Subway car overhauls

[2044]

I'm curious to hear from anyone with memories and knowledge or took notes back in the day. What were some of the things that were carried out and some of the changes made to the Gloucesters, Montrealers, and Hawkers during their overhaul by the TTC? And related: what were some of the changes and modifications made to the cars during their careers?

[H4 5600]

I know that H6's received red seats, flip-up accessible seats, and one center pole was removed. I believe the black paint around the headlights was removed on most, but not all, cars that still had it.

[IRT_BMT_IND]

Off the top of my head, door chimes, two extra headlights, LCD speedometers.

[16 McCowan]

4 hours ago, H4 5600 said:

I know that H6's received red seats, flip-up accessible seats, and one center pole was removed. I believe the black paint around the headlights was removed on most, but not all, cars that still had it.

The H5s did the same but likely added flip out accessible seats on some cars. 

And don't forget internal announcers. 

[leylandvictory2]

the poles inside the cars used to be yellow.

[smallspy]

With the exception of one-off cars used to test new concepts - the G-cars fitted with florescent lighting and carpets, H5 5796, the H3 trial - I don't think that there was really much that would be noticeable to the average passenger.

 

The only major and noticable thing that I can think about was the rearrangement of the equipment in the M-cars in the early 1970s - as built they had a small G-car-sized cabs as built, with the bench seat behind having access to the operators side window. They moved a lot of equipment to the back wall, which resulted in that seat becoming much smaller.

 

Dan

[H4 5600]

11 hours ago, leylandvictory2 said:

the poles inside the cars used to be yellow.

Do you have a pic of this, or know where I can find a pic of this?

[leylandvictory2]

google russel hill subway accident

[H4 5600]

10 hours ago, leylandvictory2 said:

google russel hill subway accident

Oh wow, I have seen that video, but never noticed the poles. Thanks.

[eja2k]

15 hours ago, H4 5600 said:

Do you have a pic of this, or know where I can find a pic of this?

 

15 hours ago, leylandvictory2 said:

google russel hill subway accident

Those look like temporary construction style rigging assemblies... likely put in place to maintain the integrity of the train during the rescue and investigation... before it was moved back to the yard

[Archer]

24 minutes ago, eja2k said:

 

Those look like temporary construction style rigging assemblies... likely put in place to maintain the integrity of the train during the rescue and investigation... before it was moved back to the yard

That's exactly what they are. The stantion bars in the Hawker's were never yellow.

[6254]

Fleet # style changes:

Exterior: Change from stickers to plates

Interior: Stickers added on both front above the passenger side window and rear.

[Ed T.]

On 2016-07-16 at 2:04 PM, 6254 said:

Fleet # style changes:

Exterior: Change from stickers to plates

Interior: Stickers added on both front above the passenger side window and rear.

Heck, even the "DO NOT LEAN ON DOORS" stickers weren't original to G, M, and early H cars. The yellow emergency strips were retrofits too.

Back in the day, the stickers on the end doors said "DO NOT WALK BETWEEN CARS WHEN TRAIN IS MOVING" or some such. It did not prohibit moving between cars when the train was stopped.

A lot fewer safety stickers, beeps, announcements.....

[curlingteam333]

Remember that some h5 door looks like painted orange from long time ago that things look like h6. H5 door were yellow.

[Robert Lubinski]

Not a comprehensive list but here are some highlights:

G cars had the ventilation ducts removed and replaced with underseat heaters right behind the grilles, blank panels in the ceiling where the ducts used to be, along with overhauls of trucks, motors etc. plus bodywork and repainting. interior (doors, various trim) and exterior, floor covering replaced. G car overhaul lasted from 1967-73, didn't originally include the ventilation duct removal which was added later.

M cars had the first overhaul in 1974-75 where the door control buttons in the cab were moved from the rear wall to under the cab window, otherwise, similar to G cars except for exterior painting. M cars second overhaul, 1986-88ish, had the cab enlarged and equipment overhauls, plus painting of the interior of platform and intercar doors. Originally they were brushed aluminum, some had the bottom half of the doors painted, some had all the doors painted.

H-1 cars had overhauls ongoing due to heavy use but not a specific program for them until early 1990s after motor mount problems - car ends and roofs painted, equipment overhauls. plus door interiors repainted.

H-2s and H-4s - ongoing overhauls, but nothing really noticeable to the passengers. H-2 conversion of six cars to chopper control was done at Greenwood in 1973, and the removal of the same equipment in 1984 would have been done at Greenwood. H-4s had a late overhaul around 2001 where just under half got a more thorough refurb. Those could be identified by the grey painted ends.

H-5s had a rebuild in the late 1990s - door frame corrosion repaired, repainting of car ends and door interiors, equipment overhauls. Hard to tell with a/c, it still smelled like a musty basement. H-5s repainting original black ends to silver and then repaints were done at Greenwood.

H-6s - similar to H-5s, plus various replacements of inferior original equipment as approved. H-6s also had all trucks replaced at some point around 2000 maybe.

Stuff like the fleet number panels, decals in the door windows, Staff door decals, etc, were probably done at the carhouse, while stanchion installation and replacement were likely done at Greenwood. Any other comprehensive equipment replacement that would be done on the whole fleet was probably done at Greenwood as one could always see cars of all types parked outside the shops.

[Ed T.]

I remember the concave green-painted underseat heaters on the G cars replaced with shiny metal convex heaters. I suppose that's when the ventilation ducts were changed? I also seem to remember that, in addition to being concave, the original heaters had the louvres inward, while they were facing outward on the replacements. In fact, the replacements looked like a cheap cheese grater.

[Robert Lubinski]

1 hour ago, Ed T. said:

I remember the concave green-painted underseat heaters on the G cars replaced with shiny metal convex heaters. I suppose that's when the ventilation ducts were changed? I also seem to remember that, in addition to being concave, the original heaters had the louvres inward, while they were facing outward on the replacements. In fact, the replacements looked like a cheap cheese grater.

You got it. The original duct covers were the concave green ones which were replaced by the generic industrial stainless steel ones.