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The Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) and Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (ALRV) were types of
streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
s used by the
Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...
(TTC) from the late 1970s until they were scrapped in the late 2010s. They were built following the TTC's decision to retain streetcar services in the 1970s, replacing the existing
PCC streetcar The Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful domestically, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the world where ...
fleet. Two variants were produced: the standard single-module CLRV (built between 1977 and 1981) and the longer
articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent coupling in its construction. This coupling works as a large pivot joint, allowing it to bend and turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buse ...
double-module ALRV (built between 1987 and 1989). The ALRVs were officially retired from regular TTC service on September 2, 2019, with the CLRVs officially retired on December 29, 2019. Both were replaced by the
Flexity Outlook The Bombardier Flexity Outlook is a series of low-floored trams of the Two-rooms-and-a-bath car, multi-articulated type, manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Bombardier Flexity product line (many of which are not low-floo ...
, a low-floor streetcar first introduced in 2014.


History


CLRV

Starting at the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the TTC's fleet of
PCC streetcar The Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful domestically, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the world where ...
s approached (or exceeded in some cases) the end of their useful lives. Many Toronto citizens, and especially a group known as "Streetcars for Toronto" led by transit advocate
Steve Munro Steve Munro (born 7 September 1948) is a Canadian blogger and transit advocate from Toronto, Ontario. Munro has been credited in playing a lead role in the grass-roots efforts to convince the Toronto City Council to reverse plans to abandon To ...
, had fought successfully against the TTC's plan to convert the remaining streetcar lines to buses, which necessitated a new streetcar model to replace the aging PCCs. The "Canadian Light Rail Vehicle" was an attempt at a new, standardized streetcar design to be used in Toronto and in other new streetcar developments throughout the country.
Hawker Siddeley Canada Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s. History Founded in 1962 as the Canadian divis ...
proposed their version of a streetcar in 1972 known as the Municipal Service Car, which had a bus-like chassis and a semi-low floor design with front and rear doors similar to that of the CLRV fleet. The project was abandoned the following year when the TTC selected the CLRV design. No Municipal Service Car prototypes were ever produced and only concept drawings remain of this vehicle. The first six CLRV cars (4000–4005) were manufactured by SIG of
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, Switzerland, and used as
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
s for
Urban Transportation Development Corporation The Urban Transportation Development Corporation Ltd. (UTDC) is a former State-owned enterprise, Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario, Canada. It was established in the 1970s as a way to enter what was then expected to be a bu ...
(UTDC) (now Bombardier) to manufacture subsequent CLRVs at the
Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...
works of
Hawker Siddeley Canada Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s. History Founded in 1962 as the Canadian divis ...
(today also part of Bombardier). The original order was for 200 CLRVs, of which ten were to be built by SIG and 190 by Hawker Siddeley. However, the order was reduced by four vehicles to 196 in order to provide parts to construct a prototype Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (number 4900). The four CLRVs removed were from the SIG portion of the order; thus, there were no CLRVs numbered 4006–4009. The 190 Hawker Siddeley CLRVs were numbered 4010–4199. CLRV car 4000 had a
pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...
when being tested by SIG on the Orbe-Chavornay railway and was converted to
trolley pole A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead line, overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current ...
before being delivered to Toronto. On December 29, 1977, the first CLRV, SIG-built 4002, arrived at the
Hillcrest Complex Hillcrest Complex, the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility, is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs, and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersectio ...
aboard a railway flatcar. On September 30, 1979, after a year of testing and modification, CLRVs started service on route
507 Long Branch 507 Long Branch is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It runs along Lake Shore Boulevard between Humber Loop and Long Branch Loop (just west of Browns Line, adjacent ...
(today the western portion of route
501 Queen 501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It stretches from Neville Park Loop (just west of Victoria Park Avenue) in the east, ...
). Twenty-two CLRVs were to run on an open-track Scarborough LRT line (to be later built as an
ICTS Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...
line). Thus, for suburban operation, the UTDC originally specified an outside-frame bogie that later proved problematic in street operation, and designed the vehicles for speeds up to . The bogies would derail at switches in street trackage and have noise and vibration problems. Replacing the original Bochum wheels with SAB wheels (similar to PCC wheels) corrected these problems. The Bochum wheels had a rubber layer between the hub and the steel tire (rim), which would flex rather than pulling the opposite wheel through a single-point switch. The CLRV electronics include 1970s-era solid state power controls. In later years, the propulsion control system became unreliable and difficult to maintain as obsolete electronic and electrical parts became difficult to source. The CLRVs originally had sealed windows and no air conditioning. Later, the windows were modified to allow passengers to open them. The CLRVs were delivered with couplers for multiple-unit operation. Between 1984 and 1988, the couplers were removed, and a safety shield was placed over the front coupler pocket.


