The Beltline Trail

The Beltline Trail follows the route of the Toronto Belt Line Railway, a commuter line built during the speculative real-estate boom of the 1880s to open up undeveloped land north of the city for suburban development. Construction began in 1890, but the anticipated land boom collapsed and the Belt Line Company went bankrupt in early 1892 before finishing the line. The Grand Trunk Railway completed construction, and service began on July 30, 1892.

A very short life

The railway was never profitable. Ridership fell short of projections, service was cut back by mid-1894, and the line closed entirely on November 17, 1894 — after operating for only about 870 days. The rail corridor then sat in limited industrial use for nearly a century before Canadian National Railways sold the disused right-of-way to the City of Toronto in 1988.

Rebirth as a trail

The completed Beltline Trail today runs roughly 9 kilometres through the Junction, Forest Hill and Moore Park toward the Evergreen Brick Works — a rare case of a failed 19th-century transit venture becoming one of the city's most successful pieces of green infrastructure.

Sources

• Toronto Railway Historical Association — Toronto Belt Line
• City of Toronto — Beltline Trail Commemorative Stations

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