End of the Line: Scarborough RT - TTC Line 3 Closure

Since 1985, residents of Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto relied on their orphan of a transit line, the Scarborough RT. Commonly referred to as just the "RT" and by TTC: Line 3, it ran along a right of way from Kennedy Station, terminating at McCowan Station just outside Town Centre.
It provided a major link for those along and around the route connecting people with a frequent service to downtown Toronto. More importantly it was woven into Scarborough history. It was loud, unreliable during bad winter storms and in the end an old, tired train but it was a big part of everyday life for those in the heart of Scarborough.
Follow along as I take you along a Jane's Walk bringing us to each station, an opportunity of a lifetime to check out McCowan Yard during Doors Open and it's final resting place at Town Centre as commuters and people of Scarborough say goodbye to their beloved RT.

[@lilychan978]

Wow, such a small channel, yet such good editing over what your talking about, I can’t for when your channel grows, nice job on this video.

[@KevinGoesYoutube]

Thank you so much! I just started this channel not too long ago and I’m beginning to focus more on it as I can. Glad you enjoyed the video! Next one should be coming very soon!

[@iamzuckerburger]

Yeah no this editing is insurmountable. Amazing tunessss

[@trinitek]

Such a well done video! Your editing and narration are great. Enjoyed this farewell vid for the RT.

[@KevinGoesYoutube]

Thank you so much! It was really nice getting to know the RT last summer. Glad I got to see and ride it for its last few months.

[@trinitek]

@@KevinGoesKZbin Yeah I really enjoyed the vid, and I can tell you learned a lot about the RT and what it meant to Scarborough.

[@ardenenglish8736]

As a Vancouverite whose system is defined by this technology, it's crazy to me that it didn't catch on in Toronto. The SkyTrain is so great and it's a shame others haven't gotten the chance to live with it

[@trinitek]

The RT is quite different than the skytrain in vancouver, in that the RT was poorly built and was only meant to be a band-aid solution, not something long term, which is why it was cut short the way it was. Its mostly politics and funding issues.

[@KevinGoesYoutube]

@trinitek said it right. interesting and cool concept at the time but completely half baked and never meant to last as long as it did.

[@andrewchuang8433]

We would really wanted to reopen it once more while the Scarborough subway extension is in progress of construction

[@TheWhitePine5]

I've taken SkyTrain and liked it. For some reason, the scarborough RT was the first time a train trip was actively unpleasant. I took it to see what it was like before it closed, and by the last station didn't even want to go back. The subway extension will probably be wayyy better.

[@iamzuckerburger]

Sick splicing! Train tech is cool ✌🏽

[@michaelh7518]

Kennedy has a turning loop because it was supposed to run streetcars. RT still opened with two tracks at Kennedy and trains always used the loop. There was a minor derail in the loop within the first year. Kennedy was renovated to single track and a switch. Loop was just occasionally used for short term storage. It should have been built to use streetcars and to Malvern as it was proposed. It would have been full accessible when new streetcars where launched.

[@KevinGoesYoutube]

Yep.

[@ltaproductions7989]

I will really miss line 3, I really love the ICTS fleet, if you ever have the chance, go to Detroit and ride the peoplemover, Same trains and tech, and even the original ttc RT Door chime!

[@andrewchuang8433]

Come on tell Toronto to keep the Scarborough rapid transit back

[@KevinGoesYoutube]

Gone forever but… not forgotten.

[@theyluvchrissy1123]

Line 3 is permently close

[@KevinGoesYoutube]

That’s right, that’s what the entire video is about.

[@MrCoolGuy2024]

I’ve never had a chance to ride line 3 but I do agree that when line 3 was so dam noisy when leaving Kennedy Subway station I’m glad that TTC shut down the line 3 earlier than expected it was originally supposed to close in November of 2023 4:30 4:34 4:35 4:35 4:36 4:36 4:37

[@KevinGoesYoutube]

TTC didn’t really have a say. There was a major derailment that forced its closure. And it’s kind of upsetting to say being glad it closed, millions of Scarborough residents relied on this train. THOUGH! I will admit it’s also sad that people didn’t vote the right leadership in to improve this line over a decade ago to something similar like the tech used on Eglinton or Finch West LRTs.