ALRV

As with the CLRV prototypes, the ALRV prototype, numbered 4900, was tested with a pantograph on standard gauge tracks before delivery to the TTC. Built in 1982, prototype 4900 had features that were not implemented on either CLRVs or production ALRVs such as hand controls instead of foot controls, and electronic destination signs instead of linen rollsigns. The prototype had couplers while subsequent production units did not. Prototype 4900 ran trials in Toronto from August 10, 1982, until February 25, 1983, with a break when it was displayed at the 1982
Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day (Canada), ...
. After completion of the trial runs, car 4900 was stored at the St. Clair Carhouse until March 7, 1987, when it was shipped to the UTDC testing facility in
Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...
. On March 24, 1988, following a test run, it was rear-ended by another streetcar on the test track and suffered extensive damage. It was scrapped in 1997. The 52 production ALRV cars were built by UTDC using
bogie A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...
s and articulations supplied by
MAN SE MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg- Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin ...
of
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Assembly of the first 11 cars took place in Thunder Bay, while that of the remaining 41 cars took place in Kingston. They are numbered 4200–4251. The first production ALRV, number 4200, was shipped to Toronto on June 11, 1987. It underwent further testing and modifications after its arrival. Car 4204 was the first of the production ALRVs to go into revenue service, doing so on the
507 Long Branch 507 Long Branch is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It runs along Lake Shore Boulevard between Humber Loop and Long Branch Loop (just west of Browns Line, adjacent ...
route on January 19, 1988.


Marketing

The UTDC had only one other buyer for its light rail products, the
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, more commonly known simply as the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), is a Special district (United States), special district responsible for public transit services, Congestion management agen ...
(now known as the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority), in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
, which purchased 50 vehicles in 1987. These cars were double-ended, articulated, and used pantograph collection, all of which were configurable options offered for the CLRV by the UTDC, as was high-platform boarding, which neither city used. In 1980, cars 4027, 4029 and 4031 were leased and tested by the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
(MBTA), in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, to run on the Green Line. To operate in Boston, the streetcars had to be regauged and skipped
Kenmore station Kenmore station is an underground light rail station on the MBTA Green Line (MBTA), Green Line, located under Kenmore Square in the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is served by the Green Line B branch, B ...
when operating on the C and D branches as the CLRVs do not have any doors on the left side. During this time, the cars were occasionally operated as two- and three-car trains. Ultimately, the MBTA did not adopt the CLRV design for its light rail fleet. The
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) promoted it as a stand ...
program was largely unsuccessful, with the resulting cars proving unreliable and troublesome to both transit systems that had purchased them. While the CLRV gave relatively more reliable performance for the TTC and SCVTA, their large amount of components that became proprietary as a result would make the cars increasingly more difficult and costly to maintain as they aged. In 2004, the Santa Clara VTA replaced their UTDC cars with low-floor LRVs and sold the former fleet to
SacRT light rail The SacRT light rail system serves the Sacramento, California area. It is operated by the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) and has of network comprising three main lines on standard gauge tracks, 53 stations, and a fleet of 121 lig ...
in
Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
and TRAX in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
. The cars were retired from service in both Salt Lake City and Sacramento in 2018 and 2022, respectively.


