TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[dowlingm]

In addition, nine SRT cars will be set aside. I don’t think all are for historical preservation. My thinking is some of them will be repurposed like Montreal’s MR-63s.

Is this in addition to what Detroit is taking, or just what Detroit is taking?

 

[dowlingm]

There is already a GM that is going to be painted in the maroon cream colours, 8058, but the completion of that project is contingent on funding. Maybe some of the money Toronto city council wants to use to show off what good people they are in renaming Dundas Square could be put to this infinitely more useful project.

Or we could turn that high floor no-emissions control no-AC lump into razors and build protected bike lanes with the proceeds. Useful!

 

[crs1026]

The TTC's historical collection will always be token or selective, if anyone wants to save "one of everything" they will need to develop a museum with its own freestanding revenue sustainability.
And even museums need to be selective, otherwise they may not be sustainable.

- Paul

 

[T3G]

I disagree that a museum is a solution to the problem of being unable to save everything. If you want anything resembling an extensive historical collection, it has to be done through the transit agency. I have every respect for HCRR, but the fact that they rely on volunteer donations and labour and don't have access to TTC facilities, for storage or maintenance, works against them. In some ways it feels like they've become victims of their own success. Contrast it against a city like New York , which has an extensive historical collection owned and maintained directly by the city. To rely on a museum would be akin to relying on a museum like Seashore or Shoreline to do the heavy lifting for preservation in New York; to say nothing of how woefully inaccessible HCRR is if you don't have a car.

What it needs is a culture of interest in history, and the will, both of which are sorely lacking in this city in general. There's been a bit of an attitude shift since the darker days, but is it enough, and is it sustainable, in the long term? Only time will tell.

 

[smallspy]

A better question is why is there Chicago subway trains at Halton. I'd send these to the States, and replace them with an SRT car, with space for something else.

The Chicago EL set was acquired to offer a glimpse of "what might have been" as the TTC very nearly bought similar-styled subway cars for the Yonge Line. As well, it lets people see what other places in the world were buying at the same time that Toronto was building it's first subway. This kind of comparison-contrast mentality is a common theme for many museums and historians, as it helps frame the discussion around decisions being made at that time of the artifact being shown.

Of course, with vehicles, it also comes at a cost of volume and space.

Perhaps one is for parts, and the intent is to keep only one operational.

This is correct.

Dan

 

[APTA-2048]

Is this in addition to what Detroit is taking, or just what Detroit is taking?

The nine will presumably be kept in Toronto. The rest will be taken by Detroit.

 

[dowlingm]

I am very much in favour of a Museum of Toronto of which the City, in addition to the other ABCs, would contribute artifacts and knowledge. A TTC museum, free standing and charging the sort of admission typical of such venues, would be interesting if a site could be found for it, but with a separate subsidy allocation from the City's Culture budget rather than anything the farebox touches. Random hoarding of artifacts, dribbled out to the public when the whim takes the Commission, I do not care for at all.

The alternative would be a Technology Museum, linked to the Ontario Science Centre, showcasing land, sea and air vehicles built in Toronto/Ontario. After all, the story of the Toronto transit vehicle is often a story of Ontario more broadly - Orions from Mississauga, subway cars, streetcars, GO trains from Thunder Bay, SRT cars and some streetcars from Millhaven, maybe some locomotives from London?

And hey, it would be a place to park Newmarket's BYDs...

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I am very much in favour of a Museum of Toronto of which the City, in addition to the other ABCs, would contribute artifacts and knowledge. A TTC museum, free standing and charging the sort of admission typical of such venues, would be interesting if a site could be found for it, but with a separate subsidy allocation from the City's Culture budget rather than anything the farebox touches. Random hoarding of artifacts, dribbled out to the public when the whim takes the Commission, I do not care for at all.

The alternative would be a Technology Museum, linked to the Ontario Science Centre, showcasing land, sea and air vehicles built in Toronto/Ontario. After all, the story of the Toronto transit vehicle is often a story of Ontario more broadly - Orions from Mississauga, subway cars, streetcars, GO trains from Thunder Bay, SRT cars and some streetcars from Millhaven, maybe some locomotives from London?

And hey, it would be a place to park Newmarket's BYDs...

That's an excellent use of the OSC site!

AoD

 

[jje1000]

Not sure if it has been posted yet, but the design for the Second Generation Rockets has been updated:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1812117274205020293

 

[T3G]

Yuck, the first design looked so much better.