Vintage Ottawa-Gatineau Transit Photos & Discussion

[OC Transpo/STO Fan]

8 minutes ago, STO_1601 said:

I think you might have shared this photo once before.

That's weird, I looked back through the previous pages and I didn't find this photo on here unless I somehow missed it.

[Michel]

On 12/3/2019 at 5:40 PM, OC Transpo/STO Fan said:

According to @Michel, this was actually one of the first 90xx D40s to have gotten the new signs in November 2000.

I said that?  I can't say I am that much of a historian on buses.

[OC Transpo/STO Fan]

23 minutes ago, Michel said:

I said that?  I can't say I am that much of a historian on buses.

I'm pretty sure you were on the old CPTDB back in 1997-2004. It's still partially accessible but only with web archive.

Here's a link to the post (I'm assuming it was you) back in November 2000. 

http://web.archive.org/web/20010213225245/http://www.x-pointcgi.com/cgi-bin/users/7586/wwwboard/messages/5202.html

Unrelated, but there's also a reply to the post above by user Huz6685 (Bob Hussey) that contains a list of all buses that were repainted in the new maple leaf livery by September 2000 if anyone's interested.

 

[Michel]

23 hours ago, OC Transpo/STO Fan said:

I'm pretty sure you were on the old CPTDB back in 1997-2004. It's still partially accessible but only with web archive.

Here's a link to the post (I'm assuming it was you) back in November 2000. 

http://web.archive.org/web/20010213225245/http://www.x-pointcgi.com/cgi-bin/users/7586/wwwboard/messages/5202.html

Unrelated, but there's also a reply to the post above by user Huz6685 (Bob Hussey) that contains a list of all buses that were repainted in the new maple leaf livery by September 2000 if anyone's interested.

 

Wow.  Yeah that was me.  When I moved to Ottawa in the mid-90's I took the bus several times a day, spoke to a lot of drivers, and paid a lot of attention to detail.  Today not so much.

[STO_1601]

STO 9412 seen making it's way to Downtown Ottawa. Photo by retroolschool

[STO_1601]

STO MCI Classic 9122 seen in Downtown Ottawa in the 1990s. Photo by Seth Reynolds 

[Oc4526]

Your morning commute from Lost Ottawa on FB

In the shared image, it appers bus 7557 is facing the wrong way at what appers to be Hurdman Station.

 

[tomsbuspage]

4 hours ago, Oc4526 said:

Your morning commute from Lost Ottawa on FB

In the shared image, it appers bus 7557 is facing the wrong way at what appers to be Hurdman Station.

Actually, you might have noticed that there is a yellow centreline in the background.  Hurdman Station's original configuration had two-way traffic on the southern side of the platform, and 7557 is shown parked in the old through lane.

Ted Wickson took this photo in 1988, according to the postcard I have.

[Oc4526]

17 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

Actually, you might have noticed that there is a yellow centreline in the background.  Hurdman Station's original configuration had two-way traffic on the southern side of the platform, and 7557 is shown parked in the old through lane.

Ted Wickson took this photo in 1988, according to the postcard I have.

Actually I never knew Hurdman (when built) had 2 way traffic on the south side.

Though I'm curious on why it was implemented then later reversed?

Edited December 12, 2019 by Oc4526
Wrong stn name :-)

[tomsbuspage]

46 minutes ago, Oc4526 said:

Actually I never knew Baseline (when built) had 2 way traffic on the south side.

Though I'm curious on why it was implemented then later reversed?

You mean Hurdman?

I think the lane was put in to provide deadheading drivers with a quick bypass of the station, but it was later removed to provide extra layup space.  I don't know when the lane was removed, but from what I can tell from my old photos, the lane was still in use in 1991 but had been blocked off by late 1997, though the yellow line was still there at the time.

[Loud-Invero]

Hey look, rotting history!

https://youtu.be/FOAiE-BwmEY

[Loud-Invero]

OC 9208 seen on a snowy day in Vanier, in 1994

Photo by OC Transpo.

