This charter was held by Felix Tse and Gary Pang. The original plans called for a charter of the TTC’s only NovaBus LFS, however due to mechanical problems with that bus, those who attended had to settle for a brand new D-40LF. This didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits, the weather was beautiful and everyone enjoyed themselves.
In a way, the charter celebrated the delivery of the TTC’s newest buses. All those in attendance shared their photographs, schedules, maps and models with each other and talked about transit and the newest additions to the TTC fleet.
New Flyer 7312 Charter Image Archive
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The pick-up point of this event was the Castle Frank Subway Station. After everyone had boarded, the group headed to the first stop, the bus loop at Parliament and King. There was no doubt that this was an old streetcar loop, the tracks which were beginning to show from under the pavement proved this. Here's a young transit fan snapping a shot of the bus in the loop. Photo by Brad O'Brien.
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The second photostop took place on Polson Street. In the background, the Toronto skyline and a docked frieght ship can be seen. During this stop, many features of the D-40-LF bus were demonstrated, including the front wheelchair ramp and kneeling features.
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This stop was at the TTC's Lakeshore garage where the Wheel-Trans buses are stored and maintained. In the background, retired Orion 2 buses along with the soon-to-be demolished Gardiner Expressway can be seen.
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The next stop was at the Russell Carbarn, where the group took photos of the streetcars alongside our bus. The historic PCC cars were also out on display for us.
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This photostop was on Wineva Avenue along the 64 MAIN route. During this stop, a few residents came wondering out of their homes to see what was going on, and boy did they have a lot of questions...
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Our next stop was at the Neville Park loop where we were greeted by two 501 streetcars.
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After Neville Park, there was a brief photostop outside Neil McNeil High School on Victoria Park Avenue (unfortunatly this photograph didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, so I didn't post it here). Here's an interior shot of the bus, with the many people who attended.
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Later, the charter bus followed towards on Brimley Road.
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The charter also visited the Scarborough Bluffs, Malvern Garage and the Arrow Road Garage. Here's our group at the last photostop, York University.
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Special thanks go to Felix Tse and Gary Pang for organizing a great charter. Here’s to more great bus charters in the future.