From February 1966 when the original Bloor-Danforth subway opened between Keele and Woodbine, and May 1968 when the extensions to Islington and Warden were added, two streetcar shuttles served the remaining outer part of the Bloor carline.

Looking at the old streetscapes, much remains familiar, but much has been lost especially to cheap rebuilds and infill developments. Very much a vanished breed from this era are the car lots, gas stations, furniture stores and, in a few cases, houses.

Bloor West Shuttle

Keele Station was built with two loops — the bus loop still in use today just east of Keele Street, and a temporary streetcar loop one block further east. This loop was accessed from the east end of the station platforms via stairs that now serve the parking lot.

The route operated from Roncesvalles Carhouse with cars entering service via Roncesvalles, Dundas and Bloor. The equipment was a mixed set of cars thanks to the eclectic fleet at Roncesvalles. On the last day of service, May 10, 1968, one of the oldest still-active cars, 4575 (a 1939 ex-Cincinnati demonstrator PCC) appeared on the route.

The Danforth Shuttle

The Danforth shuttle service operated from Woodbine Station to Luttrell Loop. Like the Bloor car’s arrangement at Keele Station, the streetcars had a separate loop just east of the present bus loop off of Cedarvale Avenue. The service was based at Russell Carhouse, and accessed the route via Coxwell, Upper Gerrard and Main.

For a time, the Danforth car had company at Luttrell Loop because construction at Main Station required Carlton cars to use Luttrell instead.

In a comment on another thread, John F. Bromley pointed out that the track at Woodbine Station is still quite visible. Here is the Google Street View.

Ferrying Cars Between Danforth and Russell Carhouses

After the Bloor-Danforth subway opened in 1966, the TTC had more streetcars than would fit in the active carhouses. Danforth Carhouse (at Coxwell) was used as a storage yard, and cars were rotated periodically to and from Russell Carhouse so that they would all be used from time to time. Just before the extension to Warden opened in 1968, Danforth was emptied of all cars in anticipation of the shutdown of its track connection. (The link via Coxwell had, by then, been closed although it was used as a short turn by the Carlton cars as an alternative to Coxwell-Queen Loop.)

Update: According to John Bromley, the ferrying operation was mainly to take dead cars to Hillcrest or St. Clair for sale or scrap.