 | 30 Aug 1959 | MSRy amalgamated with Montreal, Park and Island Railway (MSRy assumed control of that company in 1901) and Montreal Terminal Railway (MSRy assumed control of that company in 1907) to form Montreal Tramways Co in 1911. The company was purchased by the Montreal Transportation Commission in 1951. | ||
| Québec | Quebec Railway, Light and Power Company: Citadel Division | Horse | 17 Aug 1865 | 1898 | |
| Electric | 20 Jul 1897 | 25 May 1948 | |||
| Sherbrooke | Sherbrooke Railway and Power Company | Electric | 1 Nov 1897 | 31 Dec 1931 | |
| Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers) | Three Rivers Traction Company | Electric | 11 Dec 1915 | 12 Sep 1933 | |
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moose Jaw | Moose Jaw Electric Railway Company | Electric | 4 Sep 1911 | 8 Oct 1932 | |
| Regina | Regina Municipal Railway | Electric | 28 Jul 1911 | 9 Sep 1950 | |
| Saskatoon | Saskatoon Municipal Railway | Electric | 1 Jan 1913 | 10 Nov 1951 | |
| Location | Name of System | Traction Type | Date (From) | Date (To) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehorse | Whitehorse trolley | Diesel | 2000 | 2018 | Heritage tramway with one streetcar (from Lisbon, Portugal). Closed in 2018 due to lack of funding for track maintenance. |
A tram is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the United States, with trolley being the preferred term in the eastern US and streetcar in the western US. Streetcar or tramway are preferred in Canada. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as "trolley-replica buses". In the United States, the term tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tired trackless trains, which are unrelated to other kinds of trams.
Light rail transit (LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit characterized by a combination of tram and rapid transit features. While its rolling stock is similar to a traditional tram, it operates at a higher capacity and speed, and often on an exclusive right-of-way. In many cities, light rail transit systems more closely resemble, and are therefore indistinguishable from, traditional underground or at-grade subways and heavy-rail metros.
The British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) was an historic railway which operated in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Originally the parent company for, and later a division of, BC Electric Company, the BCER assumed control of existing streetcar and interurban lines in southwestern British Columbia in 1897, and operated the electric railway systems in the region until the last interurban service was discontinued in 1958. During and after the streetcar era, BC Electric also ran bus and trolleybus systems in Greater Vancouver and bus service in Greater Victoria; these systems subsequently became part of BC Transit, and the routes in Greater Vancouver eventually came under the control of TransLink. Trolley buses still run in the City of Vancouver with one line extending into Burnaby.
Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles.
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered tram or streetcar.
Urban rail transit is a wide term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories, which sometimes overlap because some systems or lines have aspects of multiple types.
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:
The Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway was a heritage electric railway line that operated from 1998 to 2011 between Granville Island and Science World, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It operated only on weekends and holidays, usually from May to mid-October, and was aimed primarily at tourists. Two restored interurban trams were used on the line, which used a former freight railway right-of-way.
Old Pueblo Trolley is a non-profit, educational corporation based in Tucson, in the U.S. state of Arizona, that is dedicated to the preservation of Arizona's mass transit history. The name also commonly refers to the heritage streetcar line which OPT began operating in 1993, on which service is currently indefinitely suspended. OPT consists of three divisions that each fill a specific role in preserving the state's mass transit history. The divisions are the Street Railway Division, Motor Bus Division and the Museum Division.
Streetcars were part of the public transit service in Kenosha, Wisconsin in the first third of the 20th century, and returned to this role in 2000.
The Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway was a street railway in Berlin and Waterloo in Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. Horsecar service began in 1888 under the original Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway name and continued until the system was electrified in 1895, when the existing horsecars were converted for electric service. This proved ineffective, and the company suffered from under-investment. In 1896, a local consortium bought out the company and purchased a new fleet of purpose-built electric trams. The system was municipalized in 1907 and was run by the Town of Berlin/Kitchener until the end of service. The railway was renamed in 1919 to reflect the name change of the City of Kitchener, which had occurred in 1916. In 1927, it was reorganized under the Kitchener Public Utilities Commission, which continued operations until 1946, when streetcar service was discontinued and replaced with trolleybus service.
The Fort Smith Trolley Museum is a streetcar and railroad museum in Fort Smith, in the U.S. state of Arkansas, which includes an operating heritage streetcar line. The museum opened in 1985, and operation of its streetcar line began in 1991. Four vehicles in its collection, a streetcar and three steam locomotives, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The now approximately three-quarters-mile-long (1.2 km) streetcar line also passes four NRHP-listed sites, including the Fort Smith National Historic Site, the Fort Smith National Cemetery, the West Garrison Avenue Historic District and the 1907 Atkinson-Williams Warehouse Building, which now houses the Fort Smith Museum of History.
Streetcars or trolley(car)s were once the chief mode of public transit in hundreds of North American cities and towns. Most of the original urban streetcar systems were either dismantled in the mid-20th century or converted to other modes of operation, such as light rail. Today, only Toronto still operates a streetcar network essentially unchanged in layout and mode of operation.
Although tram systems date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many old systems were closed during the mid-20th century because of the advent of automobile travel. This was especially the case in North America, but postwar reductions and shutdowns also occurred on British, French and other Western European urban rail networks. However, traditional tramway systems survived, and eventually even began to thrive from the late 20th century onward, some eventually operating as much as when they were first built over a century ago. Their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities which had discarded this form of transport.
The Nelson Electric Tramway is a heritage railway at Nelson in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. It is one of two operational historic tram systems in the province.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to public transport:
Urban rail transit in Canada encompasses a broad range of rail mass transit systems, including commuter rail, rapid transit, light rail, and streetcar systems.
