Text by James Bow and Peter C. Kohler

Thrroughout 1981, as the new CLRVs arrived in Toronto, a number of older PCCs were removed from service to head to the scrapheap. Three classes of PCCs were removed outright, including the A-9s (ex-Cincinnati), the A-11s (ex-Cleveland) and the A-12s (ex-Louisville via Cleveland). These remaining PCCs were placed in dead storage at St. Clair Carhouse, to be removed at a later date for their final run before recycling.

One of these vehicles did not go quietly. On a rainy night on November 20, 1981, A-11 ex-Cleveland PCC #4647 was picked up from St. Clair Carhouse by a tow-truck, which pulled the car along the rails via Wychwood, St. Clair, Vaughan and Bathurst towards the TTC’s Hillcrest Shops. As the tow-truck began its descent along Bathurst Street’s long hill to Davenport Road, basic physics took over.

PCC #4647 was more than three times heavier than the tow-truck, and it had no brakes. Rolling down Bathurst Street’s steep decline, it gathered so much momentum that, when the truck tried to brake before Davenport Road, PCC #4647 pushed the truck aside and kept rolling along its merry way.

PCC #4647 continued rolling through the Bathurst/Davenport intersection, past the entrance to Hillcrest Shops, through the underpass beneath the CP North Toronto tracks, and up the incline to Dupont Street. It almost came to a stop there, but instead it crested the hill, and picked up speed again, continuing past Bathurst Station, Bloor Street, Harbord and College.

The fast thinking and quick work of the tow-truck crew prevented accidents along the way. The crew chased the runaway streetcar and, major intersections, pulled ahead and stopped cross-traffic while the streetcar rolled past. PCC #4647’s journey continued down Bathurst until it hit a right-turning switch at King Street at too high of a speed, coming off the rails, narrowly missing the historic Wheat Sheaf Tavern and smashing into the building beside it.

Miraculously, no one was hurt and, after some work to tidy up PCC #4647 and put it back on the rails, it was hauled away for scrap (properly this time), and the damaged building repaired.

The Last Run of PCC 4647 Image Archive

	TTC A11-class ex-Cleveland all-electric PCC #4647 is tended to after its runaway run down Bathurst from Davenport Road to King Street before derailing and crashing on the night of November 20, 1981. The photographer is unknown and the image is courtesy the Rob Pineault Collection.
	This photograph, taken by the TTC on November 20, 1981, shows crews working to rerail PCC #4647. The damage to the restaurant next to the Wheat Sheaf tavern can be seen in this shot. Fortunately, the collision appears to have been at a fairly slow speed.
	In this photograph, crews prepare to tow th e newly re-railed PCC #4647 backwards east on King Street West from the point of impact. This view is looking east. Photo taken by the TTC on November 20, 1981, courtesy of Richard Glaze.
	A view of the smashed-in front of PCC #4647 as crews prepare to tow it east on King from the point of impact. This photo was taken by the TTC on November 20, 1981 and is courtesy Richard Glaze.
	PCC #4647 is being towed backwards from the eastbound King Street tracks to the southbound Bathurst tracks. There, it will be properly towed back to Hillcrest Shops. This photo was taken by the TTC on November 20, 1981 and is courtesy of Richard Glaze.