Characteristics

The design and operation of the CLRVs and ALRVs carried over features from the highly successful PCCs that they replaced, having a similar interior layout, and the same two green bull's-eye lights in the upper corners of the front, above the
destination sign A destination sign (North American English) or destination indicator/destination blind (British English) is a sign mounted on the front, side or rear of a public transport vehicle, such as a bus, tram/streetcar or light rail vehicle, that di ...
, which uses back-lit roller boards. Braking and acceleration were controlled by the operator with the same pedal layout used on the PCC's, including the
dead man's switch A dead man's switch is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. Originally applied to switches on a ...
which was used to apply the
parking brake In road vehicles, the parking brake, also known as a handbrake or emergency brake (e-brake), is a mechanism used to keep the vehicle securely motionless when parked. Parking brakes often consist of a pulling mechanism attached to a Wire rope, ...
when the vehicle was not in motion. Other features include fluorescent lighting and chopper controls to save energy. Claude Gidman, the former chairman of industrial design at the Ontario College of Art & Design (now
OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public university, public art school, art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park (neighbourh ...
), was involved in the design for the CLRV. He created the colour scheme for the streetcar, including its distinctive crimson red colour, to make the CLRV noticeable on the streets and to continue the "Red Rocket" tradition in colouring. He also proposed that the front seats of the streetcar be angled inward, an idea that was abandoned. Unlike the CLRVs, the ALRVs have a large box sitting on the roof of each of the two articulated sections. Each box houses an air intake to ventilate the larger ALRV interior. All of the TTC's ALRVs were delivered without couplers, and a safety shield covers both of the empty front and rear coupler pockets. Compared with the CLRVs, the ALRVs had limited acceleration due to their extra weight and because trolley pole pickup limited the amount of power they could draw. When the CLRVs and ALRVs were delivered in the 1970s and 1980s respectively, they were equipped with
gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...
s as the sole audible warning signal. Most cars were retrofitted with
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...
in the late 1990s to combat automobile accidents when the
510 Spadina 510 Spadina (310 Spadina during overnight periods) is a Toronto streetcar system, Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. The line started operating in 1990 and was extended in 1997; overnight serv ...
right-of-way streetcar opened. Initially, the horns were salvaged from retired H1 and M1 subway cars which were replaced by the T1 subway cars. However, during the CLRV/ALRV streetcar fleet overhaul project between 2011 and 2012 the TTC reconfigured the streetcar horns with new air horns or automobile-type electric horns. CLRV 4041 is the only member of the CLRV/ALRV fleet to have an air conditioning unit, which the TTC installed in 2006. The unit was a long roof-mounted box with beveled sides that gave 4041 a look distinct from that of other CLRVs. TTC operator Stanley Mamaraj described 4041's air conditioning as "The cool air comes down. You can feel it, it's nice and cool." However, after a ride on 4041, transit advocate Steve Munro described the air conditioning as "nowhere near as aggressive as it is on some buses or on the T1 subway cars. Moreover, depending on where you are in the car, you may not feel the effect at all because the cool air does not blow out evenly. When I rode back north on a non-A/C car, I sat beside the open window and was actually cooler than I had been on 4041." Starting in 2006, the TTC installed a
closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
(CCTV) security camera system on all surface vehicles including the CLRV/ALRV fleet as well as
buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
. The system is to deter crime on vehicles and help catch trouble-makers. It uses four cameras to make high-quality images stored in a 24-hour loop. Until at least 2014, CLRV/ALRV streetcars, as well as buses, used a 1970s, pager-like communication system for Transit Control to communicate with operators. It was essentially a text-based system that could send messages to 10 vehicles at a time, and each operator had to acknowledge the message before Transit Control could communicate with other operators. In 2014, the TTC requested funding for a new radio system.
promotional graphic
published by the TTC in 2009 illustrated that an ALRV could replace 55 automobiles carrying 61 passengers (assuming 1.11 passengers per auto) during the AM rush. From December 2015, the CLRVs and ALRVs accepted fare payments by
Presto card The Presto card (stylized as PRESTO) is a contactless smart card automated fare collection system used on participating public transit systems in the province of Ontario, Canada, specifically in Greater Toronto Area, Greater Toronto, Hamilton, ...
and have since been installed system-wide including all TTC buses and subway stations as of December 2016. To coincide with the Presto rollout on the CLRV/ALRV fleets, the TTC also introduced a
proof-of-payment Proof-of-payment (POP) or proof-of-fare (POF) is an honor-based fare collection system used on many public transportation systems. Instead of checking each passenger as they enter a fare control zone, passengers are required to carry a paper ...
(POP) system across all streetcar routes in the TTC network (including the CLRV and ALRV streetcar fleets and the aforementioned replacement shuttle buses that operate in place of streetcars) in an effort to speed up services. The POP system allows riders with proof of payment—such as a paper transfer, TTC pass or Presto card—to board at any door of the vehicle. Riders are subject to random fare inspections, and riders paying by cash or token continue to have to board at the front door of the vehicle to pay at the farebox and are required to take a paper POP transfer from the driver to show when requested.


