Miscellaneous TTC Discussion & Questions

[Wayside Observer]

48 minutes ago, Kelvin3157 said:

Didn't they make up an excuse to why they couldn't operate the PCC? IIRC it was because of the pantograph wires (which I hardly believe that was the case)

 

1 minute ago, Ultimate said:

I spotted it out there last year (Chatered) it was turning left onto QQ from Spadina going to the union portal. So that would not be the case

Yes.  This was when Brad Ross was still at the TTC.  It's buried in the comments below this article on Steve Munro's blog so I'll copy and paste the quote from Brad Ross that Steve got when he asked about it:

There is additional maintenance required on the overhead when running pole and panto. With all of the daily struggles with streetcar right now, investing in the additional work is not a priority. I didn’t say it couldn’t run, I said we won’t run the PCC for this reason this year.

Let's pick this apart.  None of the frogs or any of the pole hardware have been removed from the wire.  The overhead wire is maintained by different people in a different department from the streetcars that have been giving fits to various degrees.  So, those two unrelated facts have been conflated.  Plus, the overhead being compatible with poles is a non issue because it has to handle King and Bathurst (when running) cars on diversion, plus the Spadina car had been a pole operation until about a month and a half, two months before the summer last year.  So, it's a BS story that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  Unfortunately, and I really wish the TTC would prove me wrong on this, I think "won't run the PCC for this reason this year" means they're not going to do it anymore at all, any year, on the flimsiest of made up excuses. It was nice for the 13 years or so it lasted, it's just a damn shame if they used that excuse last year as the precedent setting year to get out of doing it ever again from here on in.

[nfitz]

I'd assume that it's not running, and then be pleasantly surprised if it did.

If you want to ride a TTC PCC, and you are already up in Kitchener, you can head to the Halton Radial Museum just east of Guelph. https://hcry.org/

[Kelvin3157]

1 hour ago, Wayside Observer said:

Unfortunately, and I really wish the TTC would prove me wrong on this, I think "won't run the PCC for this reason this year" means they're not going to do it anymore at all, any year, on the flimsiest of made up excuses. It was nice for the 13 years or so it lasted, it's just a damn shame if they used that excuse last year as the precedent setting year to get out of doing it ever again from here on in.

There can be another 501 Bathurst-Church run, but that was ruined by foamers

[CLRV4002]

4 hours ago, Kelvin3157 said:

There can be another 501 Bathurst-Church run, but that was ruined by foamers

So let’s say I believe that the TTC didn’t run the PCC car due to the overhead (which I don’t), there’s no reason why it couldn’t be run on the 501,504 or 506.

The 501 between Bathurst and Church works as well or taking advantage of the King Pilot or having Summer Sunday service to High Park loop  

[Ed T.]

22 hours ago, nfitz said:

I'd assume that it's not running, and then be pleasantly surprised if it did.

If you want to ride a TTC PCC, and you are already up in Kitchener, you can head to the Halton Radial Museum just east of Guelph. https://hcry.org/

I'd be surprised if there was a PCC running at Halton. The only PCC they list as operational is 4000, and as far as I know that comes out only on special occasions. Possibly one of the other rebuilt 4600 cars are running?

[nfitz]

22 minutes ago, Ed T. said:

I'd be surprised if there was a PCC running at Halton. The only PCC they list as operational is 4000, and as far as I know that comes out only on special occasions. Possibly one of the other rebuilt 4600 cars are running?

Not sure about currently ... haven't been there for a couple of years - though we rode W-30 the last time I was there. I've certainly ridden PCCs there before (other than W-30).

[Cityflyer]

41 minutes ago, Ed T. said:

I'd be surprised if there was a PCC running at Halton. The only PCC they list as operational is 4000, and as far as I know that comes out only on special occasions. Possibly one of the other rebuilt 4600 cars are running?

I was there in Sept 2018 on a weekend and the 3 units they ran were the post war PCC TTC (forgot the number), TTC Peter Witt and that Chicago luxury suburban train that's in green.

[T3G]

Where are you seeing that the only PCC they list as operational is 4000? If I go to their site I see all the usual suspects still listed.

https://hcry.org/portfolio_category/streetcar/

I was told that 4000 is way too old, fragile, and lacks commonality with the post-war cars for it to run on any kind of regular basis, so it would be very strange if that was the only PCC they kept running.

[Wayside Observer]

On 5/21/2019 at 4:40 PM, nfitz said:

I'd assume that it's not running, and then be pleasantly surprised if it did.

If you want to ride a TTC PCC, and you are already up in Kitchener, you can head to the Halton Radial Museum just east of Guelph. https://hcry.org/

The visit to Kitchener would most likely be on a weekday in order to catch the maximum service level being operated.  I don't know what their scheduling is going to look like but working from an assumption that weekends will have less frequent service.  Plus I might add in a side trip to Wellesley to visit a friend who retired from running a small engineering and manufacturing company.  Plus, we did TTC PCCs in a museum somewhat recently; actually, all of us have been involved in maintenance and operation of PCC cars in various museums so what we were talking about was going into Toronto and catching a ride on one in its native habitat and just relaxing and enjoying the ride.

 

[nfitz]

6 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

The visit to Kitchener would most likely be on a weekday in order to catch the maximum service level being operated.  I don't know what their scheduling is going to look like but working from an assumption that weekends will have less frequent service.

Their website says "Exact schedules will be established before ION service begins, but generally speaking ION LRT trains will run every eight minutes during rush hours and every 10 to 15 minutes during the rest of the day"

I'd assume you are correct ... I'd guess 15-minute service on weekends.

 

[dowlingm]

The Witt was seen on Bathurst St yesterday. 

