Storage for Edmonton's 37 LRV's was originally provided by the ETS Cromdale Shops. Located next to the LRT line on 80 Street at 115 Avenue, this provided to be the best site as it did not require as much money to build a new garage. It already had the space to store large vehicles as it was used as a Streetcar, Bus, and Trolley bus garage since 1913. This site was used from 1977 until December 1983 when the DL MacDonald LRT Shops was opened.
The Cromdale shops was originally built in 1913 as a streetcar bar and repair facility, and more, that opened in June of 1913. These new shops became the site for Edmonton Radial Railway's headquarters. Some of the features that the Cromdale shops had in 1913 was considered "State of the art" for it's time, far more superior than it's Syndicate Avenue facilities that was located at 95 Street. Cromdale featured a carpenter shop, a blacksmith shop, an electrical shop, and more. Originally, these shops were designed to accommodate 51 streetcars.
The later years of the Streetcar era saw the Cromdale shops being converted to use for bus operations. In 1946, the site of the Cromdale shops began to turn into the new trolley coach shops. However, trolley coach and bus operations moved to the Westwood Garage in the 1970's. The shops were later converted to the LRT shops in the 1970's as mentioned earlier. However, sometime in the 1980's to 1990's, Cromdale was converted into a recycling plant that was privately operated and remained like that until sometime in the 1990's. By 1999, the Cromdale shops was taken over by ETS for use to store their historical collection of buses, surplus buses, and more. Even in 2001, there was some of the IAAF Track & Field operations that were running out of the Cromdale shops, such as storing vehicles that were being operated for transporting athletes to the Commonwealth Stadium.
Construction of the DL MacDonald LRV facility commenced in about 1982 after construction of the Clareview Extension was completed. Another extension to Corona and Bay Stations was underway in 1982, and whild that extension was being built, soil from the tunnel was used to level out the land in the area of where the DL MacDonald shops was to be build. Edmonton Transit Locomotive 2001, along with several dump cars made daily trips to fill the DL MacDonald site with the soil from the tunnel being dug for the Corona Extension.
The DL MacDonald LRV shops are divided into 4 buildings. The first building, Building "A" houses the 37 LRV cars that Edmonton Transit operates. This part of the building features a raised platform for operators to board the LRV's to take out for the day. These platforms are in between every two sets of tracks and are linked to a tunnel system that runs from the main entry in Building "C". These tunnels are in place so that operators don't have to cross in front of other LRV's that could move unexpectedly. There is also 120 volt plug-ins for powering power tools and other equipment as needed, a 30hp electric centralized vacuum system for cleaning the interiors of the trains, along with hot and cold water hook-ups at regular intervals. The building is lighted by high pressure sodium light fixtures. For LRV's to enter and exit the building, LRV's approach the bi-fold doors, which activate the photocells at the doors which open the doors automatically.
Building "B" contains the automatic LRV wash, sanding stations, and some maintenance pits where cars can be inspected. There is also an overhead crane, power platform, and the space to do some light maintenance. At the sanding station, LRV's pull up to the nozzle that dispense the sand into a tank underneath the seats. This sand is used around the wheels so that they don't slip in slippery track conditions. To help prevent dust from being created at the time of filling, there is a dust collector around the nozzle. The Automatic LRV wash, built by Sherman Wash, is contained on Track 8. This wash system is similar to a car wash where it has the LRV move through the wash and wands spray and wash the train down from different directions.
Building "C" is about 6100 square feet of floor space on two levels. 5000 square feet is on the main floor and 1100 square feet is on the second floor. The building contains the inventory room which stocks over 3000 items. Of these items, it includes the numerous spare parts for the LRV's, signaling system, catenary, and fare collection. Also in Building "C" is the administrative offices, lunch room, and the maintenance offices.
Building "D" houses all the equipment and work areas to keep Edmonton's LRV's looking new and overhauled. Also, this area is used for maintaining the auxiliary equipment. On track 12 north, there is a wheel lathe built by Heigenscheidt, Germany. This wheel lathe is used to machine wheels to their original profile without the need to remove the wheels from the LRV's. This wheel lathe can do both the wheels on the same axle at the same time. Some other equipment that is contained in Building "D" include the gondola cars 2201 and 2202, flat car 2101, GE locomotive 2010, the Tie inspector/backhoe 3869, Ballast car 2401, Lo rail flat car 3855, the horizontal wheel press that has 200 tons of pressure, the bogie dismantling jig, the car progression system (towing system for the paint booth and body shop), car hoists, electric test equipment, the Fairmount speeder (3679) and it's flat cars, the Ballast Regulator, Hi-rail truck, platform truck, Kaltrak Switcher, and the rerailer trailer. Some of this equipment may be housed in other parts of the building or can be seen outside too.