CLRVs preserved

There have been some changes at Halton County! In the Tom Twigg photo above, from the Halton Facebook question, can be seen a lineup of cars from the post-PCC era that are now museum pieces. To the right is the ALRV set that arrived a couple of weeks ago, TTC 4204, while on the three tracks to the left are three single-unit CLRV cars that arrived between November 4th and today: cars 4003, 4010, and 4039. All three are new additions to the PNAERC list.

Car 4003 is the eldest, one of six prototypes built in 1977 by Swiss company SIG (Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft, but you knew that). The other two were part of the 190-car production order, with 4010 being the first production car in a series that included fleet numbers 4010-4199. They were constructed in Canada by Hawker-Siddeley in 1979. The CLRVs are truly streetcars - certainly streamlined and modern-looking, but undoubtedly streetcars. They even echo the PCC in their general layout and door arrangement. Other than their styling their most unusual feature may be their mono-motor trucks, which gives them a B-B wheel arrangement but only two motors per car (the later ALRVs returned to the more traditional one motor per axle design).

Halton County suddenly has quite the fleet, though it's fitting given that these cars represented the Toronto surface system for a few decades. Rumor has it that a couple more CLRVs are in line to be preserved by TTC itself and/or other museums, so stay tuned.