A STREETCAR UNDESIRED by Wryter
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Description
Red Rocket....Bone Shaker.... Tram....Street Car...call it by any name you desire, it was the mode of mass transit of many cities in North America for pretty much of the late 19th & 20th century & even into the 21st century.
They as a method of transportation, were efficient , cheap to run and for the most part took on passengers and dropped them off at their allotted destination with as little wear & tear as possible to the paying clientele. In summer there were hot and cramped, all the windows open to allow air in, the downside was well hot sweaty people after a hard days work. In winter you tried to keep warm, they were heated yes but in many cases not well. They shook, bounced and rattled along the rials of the city, the incessant clanging of the bell to warn pedestrians & motorist to give way as the Queen St. " Red Rocket " was coming through.
Sometimes you could set your watch by them, I say sometimes as in many cases you could not. Accidents were when they happened were either bordering on the spectacular or the more mundane where a set of wheels came off the track. it was a very jarring experience to be sailing along in one of these old bone shakers and the trolly part come off the overhead wire, thus grinding the 22 ton behemoth to abrupt stop. But love em or hate em, there were part of many peoples daily lives and in many cases still are.
I pondered just how & why this old PCC ended up in a farmers field, some 50 or so odd miles away from any city that used to run them. Its an odd sight to see as you head along the highway and catch a glimpse of the old familiar red & cream color scheme and old now forgotten TTC ( Toronto Transit Commission) street car sitting in a farmers field. Gutted now and perhaps used for storage if nothing else. There are several birds nest inhabiting the inside, tucked up and away from the elements, many spiders live there to as they now festoon the broken windows, their webs sling across them ready to snare unwary flies and other insects. So maybe the ridership is down for this old veteran " Red Rocket " but she makes a fine home for our other world guests and visitors..............thanks for the look
Comments (10)
KaToFel
Nice snapshot you show here. Very good.
mickeyrony
I always love this kind of vehicle on rails my friend and there were those who walked in as the electricity Troleybus ...... Congratulations and thank you for miles this page of history ((5 + +)) J'ai toujours aimer ce genre de véhicule sur rails mon ami et il y avait ceux qui marchait à l'électricitée aussi Les Troleybus ......Bravo et mille merci de cette page d'histoire ((5++))
weesel
Just waiting for restoration at a decent living museum.
Lashia
Great shot- thanks for sharing! :)
blinkings
Very inyeresting. Melbourne is full of them. They are having trouble with getting people to actually buy a ticket.......they get sooo packed that inspectors can't even physically get on them to check peoples tickets!
evinrude
Great find!!!
T.Rex
How sad, but, it's not off to the scrap yard as so many others. I grew up with the PCC. It's my picture of a 'real' tram/street car. San Francisco has a whole fleet preserved, running the F-line on Market Street to Castro. They are real tourist attractions, leaving the more modern light rail vehicles running under Market Street for the local residents. Thanks for posting the photo. At least the car is still around, as are some of Toronto's other PCC cars, running the F-line far from home!
Minaya
Wonderful capture! Nice, that it´s now a new home for birds and insects. But in a museum it would be better.
KatesFriend
I've seen this old girl, she rests along Highway 6 between Guelph and Hamilton (Ontario). Never got a chance for a picture alas. I must say, it is an odd sight to see this proud PCC body lounging in a farmers field. But for a brief moment you can still believe that it is still operational and transporting passengers here and there through the grass. Many PCCs are still in service. Though only two now remain in Toronto, most often seen on the Harbourfront Line (Route 509) on summer weekends. I love your description of riding in one, much of which I myself have also experienced (albeit my mother could tell you a lot more colourful stories on the Long Branch Line). One point though, I thought that the Peter Witt streetcars (the predecessors of the PCC on the TTC) were the actual 'bone shakers'. I've ridden in one or two in New Orleans and I know how they tended to shake and rattle as they moved (and blast passengers with ozone). The PCCs were designed to for a more stable ride - though that also depended upon the quality of the tracks. The Peter Witts were largely scrapped by the 1960's in Toronto. And yes, PCCs (and today's CLRVs) always won the argument when it came to sharing the road with other vehicles in "spectacular" ways as you put it. Snicker. Thanks for posting this, it looks great.
Richardphotos
outstanding capture and should be restored for a train museum