 

[CLRV4002]

10 minutes ago, dowlingm said:

The Witt was seen on Bathurst St yesterday. 

 

I saw it as well. It was brought to Leslie Barns around 9 pm yesterday 

[Ed T.]

23 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

Where are you seeing that the only PCC they list as operational is 4000? If I go to their site I see all the usual suspects still listed.

https://hcry.org/portfolio_category/streetcar/

I was told that 4000 is way too old, fragile, and lacks commonality with the post-war cars for it to run on any kind of regular basis, so it would be very strange if that was the only PCC they kept running.

I missed "operational" bit for 4600 and 4611.

Most (all?) of the "awaiting restoration" cars are peacefully rusting away.

[TTC4120fan]

4 hours ago, Ed T. said:

I missed "operational" bit for 4600 and 4611.

Most (all?) of the "awaiting restoration" cars are peacefully rusting away.

4611 is used the most. I had to wait to my fourth visit to ride on 4600 (2017) because it was always in the shops with "electrical issues" from what I was told. 4618 probably won't ever see service again because of the business they get from selling ice cream. 4386 4426 4684 probably will continue to rot out for remainder of there lives. I was told that 4386 hasn't been touched since the mid 90's. W-30 rarely comes out, and W-31 is sitting farther back in the car barn and is in need in need of work.

[Orion V]

It's too bad the TTC subways can't be run at HCRR. I really wanted to ride those again.

[T3G]

18 minutes ago, Matthew TTC 4120 said:

W-30 rarely comes out,

W-30 usually comes out when the weather doesn't permit them to run 327.

[TTC4120fan]

15 minutes ago, Orion V said:

It's too bad the TTC subways can't be run at HCRR. I really wanted to ride those again.

There's a whole bunch of stuff there I would have liked to ride on,  but were never put into operation, were sold to another owner or were taken out of service before I went.

While we are on the topic of HCRR, would anyone happen to know what became of Witt Trailer 2395 and the GM old look bus they had there? I have never actually seen them there. I know 9339 was sent to the U.S and 9348 was used as parts and 8058 is being restored by the TTC. At least they still have the Hamilton Trolleys, but those are in terrible shape.

2 minutes ago, PCC Guy said:

W-30 usually comes out when the weather doesn't permit them to run 327.

Thanks. That would explain why I have only seen it on Halloween. Hopefully they restore W-31 soon.

[smallspy]

11 hours ago, Matthew TTC 4120 said:

There's a whole bunch of stuff there I would have liked to ride on,  but were never put into operation, were sold to another owner or were taken out of service before I went.

Unfortunately, that's the problem with an operating museum that doesn't have enough volunteers to do the work.

Thankfully, that is something that you can help fix.

 

11 hours ago, Matthew TTC 4120 said:

While we are on the topic of HCRR, would anyone happen to know what became of Witt Trailer 2395 and the GM old look bus they had there?

I'm not sure about the Old Look - I'd been led to believe that it wasn't theirs to begin with - but the trailer is still on the property. In fact, I don't think it's moved in about 20 years.

 

11 hours ago, Matthew TTC 4120 said:

I have never actually seen them there. I know 9339 was sent to the U.S and 9348 was used as parts and 8058 is being restored by the TTC. At least they still have the Hamilton Trolleys, but those are in terrible shape.

They have been trying to find a new home for the trolleys for the better part of 3 years now. I suspect that they will salvage what they can from them and scrap them.

 

Dan

[Wayside Observer]

On May 22, 2019 at 3:48 PM, PCC Guy said:

Where are you seeing that the only PCC they list as operational is 4000? If I go to their site I see all the usual suspects still listed.

https://hcry.org/portfolio_category/streetcar/

I was told that 4000 is way too old, fragile, and lacks commonality with the post-war cars for it to run on any kind of regular basis, so it would be very strange if that was the only PCC they kept running.

4000 came up in conversation.  I knew that 1101 is a 1937 PCC but I didn't realize this until an older gentleman who I was talking with explained that 1937 was the last year for narrow anticlimbers on the front of the car and that in 1938, the body designed to include full width anticlimbers and he specifically cited 4000 as a prime example of that year over year design change.  So even by the time the first TTC order was being built, the basic design was starting to evolve off the original from 1936.  

I don't have any good picture so I went looking for some head on photos from the web:

TTC 4000, full width anticlimber built in 1938

DC Transit 1101, narrow anticlimber built in 1937

And sure enough, the difference is clearly visible when you look at the two.  You learn something new every day.

[Orion VI]

Hey all,

 

I went to the Eglinton Crosstown doors open today, and decided to do some exploring to take some photos of MtD. I was lucky enough to see this: 

Anybody know what it was doing? It turned into MtD. 

[Bus_Medic]

1 hour ago, Orion VI said:

Hey all,

 

I went to the Eglinton Crosstown doors open today, and decided to do some exploring to take some photos of MtD. I was lucky enough to see this: 

Anybody know what it was doing? It turned into MtD. 

It’s privately owned. Probably decided to carpool to the doors open even with their buddies, and blow the cobwebs out. Win-win.

[Kelvin3157]

TTC's promo video for more funding

 

[Downsview 108]

Good luck with that^^^

[MK78]

Ugh, this is a bit of a rant...

What the frig is wrong with some of these Nova's thermostats? Warm days are here and the bloody heat pumps in them like its middle of January? The darn baseboard heaters are so hot that they literally burn you.

Seems to be the older Birchmount Nova's that are the most offending ones. Someone once mentioned that there was some sort of "fix" being implemented for that, but I wonder if it ever got applied to all the buses.

 

[Shaun]

I find that a lot of the arrow division buses have their windows locked shut. Makes it harder to get air in the bus.