 

 

[tomsbuspage]

17 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

I think the lane was put in to provide deadheading drivers with a quick bypass of the station, but it was later removed to provide extra layup space.  I don't know when the lane was removed, but from what I can tell from my old photos, the lane was still in use in 1991 but had been blocked off by late 1997, though the yellow line was still there at the time.

Here are some screenshots from GeoOttawa, showing the eastbound through lane in service in 1991 (top) and blocked off in 2002 (bottom).  It shows as blocked off in 1999 as well, but the image quality is poor for that year:

[8792]

On 12/3/2019 at 7:03 PM, MCIBUS said:

The one thing about the 90XX D40's & the 92XX D40's where the window frames On the 92XX D40's where all black and had 2 flip down windows at the top, while the 90XX D40's where silver and had both a 1 & 2 Flip down windows as you can see in this pic. I'm not sure of why the change.

Wasn’t it 9054 that got rebuilt with black windows. I wonder why the 2nd window on the 90XXs had the single opener while the rest were doubles?

Kinda similar as to why all post-75XXs GMs had the non-opening windows, especially the 2nd & 3rd batches of the 7700s. 

[OC Transpo/STO Fan]

7 minutes ago, 8792 said:

Wasn’t it 9054 that got rebuilt with black windows. I wonder why the 2nd window on the 90XXs had the single opener while the rest were doubles?

Kinda similar as to why all post-75XXs GMs had the non-opening windows, especially the 2nd & 3rd batches of the 7700s. 

9054 did have black windows after its rebuild because it was the bus that crashed into Lees station at one point. TTC gave a front end (from a retired D40), black window frames, and some other front stuff (I forget exactly what it was) in order to make the rebuild possible.

I quite liked 9054 for that reason. I actually liked the black windows better.

[8792]

On 12/12/2019 at 12:34 PM, tomsbuspage said:

Here are some screenshots from GeoOttawa, showing the eastbound through lane in service in 1991 (top) and blocked off in 2002 (bottom).  It shows as blocked off in 1999 as well, but the image quality is poor for that year:

Just a guess, but it was probably blocked off at around the time the southern Transitway opened. 

[tomsbuspage]

5 hours ago, 8792 said:

Just a guess, but it was probably blocked off at around the time the southern Transitway opened. 

I'm not so sure about that, as the Transitway opened from Hurdman Station to the Riverside Hospital in June 1991--my profile picture was taken on that day.

[tomsbuspage]

While doing some random websurfing recently, I found this photo of OC Transpo bus 7408 stopped on Elgin Street at Confederation Square while running eastbound on route 2 sometime in the 1970s.  My curiosity was piqued because I was interested in finding out when the photo was taken.  Obviously, it was taken in 1974 or later, as the bus was delivered in October 1974.  However, what is the latest date the photo could have been taken?

I started by looking at the route numbers on the bus stops.  The stop in the foreground is easy to see, showing routes 2, 7, 34, 51 and 52.  This fine tunes the dates to between December 1974, when route 1A was renumbered to route 7, and September 1978, when route 34 was shortened to end at Shoppers City East.  The bus stop in the background is harder to make out, but it appears to be for routes 1, 5, 6 and 59.  All of these routes were in service from 1974 through the end of the 1970s, so there's no help there.

The next clue is the licence plate.  The date is illegible, but Ontario issued blue-on-white bus plates in even-numbered years, expiring the following March.  So the plate was issued in 1974, 1976 or 1978.

There doesn't appear to be any wording requiring exact fare only on the bus.  This policy was implemented in November 1975 to prevent robberies of OC Transpo operators.  The wording was added pretty quickly because there are photos of green OC Transpo buses with the wording on them here and here.

There also appears to be snow on the ground, so the photo was most likely taken in winter, though late fall or early spring cannot be ruled out.