Operator training

A mockup of a CLRV which was used to train new streetcar operators is located at Hillcrest. The training simulator consisted of an operator cab, front steps and part of the front of a streetcar. Operators also train with a real streetcar. The signs on the vehicle identify it as a training car.


Later years

In 2014, the CLRV and ALRV streetcars began being retired and replaced by low-floor
Flexity Outlook The Bombardier Flexity Outlook is a series of low-floored trams of the Two-rooms-and-a-bath car, multi-articulated type, manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Bombardier Flexity product line (many of which are not low-floo ...
vehicles, the first of which were put into service on the 510 Spadina route. The replacements were initiated on the basis of the older vehicles being inaccessible to those with disabilities as well as the age and declining reliability of the CLRV and ALRV fleets.


Accessibility

The CLRV/ALRV cars, like the PCCs, had high floors and steps at every doorway, and were therefore not
wheelchair accessible A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to Disease, illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health co ...
, severely limiting their use by people with
physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epilepsy ...
. Furthermore, the doors were separated by vertical stanchions in the centre of each doorway, making each opening too narrow to accommodate wheelchairs, making accessibility retrofits more difficult and costly. With the passage of the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act The ''Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005'' (, AODA) is a statute enacted in 2005 by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Canada. Its purpose is to improve accessibility standards for Ontarians with physical and mental ...
(AODA) mandating all public transport to be fully accessible by 2025, the TTC saw the need to replace them with accessible vehicles as early as 2005. TTC staff explored a number of possible means to make the old fleet
wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...
-accessible, including constructing level boarding platforms, lowering the track level, installing wheelchair lifts, and attaching wheelchair-accessible trailers, but concluded that none of these options were practical, and replacing the cars was the best option. In 2008, the TTC installed automatic stop announcements on all surface vehicles, including the CLRVs and ALRVs, to satisfy the requirements of the AODA. An LED device displays stop names in text, accompanied by a recorded voice announcing the stop names. This is to aid riders with hearing and vision problems. In 2016, the TTC announced it would also install external announcement systems on all of its surface vehicle fleet, again including the CLRVs and ALRVs, to announce the route and destination of the vehicle to passengers waiting to board. A TTC report in 2015 proposed that it may have continued to use some high-floor inaccessible CLRV/ALRV vehicles to supplement the low-floor Flexity Outlook streetcars during peak hours on selected routes either until approximately 2024, when projections indicated it would have enough of the Flexity vehicles available to provide accessible service on all streetcar routes or if they become impractical to maintain. By May 2019, however, the TTC planned to retire the remainder of the CLRV/ALRV fleet by the end of 2019.


