Toronto Transit Commission 4200-4251
Toronto Transit Commission 4200-4251 are Articulated Light Rail Vehicles (ALRV, L3 Class) designed by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC). The first 11 streetcars were largely built at the Can-Car Rail facility in Thunder Bay, Ontario. They were completed, along with the remaining 41 streetcars, at the UTDC facility in Millhaven, Ontario from 1987 to 1990.
During their prime, the ALRVs were used to provide all day service on route 501 Queen as well as some weekday peak service on routes 504 King and 508 Lake Shore. They also provided service on route 511 Bathurst all Saturday and Sunday in the summer and during events along that line. As their ranks decreased, the cars were confined to service on route 501 Queen, where they ended their careers.
History
A prototype and demonstrator, numbered 4900, was produced by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC) in 1982. Unlike the production cars, 4900 was built with a pantograph, flip-dot destination sign, and hand controls. It was loaned to the TTC for testing from the summer of 1982 to the winter of 1983. After in-service trials, the car was put into storage and eventually returned to UTDC in 1987. The car was later scrapped following an accident at their plant with a production vehicle.
The articulated vehicle proved useful on the TTC's busiest streetcar routes. The Commission ordered 52 ALRVs at a cost of approximately $1.4 million each. The first car, 4200, was delivered on June 11, 1987 and the fleet entered service with car 4204 on the route 507 Long Branch on January 19, 1988.[1]
The cars were delivered through to July 1989, in the following quantities:
- June 1987 (1): 4200
- October 1987 (1): 4204
- December 1987 (2): 4203, 4205
- January 1988 (1): 4201
- February 1988 (2): 4206, 4210
- March 1988 (1): 4202
- April 1988 (3): 4212-4214
- May 1988 (3): 4207, 4215-4216
- June 1988 (5): 4211, 4217-4220
- July 1988 (1): 4221
- August 1988 (3): 4222-4224
- September 1988 (2): 4225-4226
- October 1988 (3): 4227-4229
- November 1988 (5): 4230-4234
- December 1988 (5): 4235-4239
- January 1989 (1): 4240
- February 1989 (2): 4241-4242
- March 1989 (3): 4243-4245
- April 1989 (2): 4246-4247
- May 1989 (3): 4248-4250
- June 1989 (1): 4251
- July 1989 (2): 4208-4209
4208-4209 were the last of 10 body shells that were completed at UTDC's Thunder Bay plant before the entire production, including the completion of cars 4200-4207, was transferred to their Kingston plant in February 1987.4. The first eight cars were already on the new line and were being followed by the first of the fully-Kingston-produced body shells when the body shells for 4208 and 4209 arrived from Thunder Bay. As a result both were stored until December 1988 when they were added to the tail end of the production line, following 4251. The original numbers assigned were kept, as 4208 and 4209 retained some insignificant details similar only to cars 4200-4207.
The cars were commissioned through to August 1989, in the following quantities:
- January 1988 (1): 4204
- February 1988 (1): 4205
- March 1988 (2): 4201, 4203
- April 1988 (2): 4200, 4206
- May 1988 (4): 4202, 4210, 4212-4213
- July 1988 (1): 4215
- August 1988 (6): 4207, 4211, 4214, 4216-4217, 4219
- September 1988 (3): 4218, 4220, 4222
- October 1988 (3): 4223-4225
- November 1988 (2): 4226, 4228
- December 1988 (6): 4221, 4227, 4229-4233
- January 1989 (2): 4234, 4236
- February 1989 (3): 4238-4240
- March 1989 (3): 4237, 4241-4242
- April 1989 (2): 4235, 4243
- May 1989 (3): 4244-4246
- June 1989 (2): 4247-4248
- July 1989 (2): 4249, 4251
- August 1989 (3): 4208-4209, 4250
Modifications & refurbishment
By the early 2000s, the red vinyl seat inserts were replaced with ones covered in synthetic wool. Beginning in 2009, the surface stop announcement system and driver barriers were installed. Throughout 2014, the first three seats on the open side of the streetcar received blue inserts as part of a fleet-wide modification to better denote courtesy seating. The TTC committed to having Presto payment available on all streetcars by the end of 2015. As of June 2015, one car (4221) was fitted with Presto readers as a trial. By September, installation commenced on the remainder of the fleet.
Over the course of five years, beginning in 2008, the ALRVs went through their mid-life overhaul. The first car completed was 4220, which had been sidelined at Harvey Shops three years prior. It was outshopped in April 2010. The cars received new stepwells, an updated instrument panel, new coat of paint, and LED exterior lighting. Only the headlight remained incandescent, however 4240 received an LED headlight with backlit TTC logo as a test.
