I continue to look for my father's copy of Bleak House, but it's starting to look bleak as to whether I still have it. During my search I found this copy of The Golden Years of East York, published in 1976 by Centennial College Press. The editorial pages tell me who did the design, production, photographic reproduction, and typesetting, but not who wrote it. I guess it was a group effort?
As I was thumbing through it I was quite pleased to find a little discussion on the origin of the Hollinger Bus Lines, a ticket issued by the company I found earlier in the search.
Left: "Hollinger Bus Lines" | Right: "The Hollinger Bus Drivers"
The unknown author has this to say on the origins of Hollinger Bus Lines:
"Public transportation in East York at the time of incorporation was almost nonexistent. The old Belt Line Railway along the rear of what is now the Don Valley Brick Works had long since fallen into disuse. The Marginal Boulevard proposed in 1921 by the Toronto Harbour Commissioners, which would have provided ready and uninterrupted access to the downtown core, had never been completed. A Mr. Featherly had operated a horse-drawn bus up and down Don Mills Road (now Broadview) when it was still unpaved and lined on both sides with deep ditches, but this was also soon discontinued. Later, Mr. Pedlar operated a bus in the same area.
In 1920, John Hollinger started a service up and down Woodbine as far as Plains Road, where Woodbine came to a dead end. Mr. Hollinger endured his share of hardships as he ploughed through snow drifts in winter and a quagmire of mud every spring. When passengers were scarce, John used his bus to deliver butter and eggs to neighbourhood housewives. Apparently, he never took time off for meals but had them carried to him by his young daughter May and son Barclay through the fields from his home, which was on the site of the present Trillium Apartments"
This would make quite an interesting model. I need to find out more about this building.
I was rummaging through some of my father's things looking for his copy of Bleak House and stumbled across these two old bus tickets.
Hollinger Bus Lines ran in East York from 1921 until 1954 when it became part of the TTC, so that ticket is definitely a survivor.
I don't know when one could ride a TTC bus for just 7-1/2 cents. The internet suggests sometime in the 1930s or 1940s, but I'd have to do some more digging to narrow down the date.
I was going to post a few more photos of TTC streetcars going about their business. As I was building up the post in my head I wondered if 'desire' was actually the term for a group of streetcars - you know, like 'a murder of crows' means a group of crows - or if it was just something Robert Jowitt cooked up for his 1969 book, A Desire of Tramcars, a copy of which I finally bought a few months ago.
Like any other resident of the 21st century who wants to know something I asked Google if desire was the term for a group of streetcars, and also typed in the book's title as the source of my question. Much to my surprise it came back with one of those AI summaries of Jowitt's book.
A few days ago in a long, late night discussion about the ins-and-outs of today's AI at a Toronto bar I tried to argue that AI seems to me to fabricate a lot, but presents it with great authority as if it were irrefutably true. I guess I had too much to drink to make a forceful case because I didn't make much headway with my argument, but I present the above unsolicited AI Overview as a sober example.
I present it because it's dead wrong.
The table of contents on the left gives you a list of the themes
Ok, well, yes some of the points it mentions are touched on, but what book on streetcars (or trams or trollies or whatever you want to call them) doesn't. What this particular book is, is a collection of the author's photographs of trams in operation in the UK and Europe, shot from 1958 to 1968, and arranged thematically instead of technologically or chronologically, which are more-or-less the standard organizations for these sorts of books. It's a book about the love of streetcars, not of their instrumentality.
I rather like Jowitt's book and often find myself leafing through it. If it does make arguments as suggested by the AI Overview, it does it romantically rather than analytically through it's use of photographs and themes instead of statistics and engineering.
Although, Jowitt isn't adverse to explicitly making a point with words:
"Fools, fools are these little men who think they can live by motor-car alone. Fools are the Socialists who want to scrap what they think are stodgy old-school Conservative trams, at the same time protesting in towns where the Conservatives are mistakenly engaged on 'taking away the people's trams'. It is not the tram which is an anachronism, it is the men who scrap it thinking they are being progressive and modernistic. It is not the tram which causes congestion, it is the army of replacing cars and buses fighting in disorder through a fog of exhaust."
