The North Yonge Railways was a radial railway line operated by the Toronto Transportation Commission from 1930 to 1948 between Glen Echo (Toronto) and Richmond Hill. The line was created by reopening the southern portion of the TTC's Lake Simcoe radial line that had closed in 1930. Operations The North Yonge Railways ran along Yonge Street from Glen Echo Terminal at the then-Toronto city limits through the municipalities of North York, Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill. The line was single-track with passing loops and ran almost entirely on the side of the road, with an off-street terminal at Glen Echo and some centre-of-street track in Richmond Hill. The TTC used the Nachod block signal system on the line. The line had a 550-volt substation in Willowdale, which replaced older substations that had been used on the Lake Simcoe line closed in 1930. Service was hourly from Glen Echo to Richmond Hill, every 30 minutes to Steeles Avenue with more frequent service during rush hours. Initially, the last car from Glen Echo was at 12:40 am and the first car was at 5:00 am. However, from April 14, 1942, night service started with trips leaving Glen Echo at 1:20 am, 3:40am and 3:50 am. The line used double-ended, one-man radial cars (numbered 409-416) that Hydro-Electric Railways had once used on its Mimico line. They were housed at the TTC's Eglinton Carhouse. History On July 17, 1930, the TTC's Lake Simcoe line (previously known as the Metropolitan line) running from Glen Echo in North York to Sutton, Ontario was closed being replaced by bus service. However, three months later on October 9, 1930, the portion from Glen Echo to Richmond Hill reopened as the North Yonge Railways. To restart service, the Townships of North York, Markham and Vaughan and the Village of Richmond Hill had acquired their portion of the line and contracted with the Toronto Transportation Commission to run it. On May 14, 1934, the north end of the line in Richmond Hill was shortened by to accommodate highway widening. Effective April 14, 1942, the TTC started night service to Richmond Hill at the request of the municipalities owning the line. On November 11, 1946, buses started to supplement radial cars during the rush hours, a practice that would continue until the radial line's abandonment. The reasons for the bus supplements were increased ridership, an insufficient number of radial cars and