Where Wide Gauge is a Good Thing

Our official Canadian Field Reporter Zach Ehlers sends this report from a recent visit to the wintry north...

Normally, at IRM, any time that the track gauge gets much wider than 4'8.5", we're in for a bad time. This past weekend was much the exception when four of us from the Electric Car Shop ventured north to Toronto over the weekend of February 17th and 18th. Toronto still has an extensive streetcar system, as well as a lengthy subway. The gauge for the system is a wider than normal 4'10.875". Attendees taking in the wide gauge included Richard Schauer, Greg Kepka, Thomas Slater, and myself.

The main event on Saturday was Winterfest at the Halton County Radial Railway. All barns were open for inspection, and a number of cars were operating for guest motormen. In all, they had 2 Peter Witts, a PCC Rail Grinder, a Plow, a Snow Sweeper, and an Interurban car. HCRR operates on an interesting staff system, whereby fleets of up to 3 cars operate at a time on the railway, each possessing a piece of the staff relating to their position in the convoy.

First up was a ride on Plow TP-11, built by National Steel Car in 1946 for the TTC.

Peter Witt 2424 was hot on our heels, and followed us into the loop at the east end of the line.

On the way back to the main property, Richard was the first motorman among our group, running TP-11.

Next we come to the Peter Witt cars. Toronto had at least two varieties, these nicknamed "Small Witt" and "Large Witt" for their respective size.

Large Witt 2424 (built in 1921 by Canadian Car and Foundry) is a pretty attractive car in TTC Maroon and Cream.

I ran Small Witt 2894 out on our second lap of the railway...

...And Thomas ran back.

Next up was snow sweeper S-37, which was built by Russell in 1920.

The interior is relatively cramped, with a traction motor for each broom taking up most of the space in the carbody.

And here we see Greg sweeping up the streets of Toronto, or rather the HCRR mainline.

The 5th car running on Saturday was London and Port Stanley Railway car #8, an imposing 1500v interurban car built by Jewett in 1915. This car is one year younger than CA&E 319 and 321 (built by Jewett in 1914), and really represents a shift in carbuilding methodology during those years. Compared to the CA&E cars which were almost entirely wood, this car is almost entirely steel from the roof to the floor.

This car was subject to a thorough restoration years ago, and it still looks pretty fresh and taken care of. The 6th and final car which was running Saturday was TTC W-30, a former Cleveland PCC car which was sold secondhand to Toronto and later became part of a rail grinding train on TTC. Remarkably, none of us managed to get any photos of it! So on to the barns we go.

This is inside Barn 2, one of the two display barns on the property. Much of the operating street railway equipment is also stored here.

This is 4000, the first Air Electric PCC buit for TTC in 1938 by the St. Louis Car Company. Toronto was at one time the largest operator of PCC streetcars, eventually having 745 bought new or secondhand.

Rubber tire transportation is also represented by this 1945 Ford Transit bus.

Connected to Barn 2 is Barn 4, a large barn containing more displayed cars and other goodies. One item reminded us a bit of home, CTA 1-50 #48. HCRR acquired it as representative of the cars TTC originally planned to purchase for their first subway, something very similar to a CTA 6000. They went a quite different direction as we'll see in a moment.

Next to 48 are a pair of Subway cars, 5300 and 5301, built by Montreal Locomotive Works in 1962 for TTC's Bloor Danforth Subway line. These cars are significant for being the first subway cars built in Canada.

And then we come to 5098 and 5099, representative of what TTC did end up acquiring for their first subway (the Yonge St Subway). They really did go for a polar opposite to Chicago style PCC cars; these were built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Works in the UK in 1954. These cars are a bit worn. They run, but for many years they lived outside at HCRR.

The UK influence is very evident in the (left-handed) cab.

Montreal & Southern Counties 107 is a combine built in 1912 by the Ottawa Car Manufacturing Company.

This is 1326, the first car acquired by HCRR in 1954. It was homebuilt by TTC predecessor Toronto Railway in 1910.

1326 has an interesting interior arrangement, mostly bench seating with a section of transverse seats.

And here's a glimpse inside HCRR's shop building. Behind the line truck is 416, a suburban car built by Ottawa that's been the subject of an ongoing restoration. The PCC in the center is All-Electric 4611. Our time at HCRR was drawing to a close at this point, but we made one more stop near the front gate to view a few more subjects.

HCRR has a few trolley buses in their collection. These are all Hamilton buses, from left to right:

7801, a 1978 Flyer E-800B dual-mode trolleybus with a Volkswagen engine driving a generator in the back, and recycled motor and controls from 1940s-era trolleybuses.  This type of coach ran until the end of service in 1992.

732, a 1951 CCF-Brill, similar to IRM's Vancouver 2340.

765, a 1973 Flyer E-700A, similar to IRM's Toronto 9339 (which also lived
at HCRR for several years).

7802, a parts bus for 7801.

Also out front was L2, one of 3 electric locomotives built by Canadian General Electric for the London and Port Stanley Railway in 1915. It's placed in a prominent location near the road that certainly commandeers attention from passing motorists.

Here ended our day at HCRR. We moved on to the Royal Canadian Legion that evening for a dinner put on for Winterfest, followed by a slide show thoroughly covering 80 years of PCC cars in Toronto. Stay tuned for our further escapades on Sunday, coming soon.