I suspect the AI can only deal with the words in the book in a particular manner and can't understand how the words, photographs (which are the main feature), and organization together make the author's case, if the 'case' is what you're reading this book for. It's a case that a human is making to other humans, and is unfathomable to the AI's software. The AI Overview makes the book sound like some sort of dry, required reading for MBA course work (although the student would likely just 'read' the AI Overview and consider it done), and not the pleasant and enjoyable book that works on several levels.
No, the Painted Post Smoke Shop wasn't located between Coles and Thrifty's. They're just for scale
Over the years I’ve had a few conversations with Vince where I’ve lamented the fact that there seems to be very few layouts inspired by the TTC’s streetcar network. Maybe none. I’ve seen a few model railway layouts with some streetcar track added, prowled by TTC streetcars, and sprinkled with a few of Toronto’s signature buildings, but nothing completely Toronto and TTC and streetcar. Nothing that makes a statement or has a singular vision. I think Little Canada comes the closest, but it’s a commercial tourist attraction for children. Personal layouts, built by dedicated amateurs or folk artists, that focus on Toronto's TTC streetcars and environs, well, I haven’t seen any - if you have, please let me know, my knowledge is quite scant in this area and I'd like my strong statements to be wrong.
Memory drawing of the '60s / '70s version of the Painted Post Smoke Shop
I’ve toyed with adding features reminiscent of the Toronto I knew to my layouts. The Lost Ocean Line, the Alta Vista Transit Commission, and the Way Out Layout, all had some features, but they were always diluted with other very non-Toronto, non-TTC aspects. They never fully communicated what I had in mind.
Walls are laminated from 3 pieces of 4-ply Bristol board + 1 piece of brick embossed styrene
As I’ve become familiar with micro-layout thinking, selective compression, observation, and abstraction I’ve tried to use those concepts to design a Toronto and TTC inspired streetcar layout, or at least come up with the broad outlines of one. In retrospect getting familiar with those concepts was crucial to making such a layout achievable.
Testing wall fit before gluing.
Look, the TTC and its streetcars date back to 1921, and Toronto streetcar service in general goes back even further to 1861. So, you’ve got this streetcar system with a long history, a vast network of track, many types of vehicles that have operated on it over the years, and many, many different areas the cars rumbled through. To build anything you have any chance of completing you’re going to have to make decisions, and those decisions are going to reflect a personal view. There are no absolute right or wrong decisions regarding the layout's theme and design, which means there is no definitive Toronto streetcar layout. Any layout will reflect the concerns and interests of its designer. Given the TTC's long streetcar history there are conceivably many possible layouts in all sorts of styles, genres, and scales, so TTC streetcar system layout designs will be hard to exhaust.
1/16" thick clear plastic for the front wall. Walls are now glued together with Weld Bond
My layout won't be a micro, but it will be small, much smaller than what is considered small over here, and will focus on places and vehicles that have some sort of meaning to me. Operation isn’t a priority, but story is. Liberties will be taken to tell it, which is where micro-layout thinking, selective compression, observation, and abstraction come in, not to mention other things I’ve learned over the years.
Front window framing drawn on a sheet of 0.010" thick styrene.
I’ve decided to stop scribbling and commit to building, beginning this year. It’ll likely take 2 or 3 - hopefully not 4 - years to construct, but I need more non-worldly, complex tasks to help take my mind off things now and then. The Toronto and Mt. Lowe layouts should do the trick as these are both layouts I’ve wanted to build for a long time. I figure if I can get the base built and track installed this year I’ll be doing well.
Transfer tape was stuck to the back of the window frame piece. It will stick the frame to the 'glass'.
Like I said, it isn’t going to be a big layout, likely only slightly bigger than the family room coffee table as far as foot print is concerned - cities are dense packed after. It’ll be roughly rectangular with Scarborough at one end and downtown at the other. My Scarborough includes the old Painted Post Smoke Shop where I’d buy my model building magazines and comics in olden days, so I thought I’d construct that little structure first to ease into things, and to provide some counterpoint to my ongoing Mt. Lowe layout work.
