IRM acquires Toronto Streetcar

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Import duty is probably not applicable under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

[NP Eddie]

I have two questions:

How much work is it to regauge the trucks to 4' 8 1/2"

Did the IRM have to pay any US customs fee to bring the Canadian streetcar into the US? I ask this because the GN had to pay duty on about six locomotives and three cabooses based at Seattle that regularly pulled Seattle to Vancouver, BC freights. The GN's three EMD switchers based at Vancouver, BC were built at London, Ontario.

Ed Burns

Retired Clerk from Northtown.

[daveklepper]

The reason the Toronto Subway was built to streetcar gauge is that initially it was planned that certain work equipment would be in use both in the subway and on streetcar lines, and initially this was the case.  Possibly not today.  Also truck overhaul shop is common.

At least one new light rail line is underconstruction in the suburbs, and it is standard gauge, even though using a variation of the Flexity light rail cars now on Toronto's streets.  I believe the special reason is that is uses some RoW in use for freight and their will be some shared-use trackage.

The new Waterloo - Kitchener light rail is standard gauge.

See the thread on the Transit Forum

[betamax]

SD70Dude

https://www.irm.org/in-the-news/1979-streetcar/?fbclid=IwAR1qVjUmuFXwc1l_MbS735ZK8BYGBRUIJthD7yE6wF3ebMHcmxkRXejCbVA

For those unaware, the track gauge on the TTC streetcar and subway systems is 4 ft 10 ⁷⁄₈ in, slightly wider than standard gauge, but too close to allow the construction of dual gauge track.  Ontario's Halton County Radial Railway (with a large collection of preserved equipment from Toronto) is the only other operator with this gauge.

 

 

And that choice was deliberate.  

My photo album has an image of the different gauges here: http://img.gg/185y69i 

Plus some images from the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario: http://img.gg/f9uGcvb

[SD70Dude]

cx500

Actually, not quite true.  The streetcar at Heritage Park in Calgary also runs on that gauge.  When the streetcar body was rescued and rebuilt, the park was able to acquire trucks (and possibly some of the electrical equipment) from a retired Toronto work car.  Rather than regauge the wheels, the track was built to Toronto gauge.

I did not know that, thanks for the clarification.

I do know that the Toronto Subway was built to the streetcar gauge because of plans to run streetcars on certain sections of future subway lines.  Of course, those plans never came to fruition.

[cx500]

Actually, not quite true.  The streetcar at Heritage Park in Calgary also runs on that gauge.  When the streetcar body was rescued and rebuilt, the park was able to acquire trucks (and possibly some of the electrical equipment) from a retired Toronto work car.  Rather than regauge the wheels, the track was built to Toronto gauge.

It probably would have been smarter to use the facilities of CPR's Ogden shops and its wheel press, only a couple of miles away, to adjust the wheel sets to standard gauge.  A second opportunity appeared quite a few years later when most of the line was pulled up to allow a major change to the grounds, and the new alignment could have been built as standard.  Since then the Ogden shops closed, the heavy machinery gone, and the buildings mostly converted more white collar uses.

John

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Has it already been that long?  I can remember when the CLRV's were fairly new and operating side-by-side with the PCC's.

[54light15]

I've probably ridden on that one at one time or another. It's something, how the old ones are disappearing-you see one on the 501 Queen st line and the 506 Carlton but they are getting to be few and far between. They do ride a lot better than the new ones thanks to their pneumatic suspension that was based on the air suspension of the Mercedes 600 or the MB 300SEL- (I used to own one of those.) The components are identical, just a lot bigger. Someone on the design staff in Switzerland must have owned one of those cars. 

[SD70Dude]

https://www.irm.org/in-the-news/1979-streetcar/?fbclid=IwAR1qVjUmuFXwc1l_MbS735ZK8BYGBRUIJthD7yE6wF3ebMHcmxkRXejCbVA

For those unaware, the track gauge on the TTC streetcar and subway systems is 4 ft 10 ⁷⁄₈ in, slightly wider than standard gauge, but too close to allow the construction of dual gauge track.  Ontario's Halton County Radial Railway (with a large collection of preserved equipment from Toronto) is the only other operator with this gauge.