Toronto PCC to return home

TTC 4601 in 2000

Many thanks to Wesley Paulson for sending me this post on Facebook (no login required) courtesy of the Michigan Transit Museum. For about 11 years now, MTM has stored the two PCC cars in its possession - Detroit 268, acquired via a stint in Mexico City, and Toronto 4601 - on private property near Port Huron, Michigan. The Toronto car, which has no local significance and was never regauged from Toronto wide gauge, was deaccessed back in 2015 and it seems the car has finally found a taker. Halton County, which is already home to three 4600-series rebuilt PCC cars, is planning on moving car 4601 back north of the border sometime soon. The MTM announcement states that the intention is to restore the car. This is the latest example of an organization taking the positive step of deaccessing an unneeded piece of equipment that is using resources better applied elsewhere.

The TTC 4600s are an interesting subspecies of PCC. They were heavily overhauled by the TTC between 1986 and 1992, using class A-8 cars built by St. Louis for TTC in 1951 as the starting points. They were largely rebuilt in-kind, at least mechanically, and were painted in traditional colors for use on the Harbourfront Line. As such, when they were retired only a few years later in 1996, they were in excellent condition body-wise and were viewed as prime candidates for preservation. All 19 of the cars rebuilt for the 4600 program survive today, including two kept by TTC as heritage cars and six in regular heritage line service in Kenosha, WI. The remaining 11 cars ended up at museums: three at Halton County, one at MTM (soon to go to Halton County), two each at McKinney Avenue and National Capital, two at non-operating museums in Arizona, and one in Edmonton.