Comments on: The same photographer who shot this photo of CP 7026 crossing the former TG&B “Old Bruce” service track over Bloor Street, was also shooting streetcars that day in the same spot. They caught this pair of TTC PCC’s lead by 4494 MU’ed in Queen service, heading westbound on Bloor Street past Perth Avenue about to duck under the “subway” (common Toronto parlance for an underpass or viaduct before transit subways started being built) under the service track, the CN Weston Sub, and CP Galt Sub mainlines. After ducking under the rail corridor and climbing the grade to Dundas, the cars would continue west for Jane Loop. The local Milnes coal & fuel oil dealer is visible at the southwest corner of Bloor & Perth. PCC cars serving the busy Bloor and Danforth streetcar lines were often MU’ed together to handle the larger passenger loads, and certain classes of cars were equipped with front and rear couplers for such operations. Once the crosstown Bloor-Danforth subway line opened between Keele and Woodbine in February 1966, streetcar operations ended on that stretch of Bloor, and the Bloor and Danforth “shuttle” runs at both ends that ran until the extensions to Islington and Warden opened in May 1968 were able to get by with single cars. MU’ed PCC operation continued on busier routes such as Queen however. Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell’Unto collection slide.

By: R.L.Kennedy

R.L.Kennedy — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 00:31:28 +0000

Note the Milnes Coal yard one of many dealer chains across Toronto. Most had identical brick office buildings.

TTC m.u. trains of PCC’s were crewed by 2 Operators. In TTC parlance the second man (trailing car) was said to have a “chauffeur”!