[URBAN NOTE] Three links on saving the last streetcars and sundry of the TTC

[rfmcdonald]

Spacing Toronto hosted Chris Bateman's article, "Who will save Toronto’s old streetcars?", looking at past buyers of old TTC models.

Perhaps due to advanced decrepitude, the current CLRV and articulated ALRV streetcars are bound for the scrapheap when the new low-floor Bombardier streetcars (eventually) arrive.

It’s a shame, really, because the Toronto Transit Commission has a long history of sending its old vehicles—buses, streetcars, and subway trains—to far-flung jurisdictions for a

It started in 1922. When a swath of Northern Ontario was ravaged by wildfire, the TTC shipped 87 disused streetcars to the affected area on railway flatcars as temporary housing. Many of the old streetcars had coal stoves—a feature from a time before electric heating—and were ideally suited as makeshift shelters.

The town of Haileybury, which was among the worst-hit, received 60 former streetcars. The remaining 27 were distributed among the communities of North Cobalt, Charlton, Thornloe, and Heaslip.

“We will make the beds at one end, have the kitchen in the centre by the stove and have a living room and parlour at the other end,” one man told the Toronto Daily Star. “My wife is all tickled with the idea of our new streetcar.”

blogTO's Amy Grief wrote more briefly in "The TTC is bringing back old streetcars this summer" about a cool seasonal feature of the streetcar network.

It may be summer '16 in Toronto, but it won't feel that way on Queens Quay. That's because the TTC is bringing its vintage PCC streetcars back to the 509 Harbourfront route every Sunday from May 22 until Labour Day weekend.

This piece of Toronto history will be free to ride, which really ups the ante if you're looking to travel from Union Station to somewhere near the Fleet Street loop (i.e. Exhibition Place or the Amphitheatre).

If you can't catch a PCC on the 509 route, you can always rent one out. You can charter these streetcars, which date back to 1951, for a cool $1,881.45.

blogTO's Derek Flack described in "Someone is trying to save the lost relics of the TTC" how someone is trying to salvage some old TTC vehicles being stored in Ottawa, of all places.

Did you know that the TTC once operated double decker buses? If you answered "no" to that question, it's likely because Toronto has done a poor job of commemorating its transit history. To its credit, the TTC does run vintage streetcars in the summer, but the Commission just doesn't have enough cash to showcase its rich history.

That hasn't stopped local enthusiasts from trying to do our transit history justice. Case in point. Trevor Parkins-Sciberras, who you might know as a Lego-builder extraordinaire, is trying to rescue eight antique TTC vehicles from long term storage at a museum in Ottawa.

"These eight vehicles once belonged to the TTC, which featured in parades during the 1920s to the 1950s, Parkins-Sciberras explains. "In the 1960s they were shipped out to a museum Ottawa, where they are currently in storage and not available for viewing."

There is a petition here.