Winter operational issues

During the
polar vortex A polar vortex, more formally a circumpolar vortex, is a large region of cold, rotating air; polar vortices encircle both of Earth's polar regions. Polar vortices also exist on other rotating, low-obliquity planetary bodies. The term polar vor ...
winter seasons of 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, many of the CLRV and ALRV streetcars broke down due to their age when operating in temperatures below . On one of the worst days in January 2014, 48 streetcars failed to run for the morning rush hour. On December 28, 2017, when the temperature was again −20 °C, 45 older streetcars could not leave the carhouse. During an extreme cold snap from January 20 to 22, 2019, the TTC withdrew all CLRV/ALRV cars from service due to the high risk of the cars breaking down in the cold weather. Instead, only Flexity Outlook streetcars along with buses were used. The ALRVs remained out of service for the rest of that winter season. The older streetcars use pressurized air passing through tubes and valves to operate such things as suspension, braking, windshield wipers, doors and the rail sander (for traction under icy conditions). Condensation can freeze and block the air tubes causing a variety of malfunctions. Over time, salt erodes the air tanks and the tubing gets brittle and leaks leading to less efficient air flow which may cause the compressor beneath the tail of the car to overheat and break down. To address these problems in December 2015, the TTC performed fixes taking 2–3 days per streetcar to implement. These included the installation of new air tanks and filters, the replacement of old tubing to the windshield wipers, repairs on the valves controlling air flow to the rail sanders, overhaul of the brake valves, and the correction of any suspension system deficiencies.


Replacement parts

As the TTC's CLRV/ALRV streetcar fleet aged, many parts used by these older streetcars were no longer available from outside suppliers. If a CLRV or ALRV was damaged in a breakdown, collision or derailment, parts needed to be replaced or be bent back into shape. For this purpose, the TTC employed a
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
to craft and repair parts. The blacksmith also supplied tools such as switch irons and towing drawbars for streetcars. The use of salt brine to de-ice city streets corroded parts on the older streetcars so much that such parts often had to be cut off the car. The TTC Harvey Shops had to manufacture some of the replacements sections, such as the chevrons which attach bogies to the car body. The upholstery department constructed the bellows used between the articulated sections of the ALRV. Each set of bellows took 240 hours to construct from a vinyl-like material using electric sewing machines.


Refurbishment

In 2006, the TTC was planning to refurbish 100 CLRVs to extend their life and possibly to add air conditioning. This plan was shelved by December 2016, and the only visible outcome was that CLRV 4041, effectively a prototype for refurbishment, became the only CLRV with air conditioning, sporting a visually distinct air conditioning unit on its roof. In June 2015, the TTC started a program to rebuild and extend the life of 30 CLRVs and 30 ALRVs because of delays in delivery of the new Flexity streetcars. 56 employees were assigned to work on this program. Refurbishing each ALRV was expected to take about 55 days and cost $800,000. The cost for each CLRV was expected to be about $200,000. The total cost was budgeted at $33.1million. The work was to be completed by 2017. The refurbishment of 30 ALRVs alone was budgeted at $24.5million, with an option to refurbish another 10. The remaining 12 ALRVs were to be stripped of useful parts and scrapped. The refurbishments included repairing corrosion, repainting, installing new energy-efficient
LED lights An LED lamp or LED light is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps. The most efficient commercial ...
, upgrading the floors, refreshing the seats, and overhauling the pneumatic, brake and traction systems. This was expected to extend the life of the cars until 2024. The first renovated ALRV (4217) entered service on October 15, 2015. However, the TTC stopped the ALRV refurbishment program after completing 20 cars at a cost of $26million. The TTC hoped to have 10 of the refurbished ALRVs in service on any given day, but found that only two or three were fit for service with the others awaiting repairs mainly due to electrical problems. Because of budget constraints, the refurbishing had excluded electrical work.