I realised recently that when I lived in Toronto it was full of excellent bookstores and libraries - maybe it still is - and I had developed routes I would travel between them. Those routes varied with my age and circumstances over the years, but I was an inveterate bibliophile from my earliest memories - I still am :-) - so I would regularly travel my routes looking for treasure. Cars were rarely involved so I didn’t get chauffeured around - I didn’t have one as a teen - so it was always my own two feet, buses, streetcars, and subways that provided transport. Even when I did own a car, its only job on one of those trips was to get me to a subway station parking lot. My little layout will be inspired by those routes and modes of transport in some way. If you’re a regular reader here you’ll know I’m keen on using pathways as a design strategy, which will come in handy.
I was still in denial about the rough window frames at this point. Sign is a printout laminated between 2 pieces of very thin, clear plastic using transfer tape as the bonder.
I wasn’t a snobby reader. I read whatever seemed interesting from low-brow to high-brow and all the brows in between. As a boy and young teen the low to middle brow magazine and comic book offerings of the Painted Post Smoke Shop, a short walk from our house in Scarborough, exerted a magnetic pull. I bought a lot there, and got kicked out a few times with a loud reminder that the store wasn’t a public library :-) That’s where I bought the issue of Model Railroader magazine that introduced me to the work of E. L. Moore, so naturally it needs a place on the layout.
Everything's glued in place. The end of the grey area marks where a false back wall will be added.
The model is just a rather elaborately decorated blue box with a removable lid for a roof. The prototype was a unit in a strip mall, but I've sliced it out from its brothers and so felt I had to panel the new exterior walls with the same mottled blue brick that I recall surfaced the façade.
The roof is a removable lid glued up from 4-ply Bristol board. An LED strip is used to light the interior. That white piece of paper used for the ceiling diffuses the LED's light.
I had the 4-ply Bristol board out from the Cape Breton Island FireHouse project and decided to use it on this build since I was on a roll. All the wall laminates of 4-ply you see in the photos were made with transfer tape, and Weld Bond was used to glue up the walls and floor into a single structure.
You can see the LED strip attached to the false wall at the back. There's a strip of thin clear plastic glued to the front of the LED's light box.
The prototype still exists, but it appears the only part that's the same as in days gone by is the metal window framing on the façade. So, I used that as a guide to layout and dimension the building. Everything else is from memory - you've been warned :-)
A hole was drilled in the bottom for the LED's wires.
The model still doesn't have an interior. I have some sort of mental block when it comes to them. I leave room for interior detail, but it's hit-and-miss as to whether I ever get around to providing any. Maybe in a year or so when the layout has some sort of rudimentary form I'll get some interior inspiration.
The façade after a lot of scraping on the window frames to de-fuzz them. Results are mixed.
It looks a bit forlorn standing there empty. I know, I'm fixating on the window frames, but once posters appear in the windows, and shelves in the interior, I think my focus will shift. And then there's that old issue I have that digital cameras can make things look worse than in real life.
Hmmm. Some trim needs repositioning.
I don't recall what the building looked like out back. This is all minimalist guess work on my part. Some weathering will be needed when the time comes to place this in a layout scene, but until then I'll just contemplate its blueness.
We made a short trip to Toronto last week to visit a friend and Christmas shop. As usual we took the train. And we loved the way.....
...but the speed, not so much.
I was going to go into a whole nerd-a-palooza thing and analyze the bejesus out of our trip's distance, speed profile, average speed, top speed, trip time, delays, and so on, and so on. Forget that. Let's just say the quality of the trip was excellent - again, we loved the way - but our arrival in Toronto was 45 minutes late, and our return was 43 minutes late. Average speed either way, 88 km/h.
Sadly, this is not that out of the ordinary in our experience, even before VIA imposed speed reductions. However, nothing serious caused those delays, just the usual slowing for level crossings, waiting for other freights and passenger trains to pass, and we even stopped for the CPKC Holiday Train (ok, that was a pleasant stop). I eventually went with the flow and used the stoppages to squirt post cataract operation eye drops in my eye instead of trying to do so while the train was in motion, which invariably resulted in me squirting more drops on my face instead of in my eye. Who woulda thought those delays would have medical benefits :-)
And the other thing that's not out of the ordinary in our experience: good onboard service, good food, a friendly crew, and a good environment. And no, I'm not paid by VIA Rail to say that. So far so good in this department.