Retirement
The ALRVs were considerably less reliable than the CLRVs and were phased out first upon deliveries of the [Flexity Outlook] fleet. The ALRVs were expected to retire from 2014 to 2015 as the new low floor streetcars entered service.[2] The first to retire was 4231 in mid 2014. It was stripped of parts for the other ALRVs still in service. After sitting for a period of time at Hillcrest, the car was sent to scrap in May 2015.
Other ALRVs deemed impractical to repair or overhaul followed. The twilight of the ALRV fleet came in 2018: by July of that year, the last unrefurbished unit had been pulled from passenger service. Over the coming months, the service provided by the remaining cars was sporadic and irregular. The last time the cars were used in regularly scheduled service was on January 19, 2019, when cars 4204 and 4230 last ran on the 501 Queen.
Over much of 2019, some attempts were made to repair a few cars for continued service, and cars 4207 and 4221 re-entered service as "run-as-directed" (standby) cars in May. However, after a few days of service, these cars once again vanished from the Toronto streets.
The last run of these cars was on September 2, 2019. Cars 4204 and 4207 were dispatched as extras on route 501, operating on a limited basis between Bathurst Street and the Russell carhouse. Shortly after 5 p.m, car 4204 pulled into Russell carhouse for the final time, bringing an end to 31 years of service.
Cars 4204 and 4207 were selected as historical units, with car 4207 remaining in Toronto, and 4204 being sent to the Halton County Radial Railway in Milton. The remaining cars on property (4221, 4228, 4230, and 4249) to be used as parts donors and then scrapped.
Life extension
As deliveries of the new streetcars fell behind schedule, the TTC considered extending the lives of the ALRVs to make up for the shortfall. The TTC decided to overhaul 30 of the 52 ALRVs for continued service with an option for another 10 depending on funding. The remaining 12 would be parted out for useful parts and scrapped. The first car to be refurbished (4217) was outshopped in October 2015.
The refurbished cars had work done to the body which included corrosion repairs and a new coat of paint. The subfloor was replaced and covered by the same flooring that is used in the refurbished SRT cars. Seats received new inserts, which remain padded. The bogies and motors were rebuilt along with the cars' control system — though the TTC had looked into retrofitting the ALRVs with more up to date IGBT transistors.
By the spring of 2018, 18 ALRVs were refurbished. It should be noted that one car (4239) was involved in a collision shortly after refurbishment and sustained damage serious enough to warrant its retirement. The TTC elected to end the refurbishment program at 20 cars rather than 30 after reliability failed to improve. The final two cars outshopped from the refurbishment programme were 4207 in June, and 4221 in August 2018.
Motor | Seating | Destination sign |
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2 x Brown Boveri, 600 V DC | 61 Otaco Innovator 850 | Rollsign |
Details
Fleet number |
Thumbnail | Date | Serial | Status/Disposal | Notes |
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4200 | Retired 2018 Last operated on July 31, 2018 on route 501 |
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4201 | 1987 | 87-76-1677 | Retired November 2017 |
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4202 | 1987 | 87-76-1678 | Retired 2018 Last operated on May 28, 2018 on route 501 |
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4203 | 1987 | 87-76-1679 | Retired May 2019 Last operated on June 27, 2018 on route 501 |
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4204 | 1987 | 87-76-1680 | Retired October 2019 Last operated on September 2, 2019 on route 501 |
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4205 | 1987 | 87-76-1681 | Retired January 26, 2018 |
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4206 | 1988 | 88-76-1682 | Retired October 2015 |
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4207 | 1988 | 88-76-1683 | Preserved
Last operated on September 2, 2019 on route 501 |
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4208 | 1989 | 89-76-1684 | Retired May 2019 |
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4209 | 1989 | 89-76-1685 | Retired November 2017 |
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4210 | 1988 | 88-76-1686 | Retired 2018 |
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4211 | 1988 | 88-76-1687 | Retired September 2015 Last operated on September 18, 2015 |
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4212 | 1988 | 88-76-1688 | Retired January 26, 2018 |
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4213 | 1988 | 88-76-1689 | Retired January 26, 2018 |
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4214 | 1988 | 88-76-1690 | Retired 2018 Last operated on June 29, 2018 on route 501 |
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4215 | 1988 | 88-76-1691 | Retired March 2019 Last operated on October 1, 2018 on route 501 |
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4216 | 1988 | 88-76-1692 | Retired 2018 |
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4217 | 1988 | 88-76-1693 | Retired March 2019 Last operated on November 23, 2018 on route 501 |
