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Vintage Ottawa-Gatineau Transit Photos & Discussion


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On 12/29/2020 at 10:01 AM, whistler said:

Ottawa Citizen May 1 1986:

Ottawa Citizen May 1 1986.jpg

The Belgian articulated bus was a Van Hool. I forget what model. I liked it, though I thought it odd that all left-hand windows were sealed (it wasn't air conditioned). I later saw it in Vancouver working a Canada Place-Expo shuttle. The Orion-Ikarus on display in the Hungarian Pavilion was 8533.

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17 hours ago, Loud-Invero said:

I thought a d40 was the first bus to recieve the leaf livery? @OC Transpo/STO Fan would know what I'm talking about

Like Enviro_1203 stated, they got refurbed after the decision to change the livery to the Maple Leaf was finalized in 1999 (at a Council meeting). All refurbs usually receive a new coat of paint, so that's wy they got the new livery.

Generally no buses (in more modern days) at any transit agency, are usually repainted unless there's a need to repaint them (e.g. accidents requiring body work, refurbs, etc).

Reason being, paint costs money, plus you need to pay someone to apply that paint, so obviously you need to include that into your budget. Unnecessary repainting would be seen by the politicians and members of public as a "waste of money", and it would not go over very well at Council.

Accidents costs are usually covered by insurance, so you'll only ever see repainting taking place during refurbishment (budget wise).

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2 hours ago, Mark Walton said:

The Belgian articulated bus was a Van Hool. I forget what model. I liked it, though I thought it odd that all left-hand windows were sealed (it wasn't air conditioned). I later saw it in Vancouver working a Canada Place-Expo shuttle. The Orion-Ikarus on display in the Hungarian Pavilion was 8533.

It was the Van Hool AG280 according to the wiki. The current model made by Van Hool still operating in North America is the AG300 (articulated bus) which only two transit agencies in Canada operate Van Hool buses. Viva mostly along the Purple route and RTL in Longueuil, Quebec.

I remember riding along the AG300 bus on Viva Blue. It is a very different kind of bus from New Flyer and Nova. 

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Here's another interesting photo (by Sylvia Buchholz) that I found:

9133 is seen parked while a driver leaves to go to a memorial service on April 18, 1999 that was held for Pierre LeBrun and four other employees who were unfortunately killed during the shooting two weeks prior.

Note: This bus, coincidentally enough, was the first Orion V (and second bus overall iirc) repainted into the maple leaf livery in early 2000 after five others were rebuilt but repainted before the new livery took effect. @Loud-Invero, you were close! 9011 was also repainted in 2000 but the other D40s didn't get refurbed until 2002-early 2004ish.  The 1991-1992 Orion Vs were the first to get refurbed in the new livery in 2000-2001.

 

B2AD622D-D7CF-482A-A82C-CC0DE33B3F0A.jpeg

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  • 4 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Benton Harper said:

Is there currently a physical museum or fleet? 

If so, is this meant to replace it?

As far as I know, because of Covid, the 150th Anniversary had to be virtual. There is no Physical Museum and never was. The City of Ottawa Archives is where all historical documents are located. I cannot say about where is the vintage fleet as I have no knowledge or involved.

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44 minutes ago, danduc said:

I cannot say about where is the vintage fleet as I have no knowledge or involved.

They tend to be moved around IMO,  but IIRC as of now, most or about half and half are stored at Pinecrest and Merivale garage. I'm sure someone who is up to date can say where is what now.

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In all honesty it shame how OC has treated their Historical Fleet.

Yes I understand it cost money to keep them up to actual "Historical" working conditions.

But the shape there in is disgraceful.

They even got ride of several OC & others that weren't OC's in the first place.

8501(Orion-Ikaruds) 8529(for spare parts)

8390(Orion 1)

8704(Flyer)

and several others that weren't OC's to the scrape yard.

 

Yes I know I know it cost $$ to rebuild these, buses but you can't tell me they couldn't store these 'inside' one of OC's garage till funds came available. They had stored these buses for several years at ST Laurent in a ware house(which has been torn down), stored outside for several years.

 

Now only

5931 6101 223 233 8222 4126(not sure of the fleet#) & Sunshine Bus(not even sure it still around or not) are left.

Either OC should make a commitment to ACTUALLY PRESURVING them or sell them to Transit Museum that will.

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20 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

In all honesty it shame how OC has treated their Historical Fleet.

Yes I understand it cost money to keep them up to actual "Historical" working conditions.

But the shape there in is disgraceful.

They even got ride of several OC & others that weren't OC's in the first place.

8501(Orion-Ikaruds) 8529(for spare parts)

8390(Orion 1)

8704(Flyer)

and several others that weren't OC's to the scrape yard.

 

Yes I know I know it cost $$ to rebuild these, buses but you can't tell me they couldn't store these 'inside' one of OC's garage till funds came available. They had stored these buses for several years at ST Laurent in a ware house(which has been torn down), stored outside for several years.

 

Now only

5931 6101 223 233 8222 4126(not sure of the fleet#) & Sunshine Bus(not even sure it still around or not) are left.

Either OC should make a commitment to ACTUALLY PRESURVING them or sell them to Transit Museum that will.

If a transit museum wanted purchase or acquire the historic vehicles, they likely would have approached OC Transpo already. The priority is keeping service operating. If it means stripping an old bus of a part that can be used in a bus that's still running, that's what will be done. And while keeping several historic units from several models we have operated may be intriguing to transit enthusiasts, it might not be as appealing to the general public. One or two, definitely, but not several.