Look, maybe those VIA Rail commercials I don't like actually work. From my completely anecdotal, unscientific eavesdropping I heard some interesting comments from neighbouring passengers. Outward bound there was a small group of twenty-something women on a business trip, and upon arrival in Toronto one asked another, who apparently was riding the train for the first time in her life, what she thought of the trip. Her reply was an enthusiastic, "It was relaxing." On the return trip a twenty-something businessman told his seat mate this was the first train trip he'd taken since childhood, that he splurged to ride business class and was quite happy he did. Ok, so maybe VIA Rail does know its target market. I hope they can convince lots of young people to take the train using whatever messaging they think will work.
If anyone from VIA is reading this, look, you've got to make the travel time thing reliable, predictable, and so set-your-watch-to-it boring that every passenger takes arrival times for granted. You've got a lot of the other pieces of the puzzle in place, but that big one is one you desperately need to figure out.
I've had it in my mind for a long time to motorize Siku's Bombardier toy tram (SIKU 1895). In Toronto it seems to be marketed as a toy version of the TTC's iconic streetcar manufactured by Bombardier.
Siku Bombardier tram, SIKU 1895, straight out of the box
The box says it's HO scale, and I believe it, but it is a casualized representation of the vehicle. Ok, it is a children's toy so play value down on the carpet is more important than the fussy desires of an adult modeller. However, the shells are nicely detailed, and I thought they'd make for a rather decent casualized HO-9 vehicle for running around the Centennial Experimental Farm layout, or simply posing for scenic photos.
A TTC Bombardier streetcar as seen in Feb 2019
I started the motorization and casualization back in the fall of 2022. I thought it was going to be a rather easy conversion, but I was very wrong. There was a lot of trial and error before I even came close to getting it to run trouble free laps. At one point I was so frustrated I parked the project and only gave it another go just after last Christmas. Even though it now runs, and doesn't look too bad, I'm not completely satisfied with the approach I've taken. I'd say it's good enough for what I want, but it could be much better. What follows are some rather loose notes on how the build proceeded so I have a record in case I try this conversion again, or someone else is interested in learning from my mistakes.
The Siku toy taken apart
The toy is held together with 2 screws on the bottom of each chassis. Once removed the shells and baffle are easy to pry off the chassises. Now the fun begins.
Preparing the shells for re-spraying with white paint
I decided to work on some cosmetic changes first. The oversize Bombardier logo was the first thing to go. I rubbed it off with an abrasive track cleaning block and an assortment of fine sanding sticks. The damaged areas were then masked off and resprayed with white paint.
About 1/3 the way through construction
The above photo is a bit deceiving because a lot of work has been done at this point besides re-painting the shells. As I mentioned in the beginning, there was a lot of trial and error during construction and I didn't photograph many intermediary steps. I'll note a few things in the above photo:
1. A big rectangular hole has been cut into the forward chassis for accepting the Kato 11-109 drive unit that powers this thing. It was cut out with a disc cutter in my Dremel motor tool. If you're going to do this wear safety glasses, and go slow. Once the hole is cut it needs to be cleaned up with files.
2. The forward interior insert needs to be cut up to match the hole in the chassis. At this stage both interior inserts were painted black.
3. There's a long and complex story about the trailer's wheels. I'll try and be brief. Although the model is more-or-less HO scale, the wheels aren't even close to standard HO gauge, or standard 9mm N gauge either. There was going to be lots of work fitting standard HO-9 or N gauge wheels to the trailer, and after much head scratching I decided just to grind off the wheel flanges and pull the trailer along the road with the power car as if it were a truck's trailer. For running on Kato Unitram track this works ok. And it turns out since the wheel sets are close to N gauge, the track rails inadvertently help keep the trailer more-or-less tracking the power unit when in motion. That does increase rolling resistance, but the power unit appears to have more than enough umph to handle it. More on wheels, tracking, and turning radius a little further on.
