Comments on: TTC “Small Witt” 2858 is out on a Upper Canada Railway Society fantrip on a gloomy day in April 1963. As per an old UCRS newsletter, it was a system-wide excursion that including 16 photo shops. On one such stop, it’s posed here southbound on Dufferin Street just north of King Street West. The interesting part here is this particular spot, and what’s going on: there was a crossover here, and the streetcar, facing south on the southbound tracks, was being crossed over in reverse to pose facing south on the northbound tracks. The operator is looking rearward to reverse 2858 through the crossover just behind the car, and there were two other individuals out of view behind car, one pulling the trolleypole cable to the right to guide the pole through the crossover’s overhead connecting wire, and another with a pry bar for setting the track switches. The crossover here was used for a Dufferin summer stub service in the 1920-30′s, using a double-ended streetcar to provide service from just past the crossover at King, down Bathurst to Dufferin Loop (to reach the CNE), and back up. This practice occurred occasionally in the mid-1940′s too. Since the crossover was still intact, a popular practice during fantrips was to pose streetcars facing the opposite direction, on the wrong side, or crossing over (there was another crossover at George Street below King that was also visited on this day). By the 1960′s, the few remaining Peter Witt streetcars saw little service since the opening of the University subway line in February 1963 (and nixing of the Dupont streetcar route that operated on Bay Street). But, they would be chartered by groups like the UCRS for excursions and fantrips around the city in their final years, until the last cars in the fleet were retired in mid-1965. Some would return in the 1970′s for a new “Tour Tram” service. John F. Bromley photo, Dan Dell’Unto collection slide.

Comments on: TTC “Small Witt” 2858 is out on a Upper Canada Railway Society fantrip on a gloomy day in April 1963. As per an old UCRS newsletter, it was a system-wide excursion that including 16 photo shops. On one such stop, it’s posed here southbound on Dufferin Street just north of King Street West. The interesting part here is this particular spot, and what’s going on: there was a crossover here, and the streetcar, facing south on the southbound tracks, was being crossed over in reverse to pose facing south on the northbound tracks. The operator is looking rearward to reverse 2858 through the crossover just behind the car, and there were two other individuals out of view behind car, one pulling the trolleypole cable to the right to guide the pole through the crossover’s overhead connecting wire, and another with a pry bar for setting the track switches. The crossover here was used for a Dufferin summer stub service in the 1920-30′s, using a double-ended streetcar to provide service from just past the crossover at King, down Bathurst to Dufferin Loop (to reach the CNE), and back up. This practice occurred occasionally in the mid-1940′s too. Since the crossover was still intact, a popular practice during fantrips was to pose streetcars facing the opposite direction, on the wrong side, or crossing over (there was another crossover at George Street below King that was also visited on this day). By the 1960′s, the few remaining Peter Witt streetcars saw little service since the opening of the University subway line in February 1963 (and nixing of the Dupont streetcar route that operated on Bay Street). But, they would be chartered by groups like the UCRS for excursions and fantrips around the city in their final years, until the last cars in the fleet were retired in mid-1965. Some would return in the 1970′s for a new “Tour Tram” service. John F. Bromley photo, Dan Dell’Unto collection slide. http://www.railpictures.ca The BEST Canadian photos on the Internet, eh? Thu, 07 May 2026 18:00:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1