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I am surprised that OC Transpo (or any agency) has a historical fleet to begin with. As much as I want them to have historical buses I can't imagine it is easy/possible for a government agency to justify spending what is essentially tax money on the restoration/upkeep of old vehicles that aren't in revenue service. 

I am not exactly sure how various transit agencies fund their historical fleets but my guess it would need to be through donations or something.

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On 1/28/2021 at 8:29 PM, tomsbuspage said:

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the historic buses now owned by the Streetcar 696 group?

Negative. They are currently property of OC Transpo. I confirmed that a few months ago.

Now, I've actually been working with a few other bus operators to try to pressure the City/OC Transpo to form a new Municipal Museum (similar to the Bytown, Nepean, Billings, Cumberland, etc) which are structured under the City, but separated from the "Transit Budget".

The Museums operate under Culture and Heritage Budget, which would be more appropriate to the funding of the Heritage Buses.

There seems to be support for this idea from many different important people within the city, however the main constraint we are facing is Covid financial constraints (as revenue for the City is down due to the closure of facilities like the Centrepointe Theater, which is under the same department as the Museums).

But I feel in approximately a few years when things get back to normal (as I'm still staying positive), this idea will likely gain more traction.

I wasn't planning on posting this yet, but obviously once this idea gains some traction, you guys can also help make this happen. But until then, right now it's just a waiting game for Covid to disappear.

I was also planning to reach out to Streetcar 696 to see if they would be interesting in helping make this Museum happen, but I haven't yet talked to them because like I said before, until the budget returns to normal, this won't be happening.

One revenue generating idea we have been proposing to fund restoring the historic fleet is opening a gift shop (similar to the TTC, STM, and Tranlink giftshops) and use proceeds from the sales to fund the restoration (that way us Transit Fans can help, while picking up some OC swag). But I've got bigger priorities going in on my life to worry about this idea at the moment.

My fallback idea if the Museum push with the city falls flat, is to try to form a organization like the Bytown Railway Society, and see if we can gain enough members and revenue to operate the vehicles ourselves. But I can imagine the costs will be rather high, especially to start it up. Plus we'd need insurance (RIP), CVOR, semi-annual inspections, which isn't exactly the cheapest things. Not including try to maintain obsolete vehicles where part available is scarce. So this scenario is not my ideal solution, but it's one I am considering if all the others fail.

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  • 2 months later...
On 8/26/2020 at 3:29 PM, Michel said:

Mid-80's video here with some Fishbowls and Classic's visible:

 

I used to love watching Metro with Cory O'Kelly (can't remember the female co-host's name) in the 80s and very early 90s. I have never been able to find a YouTube clip from any episode. Does anyone know if there's more of them out there? Lots of fishbowl action in this clip!

On 9/2/2020 at 6:33 PM, Loud-Invero said:

Here's a photo of 9751 that is really good that I haven't seen yet. Photo by: Paul A. Bateson

(Source: Paul A. Bateson via Flickr)

46068 - OC Transpo 9751 - Ottawa, St. Laurent - 5 May 1998

 

I only ever saw this bus once on the 1 heading south near Bank & Johnston. Anyone here ever ride on it? I think it was in the fleet for less than a year?

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3 hours ago, 8792 said:

I only ever saw [9751] once on the 1 heading south near Bank & Johnston. Anyone here ever ride on it? I think it was in the fleet for less than a year?

I rode 9751 once on route 123 from Blair to St. Laurent via the Transitway, and I think I was the only passenger on the bus.  IIRC, I thought it was a neat little bus, though less bouncy than the Orion I buses.  It had the grey fibreglass seats with red fabric inserts like the 1997 LFS and 1997/1998 Orion V buses.  There's a photo of the bus in 2001 on barp.ca and I took two really poor photos from a distance in 2002 (curbside and streetside), all of which were taken after the bus was retired.

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On 4/23/2021 at 11:48 PM, tomsbuspage said:

I rode 9751 once on route 123 from Blair to St. Laurent via the Transitway, and I think I was the only passenger on the bus.  IIRC, I thought it was a neat little bus, though less bouncy than the Orion I buses.  It had the grey fibreglass seats with red fabric inserts like the 1997 LFS and 1997/1998 Orion V buses.  There's a photo of the bus in 2001 on barp.ca and I took two really poor photos from a distance in 2002 (curbside and streetside), all of which were taken after the bus was retired.

Was that a second-hand one that lacked all-day fuel capacity?

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22 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

Also I do believe that bus was main used on "tele-Transpo/'local east end' bus route. It was used  about the same time the "Community routes"(300.s) where introduced using the Orion II buses.

IIRC, I usually saw 9751 running on routes 123 in Beacon Hill and 147 in the Uplands airbase.  As for the Tele Transpo service, it was a year-long trial on route 123 replacing fixed-route service during evenings and Saturdays from June 1997 until Sept. 1998.

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Lost Ottawa posted this photo of what appears to be the interior of a 1964 Fishbowl (extra-long transom windows and sliding square window) on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/LostOttawa/photos/a.380380215394542/3910448402387688/

Quote

This old Ottawa bus from 1967 looks about as full many of the Ottawa buses I've seen around town over the winter.

I remember the pink seats -- wouldn't you like to sit in on that design decision? Then the rattling.

(Carleton Raven 1967)

168434221_3910448405721021_4986378416101

image.thumb.png.873014ecce9838700b01fa1a3ae93cd0.png

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