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4218 | 1988 | 88-76-1694 | Retired 2018 Last operated on May 20, 2018 on route 501 |
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4219 | 1988 | 88-76-1695 | Retired April 2017 |
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4220 | 1988 | 88-76-1696 | Retired January 26, 2018 |
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4221 | 1988 | 88-76-1697 | Retired 2019 - Failed Air Compressor Last operated on May 16, 2019 on route 501 |
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4222 | 1988 | 88-76-1698 | Retired April 2018 |
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4223 | 1988 | 88-76-1699 | Retired January 26, 2018 |
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4224 | 1988 | 88-76-1700 | Retired 2018 |
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4225 | Dec 5, 1988 | 88-76-1701 | Retired 2019 Last operated on December 17, 2018 on route 501 |
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4226 | 1988 | 88-76-1702 | Retired 2019 Last operated on December 27, 2018 on route 501 |
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4227 | 1988 | 88-76-1703 | Retired January 26, 2018 Last operated on March 7, 2016 |
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4228 | 1988 | 88-76-1704 | Retired 2019 Last operated on September 16, 2018 on route 501 |
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4229 | 1988 | 88-76-1705 | Retired June 2019 Last operated on January 14, 2019 on route 501 |
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4230 | 1988 | 88-76-1706 | Retired 2019 Last operated on January 19, 2019 on route 501 |
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4231 | 1988 | 88-76-1707 | Retired Mid 2014 Last operated in December 2013 |
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4232 | 1988 | 88-76-1708 | Retired 2018 Last operated on May 16, 2018 on route 501 |
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4233 | 1988 | 88-76-1709 | Retired January 26, 2018 Out of service since late 2016 |
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4234 | 1988 | 88-76-1710 | Retired October 2015 Last operated on September 18, 2015 |
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4235 | 1988 | 88-76-1711 | Retired early 2018 |
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4236 | 1988 | 88-76-1712 | Retired June 2019 Last operated on December 14, 2018 on route 501 |
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4237 | 1988 | 88-76-1713 | Retired 2018 |
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4238 | 1988 | 88-76-1714 | Retired January 26, 2018 |
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4239 | 1988 | 88-76-1715 | Retired 2018 Last operated in early fall 2017 |
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4240 | 1989 | 89-76-1716 | Retired 2018 Last operated in October 2018 |
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4241 | 1989 | 89-76-1717 | Retired January 26, 2018 |
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4242 | 1989 | 89-76-1718 | Retired 2018 Last operated in late May or early June 2018 |
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4243 | 1989 | 89-76-1719 | Retired May 2019 Last operated on August 10, 2018 on route 501 |
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4244 | 1989 | 89-76-1720 | Retired 2018 |
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4245 | 1989 | 89-76-1721 | Retired Summer 2018 |
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4246 | 1989 | 89-76-1722 | Retired 2018 Scrapped |
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4247 | 1989 | 89-76-1723 | Retired 2018 |
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4248 | 1989 | 89-76-1724 | Retired July 2016 |
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4249 | 1989 | 89-76-1725 | Retired 2019 Last operated on January 18, 2019 on route 501 |
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4250 | 1989 | 89-76-1726 | Retired June 2015 |
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4251 | 1989 | 89-76-1727 | Retired 2018 |
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References
- ↑ Filey, Mike. The TTC Story, The First Seventy-Five Years. Toronto: Dundurn Press Limited, 1996. Print.
- ↑ New Streetcar Implementation Plan (Report). 24 June 2013. Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved on 24 June 2013.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/TTC146Eminem/status/1186651888659374080?s=20
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Buses | |||
Low Floor Diesel | 3100-3369, 7900-7979, 8000-8099, 8100-8219, 8300-8334, 8335-8396, 8400-8504, 8510-8617, 8620-8716, 8720-8964, 9200-9239 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Low Floor Hybrid | 1000-1149, 1200-1423, 1500-1689, 3400-3654, 7000-7133, 7200-7333 | ||
Low Floor Electric | 3700-3724, 3725-3749, 3750-3759 | ||
Articulated Diesel | 9000-9026, 9027-9152 | ||
Articulated Hybrid | 9400-9467 | ||
High Floor Diesel | 2252 | ||
Wheel-Trans | W500-W519, W520-W579, W580-W627, W628-W647, W648-W670, W700-W790, W791-W837 | ||
Rail Vehicles | |||
Streetcars | 2766, 4001, 4207, 4400-4603, 4604-4663, 4500, 4549 | ||
Rapid Transit | 5000-5371, 5381-6136, 6141-6196, 6200-6275, 6500-6517 |