Text by James Bow
For all the years of service transit vehicles put into their respective agencies, nothing lasts forever. Eventually, all things age and whither and the time comes to retire the vehicles for service. A lucky few will be shipped off to museums, and an even luckier fewer will be restored to operating condition. For many, their ends are far more ignominious. For some, they are sudden.
This gallery shows pictures of transit vehicles which are not at their best. Some at the end of long runs, and others at the end of bad accidents. Some will be put back into service. Some will never be seen again.
Scrap Metal Image Archive
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504 CRUNCH One evening near midnight (early eighties) PCC 4508 was operating eastbound on King Street when it was struck head-on by a tractor trailer as it entered the Atlantic/Shaw St. railway underpass. The tractor trailer unit was driven the wrong way through the subway by a drunk driver. The truck climbed the PCC superstructure and crumpled the streetcar sheet metal. A split second before impact, the female operator had the presence of mind to jump free of the operators seat towards the front door well. Her foot was trapped in the wreck and she sustained some injuries. There was nothing left of the truck's tractor and the driver was seriously injured. |
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Common wisdom was that if it was any experienced operator, they would have likely set the brakes and stayed in their seat for the collision. It isn't often that streetcars got crumpled in such a manner. Had the operator of PCC 4508 stayed in her seat, there isn't any way she could have survived. Even the passenger seat directly behind the operator was completely crushed. The streetcar had to be pushed back on the rails before it could be towed away. Due to it's structural integrity, it had a walking escort to the Hillcrest shops in order to ensure it stayed on the rails. These photographs courtesy Tony Komljanec. |
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In the early 1990s, the PCCs were on the way out. Those that weren't rebuilt were taken to the scrap dealer. Here's 4510 being taken away from Hillcrest. Photograph by Tony Komljanec. |
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Also at Hillcrest, another PCC being taken away, while trolley buses that would soon follow look on. Photograph by Tony Komljanec. |
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TTC GM New Look #8945 nurses a crunched fender at Hillcrest. Unlike some of the other vehicles in this gallery, it will soon be beaten back into shape and put back into service. Photo by George Davidson. |
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ALRV 4236 got a little hot under the collar and had to be taken to Hillcrest to be fixed. It was soon on the road again. Photo by George Davidson. |
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Old Western Flyer rebuild trolley bus 9240, the Last Trolley Bus in Toronto, sits in a yard in the late 1990s and suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous vandalism. Photo by Mike Vainchtein. |
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Another view of trolley bus 9240. Photo by Mike Vainchtein. |
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TTC A8-class all-electric PCC #4513 suffered a significant accident before being retired to St. Clair carhouse off Wychwood Avenue. TTC A14-class ex-Kansas City all-electric PCC #4776 joins it on the scrap line. This shot was taken by Richard Glaze circa September 1971. |