[@tauron1]

@@KevinGoesKZbin It's a shame that all the TTC Subway projects were outright cancelled and/or scaled back in the 90's. We wouldn't be having the issues we have now with the decade plus construction of the Eglinton Crosstown. If the original subway that was started there wasn't cancelled, it would have already been running already for a while and they could have placed resources on a proper replacement for the Scarborough RT. If they did that, it would have been ready to replace the RT prior to the unceremonious end. Politics always gets in the way of progress, especially here.

[@DwainRichardson]

​@@tauron1Hear, hear.

[@CharlesHatley-e9h]

White George Thompson Linda Robinson Cynthia

[@pacman3556]

The only reason the SRT was shut down is because the trains are obsolete. The majority of cost of construction is the infrastructure (stations, raised rail areas, concrete rail bed, signals etc). The SRT has all this existing. And the Eglinton LRT ends exactly where the SRT ends. It would have been easy to swap the SRT tracks to Eglinton LRT tracks and just continue the Eglinton LRT along the existing SRT route. Instead we get a useless three stop subway to no where. The existing SRT route would have more stops including ones closer too and directly in the middle of the new planned mass development around the Scarborough Town Center (at Midland, Scar. Town Cent. and McCowan). Instead we end up with only one subway stop that will be on the farthest east of the proposed development that will be a km or more away from the major developments. And the money saved swapping tracks instead of building a new subway extension could have been used for even more better transit into Scarborough like extending the LRT along Eglinton. And either extending the subway all the way along Sheppard or building an LRT along the part of Sheppard in Scarborough to the subway. The other new subway stops will be miles apart from each other and not in areas that really support a subway (Lawrence is miles from Kennedy and Scar Center with no houses around it and McCowan and Sheppard is miles away from Scar Center and although it has some proposed new development it is mainly single houses). Our politicians from all levels of govt and all parties are incompetent fools.

[@alandeokiesingh9022]

It would have cost $1.5 billion (likely more) plus at least 4 years (and knowing the TTC's track record, much longer than that) to convert the SRT to LRT. The original LRT plan WAS to continue the Eglinton line onto the SRT route. The original name was "Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown" for this line. However, management decided to break them up into two lines because they were scared that the Scarborough riders would then not get off at Kennedy and continue their trip to Eglinton station, further crowding Line 1. In other words, it would be too convenient for Scarborough riders. I'm not exactly sure why you're saying the three stop subway would be to nowhere. Quite frankly, the current stops are in the middle nowhere and don't support mass transit as it is. The only real viable stations that people actually use are STC, Lawrence East, and Kennedy, all of which are a apart of the subway plan. As this video talks about, stops like Lawrence East, Midland, and Ellesmere are located underneath bridges in industrial areas. It's a terrible area to build transit. The saving grace for the current Lawrence East station is that a number of buses serve it. The Lawrence East subway station would be right at the intersection of McCowan & Lawrence, where at least some people live and can walk to the station, as well as serving the thousands of hospital workers and visitors, along with future development. Again, the only reason why there is planned mass development is BECAUSE of the subway; if it was LRT, there would be no mass development to be in the middle of. And the STC subway station would be at the mall, so it would be in the middle of such development.

[@georgejones8784]

I believe the trackage and tunnels were built to fit the original RT trains. That's the reason the trains were never upgraded - they were discontinued, and newer trains wouldn't fit. If they had been sized to allow streetcars or even subway cars to fit and turn the corners, it might have been an easier decision to install streetcars. Also, wasn't the subway extension decided under Rob Ford? He wasn't a fan of anything that wasn't a subway. We had a choice of an LRT line that ran through Scarborough, or a 2-3 stop subway extension that cost more. The subway was a better choice for downtowners, LRT was better for Scarborough residents.