Brill

Ah! A picture of Edmonton's "First All Electric Vehicle.

Received the following from Canadian Transit News: Edmonton Transit System is in the process of selling 40 of their 40 foot GM New Look diesel buses. 6V71, V730 transmission, power steering, no AC, some of the buses have been refurbished. Also available is an inventory of spare parts with a book value of approximately $1.3 million. Also available are spare used engine/transmission cradle assemblies. Please note that Edmonton Transit will only sell the buses to recognized transit properties. If interested please contact either John Sirovyak (john.sirovyak@edmonton.ca) or Musse Dese (musse.dese@edmonton.ca)

Kim Krushell has been named "Woman of the Year" in the 2009 Consumer's Choice Awards. Results for the awards are compiled by Leger Marketing.

Letter to The Editor in Edmonton Journal, Tuesday, November 17, 2009: Where are the ‘green’ replacements? In providing a picture of a state of-the-art bus to enhance the letter regarding a bus to the airport ( The Journal, Nov. 16), isn’t it ironic that a picture of a trolley bus should be used. At the City Hall hearings we were informed that the way forward (in terms of “green” transportation) was the hybrid bus. In fact the city bought four of them for evaluation, and at the same time leased one low-floor trolley bus from Vancouver, the one in the picture. The argument put forward by the hired consultant to justify scrapping the trolleys was that trolley buses pollute because they run on electricity produced at coal-fired power plants, therefore hybrids would be “cleaner”. Also, comparisons were made between 27-year-old trolley buses and brand new diesels for the maintenance costs of each mode. Naturally the older vehicles came off badly in this exercise. Now, it turns out that the hybrid mode for trolley replacement has been quietly abandoned — they are too costly and unreliable. As well, we fumble along with proposed extensions left, right and centre to the LRT, the claim being made that it is “green” because the cars run on electricity. When I last checked we still get our power from coal-fired generating stations. So, as far as I am concerned, we have been sold a bill of goods by the administration who have succeeded in perpetrating the largest con job in our city’s history. J. A. Kernahan, Edmonton

According to Rick Paul of ETS, 28 were going to Bulgaria.

The unfunded wire removal continues, along 115 Ave. between the Cromdale loop and 95 Street. Westbound wire is either totally removed or tied off to the side. Hangers have been removed for the eastbound wire, the wire itself is tied to the spanwires. According to a 115 Avenue merchant, they started work this morning at the Cromdale loop and worked west. I didn't get a look at the Cromdale loop, so I don't know what, if anything, is left there.

Can we include horse-drawn milk wagons in this topic? Edmonton last had horse drawn milk delivery on May 11, 1961. Our delivery man had to learn the route after that. Before then, the horse knew which houses to stop at.

And I saw two! Unidentified blue Jimmie heading east on 118 Ave. at 127 Street at around 15:00, and 787 heading north on Groat Road at 118 Ave. about a half hour later.

Thanks, Kevin. Nice video.

Kim Krushell was the announced scheduled guest on an open line show on CHED last night at 6:00 p.m., hosted by Eileen Bell. Promos for the show mentioned that one of the topics would be Edmonton's trolleybuses. The show came on, and Krushell was a no-show. Figures.

How pathetic.

Al Mauer said there are 47 trolleys in service at present, plus the back up fleet.

I remember when Westmount first opened.

I had a perfect full view of it, I was heading east on 111 Ave. to the Royal Alex. It was quite spectacular. To keep this on-topic, I didn't see any transit vehicles at the time.

It is supposed to be operable, except for a "wiring problem". Could they actually be trying to fix that?

That too.

Actually, it won't cost anything. They'll just use the savings realized from scapping the trolleys to buy the new buses.

With a typewriter? I have one if someone needs one.

I thought the Brill trips were only on the weekends. What's going on today?

At about 2:00 p.m. today I saw Brill #99 being towed eastbound on the Yellowhead at 127 Street. I suspect it was being taken to Westwood for a wash, before going downtown for the historic bus display. It appeared to be covered with a thick layer of dust.

If you look very closely, I'm the passenger sitting right behind the front door in a couple of pictures of 113. I was the only passenger, Bill MacLean was driving. We were both smoking cigars on the bus - it stunk by the time the trip was finished.

Apparently the switch W to N at 109 Street and Jasper isn't working, and the $1.7 million paid to Epcor annually for overhead maintenance isn't enough to repair it.

As far as I'm concerned, it's working very well. It really speeds up boarding both before and after the games. The limited parking at Belvedere during the current construction is another story. What a fiasco!

I've just heard that the plan was to limit the Leyland and Twin to VIP use, but the Twin has a wiring problem and may be limited to a static display. The route to be travelled by Brill 202 is as follows: Centennial Library to Stadium Loop and back via Jasper and 101 St.

Anyone know what buses are being used for the "45-minute Centennial Historic Bus Tours"? ETS had originally said there would be short trips available on Leyland #5 and Twin #59, and I wonder if that idea has been abandoned? I remember when Leyland #5 was used as a bookmobile; when it would drive away it would belch out huge quantities of black smoke. I read somewhere that in its last days as a transit bus, it was known as "Old Smokey #5". I'd like to ride both the Leyland and the Twin, as well as Brill 202, of course.