So to me, it looks as if this photo was taken between late 1974 and early 1975.  Does anyone else want to hazard a guess?

https://steemit.com/vintage/@techstar581/ottawa-city-bus-from-the-seventies

[whistler]

1 hour ago, tomsbuspage said:

While doing some random websurfing recently, I found this photo of OC Transpo bus 7408 stopped on Elgin Street at Confederation Square while running eastbound on route 2 sometime in the 1970s.  My curiosity was piqued because I was interested in finding out when the photo was taken.  Obviously, it was taken in 1974 or later, as the bus was delivered in October 1974.  However, what is the latest date the photo could have been taken?

I started by looking at the route numbers on the bus stops.  The stop in the foreground is easy to see, showing routes 2, 7, 34, 51 and 52.  This fine tunes the dates to between December 1974, when route 1A was renumbered to route 7, and September 1978, when route 34 was shortened to end at Shoppers City East.  The bus stop in the background is harder to make out, but it appears to be for routes 1, 5, 6 and 59.  All of these routes were in service from 1974 through the end of the 1970s, so there's no help there.

The next clue is the licence plate.  The date is illegible, but Ontario issued blue-on-white bus plates in even-numbered years, expiring the following March.  So the plate was issued in 1974, 1976 or 1978.

There doesn't appear to be any wording requiring exact fare only on the bus.  This policy was implemented in November 1975 to prevent robberies of OC Transpo operators.  The wording was added pretty quickly because there are photos of green OC Transpo buses with the wording on them here and here.

There also appears to be snow on the ground, so the photo was most likely taken in winter, though late fall or early spring cannot be ruled out.

So to me, it looks as if this photo was taken between late 1974 and early 1975.  Does anyone else want to hazard a guess?

https://steemit.com/vintage/@techstar581/ottawa-city-bus-from-the-seventies

If it helps, this car in the background appears to be a 1975 or 1976 Plymouth Fury. That eliminates at least 1974 because the body style was totally different in 1974. Of course, it is possible that is a brand spanking new 1975 model in late 74. In 77 the headlights changed to quad setup, but of course a 75-76 model would have been on the road in later years.

Also as a side note that car has a beacon light on the roof and its markings don’t look like Ottawa Police, RCMP, or OPP from that era... Maybe its an OC Transpo Supervisor? It looks like it has a stripe running up the C pillar which is what the OC Transpo supervisor cars looked like into the 90s (replicating the stripe on the buses).

[STO_1601]

STO 9519 seen in it's original paint scheme back in 2008. Photo by Michael Taylor

 

[tomsbuspage]

6 hours ago, STO_1601 said:

STO 9519 seen in it's original paint scheme back in 2008. Photo by Michael Taylor

Not quite original.  The STO's 94xx and 95xx Classics originally came with white fleet numbers on the front, not to mention the full-length blue stripe, like in these photos:

1997

2004

[8792]

Just by chance I found this pic of 8907 on Google Maps from June 2016:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pokoloko/@45.4398233,-75.7147468,3a,47.7y,344.8h,87.51t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sknov2mWXkqxd1e9qs5SAOA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x4cce04f283b71b37:0x62f1302336a8a888!2s225+Boulevard+Maisonneuve,+Gatineau,+QC+J8X+4C4!3b1!8m2!3d45.4339517!4d-75.7130645!3m4!1s0x4cce05f080200ba1:0x6f284c25e97c09bf!8m2!3d45.4436714!4d-75.7142872

[dnroamhicsir]

Old CTCRO New Look in Cuba. No idea of the year or who took the picture.

[tomsbuspage]

40 minutes ago, dnroamhicsir said:

Old CTCRO New Look in Cuba. No idea of the year or who took the picture.

I'd say 1979 or 1980, based on the blue transom windows, four-pane centre doors and blank panel next to the rear window.

[Loud-Invero]

Because OC is too overwhelmed by people on Twitter bombarding them with stupid comments and remarks, I thought I do a #tbt that I'm sure many members on this forum will remember.

#TBT to OC Transpo 9033 seen at St. Laurent Station as part of the 2009 D40 charter. Photo by Matthew Belyea.