Decline

The CLRV and ALRV cars began being retired from service as the Flexity low-floor streetcars arrived and began service. A TTC report in 2015 projected that the last of the older-model vehicles would be retired by 2024. By January 2017, only 170 of the 200 CLRVs and ALRVs could be put into service because of the extra maintenance they required. In 2016, the TTC proposed using 30 to 40 ALRVs to supplement Flexity streetcars until 2024 to address increased ridership until 60 more low-floor streetcars could be ordered. By September 2018, the CLRV fleet had so deteriorated that the TTC indicated they intended to use ALRVs to supplement some rush-hour services on the busier streetcar lines intended to be operated with CLRVs only. The ALRV fleet was sidelined between February and April 2019. In May, the TTC ran the ALRV fleet for , during which time one ALRV had a failure in its compressed air system. In mid-2019, the remaining ALRV fleet (about 6 or 7 vehicles) remained on standby as spare vehicles for supplemental service. By June 23, 2019, Flexity Outlook streetcars had fully replaced CLRVs on route
501 Queen 501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It stretches from Neville Park Loop (just west of Victoria Park Avenue) in the east, ...
between Neville Park Loop and
Humber Loop Humber Loop is a multimodal transit station and a hub for streetcar routes. It consists of two streetcar turning loops and one bus loop. Humber Loop is located between the Gardiner Expressway and the Queensway just west of the Humber River i ...
. CLRVs continued to serve the route between Humber Loop and
Long Branch Loop Long Branch Loop is the westernmost streetcar stop within the Toronto streetcar system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is located in the Long Branch neighbourhood in southwestern Toronto, close to the boundary with Mississ ...
(operated as a separate branch of route 501) until Flexity streetcars had fully replaced them by September 1, 2019. The last day of operation for the ALRVs was September 2, 2019. On that date, ALRVs 4204 and 4207 made commemorative last runs during the afternoon along Queen Street between
Russell Carhouse The Russell Carhouse, located at Queen Street East and Connaught Avenue just east of Greenwood Avenue in Toronto, is the Toronto Transit Commission's second oldest carhouse. Russell Carhouse used to store and maintain high-floor streetcars whic ...
(Queen and Greenwood) and Wolseley Loop (Bathurst and Queen) with free rides to mark the occasion. In September 2019, 44 CLRVs were in service. In that month, only routes
506 Carlton 506 Carlton (306 Carlton during overnight periods) is a Toronto streetcar route run by the Toronto Transit Commission in Ontario, Canada. It runs from Main Street station on subway Line 2 Bloor–Danforth along Gerrard, Carlton and College Str ...
and
511 Bathurst The 511 Bathurst is a Toronto streetcar route operated by the Toronto Transit Commission in Ontario, Canada. Route The 511 Bathurst operates between Bathurst station and Exhibition Loop north–south along Bathurst Street in mixed traffic, ...
were using them. In September 2019, an artist group repainted CLRV 4178 at the
Hillcrest Complex Hillcrest Complex, the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility, is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs, and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersectio ...
in bright colours, replacing its regular red and white livery. The repainting project was dubbed "A Streetcar Named Toronto" and is intended to make 4178 a moving artwork. Leaves in red and white were painted on the streetcar's floor and the ceiling was painted with a floral pattern. The artist group changed the colour of some seat covers and added photographs in the interior. The repainted streetcar ran until the end of the year on regular routes as well as for special events such as Nuit Blanche. The streetcar was expected to be scrapped after its retirement, but was ultimately preserved by the Halton County Radial Railway. By October 2019, only 18 CLRVs were still in service. By late November 2019, CLRV service seven days per week was planned only for 511 Bathurst. The TTC announced that it would continue to run CLRVs on that route until December 28, but it would also use some CLRVs as extra vehicles on 501 Queen between Bathurst Street and Greenwood Avenue on weekends from November 24 to December 28. The last day of service for the CLRVs was December 29, 2019. On that day, the TTC offered free service on the CLRVs along Queen Street between 10am and 2pm to commemorate the occasion. At 3pm, three CLRVs made a last commemorative run carrying invited guests from the Wolseley Loop to the Russell Carhouse. Of the six CLRVs running that day, CLRV 4001 was the last to return to Russell Carhouse. The TTC has retained two CLRVs and an ALRV for special occasions and charters. Other CLRVs will be sold to various transit museums across North America or will be sold as scrap. In July 2020, the TTC indicated it will convert CLRVs 4081 and 4124 into work cars. The TTC sold CLRV 4187 at auction to a private individual for static display at Glista Family Farms in
Priceville, Ontario Priceville is a village in the southwest corner of the Municipality of Grey Highlands, Grey County, Ontario, Canada. It is on the Saugeen River on Grey Road 4, east of Durham and southwest of Flesherton. History The first settlers were African A ...
. As a condition of sale, the TTC stripped the car of its TTC logo. The buyer paid $3,400 for the car, the minimum allowed bid, but shipping increases that cost to an estimated $8,000. The new owner plans to preserve the streetcar's interior, and has constructed a short strip of track to mount the vehicle.


Decommissioning

Some noteworthy retired vehicles that were scrapped include: * CLRV 4063 was the first to be retired. In 2006, it was intended to be the first prototype for the TTC's CLRV overhaul program, which was to include a complete reconstruction of the body as well as new propulsion and control systems. However, after the car was stripped, the overhaul program was cancelled. Because of a diminishing supply of spare parts for the active fleet, it was decided that the unit would be scrapped and all usable parts be salvaged for repairs to the existing fleet. The shell was sold for scrap in March 2009 to Future Enterprises of
Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
. * ALRV 4231 was retired in mid-2014 and was used to supply parts until its scrapping in May 2015. It was the first ALRV to be retired and scrapped. * CLRV 4062 was the second CLRV retired after it suffered a serious collision with TTC bus 7807 on December 27, 2014. Previously, the TTC repaired CLRVs damaged in collisions, even those heavily damaged. Instead, CLRV 4062 was retired in January 2015. * CLRV 4162, retired in March 2015, was the third CLRV to be retired but the first to be so because of age, wear and tear. * CLRV 4005 was retired in May 2015 and scrapped in July 2015. It was the first of the six SIG-built CLRVs to be retired. * CLRV 4000, the first CLRV by number and one of the six CLRVs built by SIG, was shipped to a Hamilton scrap yard from the
Leslie Barns Leslie Barns is a streetcar maintenance and storage facility at the southeast corner of Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has been built to house and service the majority of Toronto Transit Commission's flee ...
on December 9, 2017.


Preservation


Gallery

File:TorontoTram3.jpg, ALRV on a
501 Queen 501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It stretches from Neville Park Loop (just west of Victoria Park Avenue) in the east, ...
route at Queen Street West File:512 ROW at Avenue.jpg, CLRV on a 512 St. Clair route at St. Clair Avenue West File:CLRV 4152 and PCC 4500.jpg, CLRV with PCC at Exhibition Loop File:ALRV 4214, CLRV 4165, ARLV 4238 and ALRV 4247 at Long Branch Loop.jpg, ALRVs stopped at Long Branch Loop


See also

*
Light rail vehicle Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...


Similar vehicles

*
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) promoted it as a stand ...
, a similar, though unsuccessful, attempt to build a standardized PCC successor in the US. *
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company is the Japanese rolling stock manufacturing subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Since beginning operations in 1906, the company has produced more than 90,000 railroad cars. Products As indicated by the company name, the company mainl ...
Type K LRV for
SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...
to replace PCC streetcars and similar to the CLRV *
VTA light rail The VTA light rail system serves San Jose, California, San Jose and nearby cities in Santa Clara County, California. It is operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and has of network comprising three main lines on stan ...
, which used a somewhat similar car design also produced by UTDC.


Notes


References


Citations


General

*


External links


The Canadian Light Rail Vehicles (The CLRVs)

The Articulated Light Rail Vehicles (The ALRVs)

Toronto Transit Commission 4000–4005, 4010–4199
CLRV roster
Toronto Transit Commission 4200–4251
ALRV roster * depicting retired CLRV 4000 being loaded on a flatbed at the Leslie Barns * : Last official runs of the ALRV * published by Transit Toronto (a railfan group) on June 7, 2020 * published by
CityNews City''News'' is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as City''Pulse'' as a standalone local newscast on the network's CITY- ...
on August 4, 2020, about CLRV 4187 {{TTC Toronto streetcar vehicles Articulated passenger trains 600 V DC multiple units Electric multiple units of Canada