4. Speaking of wheel sets, the toy wheel set that would go into the back end of the power car was eventually left off. Only the trailer incorporates those ground down toy wheel sets. The only wheels on the power car are those on the Kato drive unit.
There's a lot of equipment on the roof
5. The shell roofs were enhanced a little with a few extra mechanical looking boxes glued on and everything up there was painted with some greys and blacks. There probably needs to be a bit of weathering applied.
Styrene blocks were used as motor supports
One of the trickiest parts of construction was installing the Kato drive unit. Obviously the couplers and their supports were cut off before starting. Again, there was a lot of trial and error in measuring and fitting styrene blocks to the chassis and power unit until I got the heights and positions just right. In the above photo those blocks numbered 21 and 25 have been previously glued to the power unit and the resulting structure is being epoxied into the chassis. Those styrene strips on the track are there to temporarily lift the chassis to the correct height until the glue dries. Ground clearance is something like 1.5 mm - very low.
The forward power unit is loaded with weights
From this point on there was lots of testing on the track. Again, lots of trial and error, but here's what I hope is a summary:
1. The power unit was loaded down with 'a lot' of weight: a strip of chicklet style 1/4 oz weights plus an old lead fishing weight (which can't be used to fish because of the lead) pounded a bit flat. The trailer has a bit of a bumpy ride and the extra weight up front helps keep the power unit's wheels in contact with the track in the presence of this transferred shaking motion. I probably should have added a little extra weight to the trailer - not as much as up front - to help it roll a little better. Maybe next time.
2. The only strong - aka, metal - 'connection' between the trailer and power unit are the two flaps sitting one atop the other. Note that there's no positive mechanical connection. It's the weight of the power unit that maintains the connection through the flap to the trailer.
The trailer connection casting is discarded
The reason for this setup is the trailer has to be loosely connected to the power unit so that trailer motions don't transfer to the power unit and cause it to lose contact with the rails.
This also meant that the metal castings in the toy that connect the two shells had to be discarded because they made the connection between the two far too rigid. The tail would literally wag the dog when this thing was in motion with the metal connection castings in place and locked together.
Ok, well as you see in the photo on the side the trailer casting was discarded, but I kept the one on the power unit as it provides just a little weight over the flap connection to hold things in place.
Toy's baffle is not very flexible at all
The other piece that had to go was the baffle that covers the connection between the two cars. It's far too rigid and prevents the cars rotating with respect to each other.
Again, after lots of trial and error, I improvised a new baffle by slicing the ends off the old one and replacing the middle with a piece of micro fibre eyeglass wipe. The wipe was blackened with a Sharpie pen, glued over the baffle ends, and then whole thing was inserted and glued between the cars.
Before running, the new baffle needs to be carefully folded so it will open and close cleanly as the vehicle goes around curves and doesn't prevent the cars from freely rotating. After a lot of test runs I'm thinking the micro fibre baffle might be replaced by either a silk, mylar, or very thin plastic one to further improve the baffle's flexibility. I like the visual texture of the micro fibre, so maybe it'll be a silk one to try and retain some of that look.
Underside of the power unit
All these special provisions - removal of the toy's cast metal shell connector, replacement baffle, wheels with ground off flanges that run on the road surface, flap only connection between the cars - are needed because I'm trying to make the little vehicle run over curves that are far to tight for it, and because the connections between the cars, and between the cars and rail, are too numerous and too rigid. A moving vehicle needs flexibility to negotiate its travels and deal with upsets. A moving model needs that too. The basic toy doesn't because it's designed so junior can't break it - in that regard, it's a champ :-)
I know, I've skipped over some items like arms to the overhead wiring and new decals as they're relatively straight forward compared to the mechanical work.
Operationally, it's finicky to get set up and running. It has to be handled very gently when placing it on the track because the cars aren't really connected together by anything other than a thin piece of cloth. And that cloth has to be carefully folded so that it flexes in just the right way and doesn't cause the streetcar to stall on curves. But, once those are dealt with, it's smooth running, and I like the way it looks on the farm.
Overall, it's ok, but needs a lot of refinement: more flexible baffle, smoother running wheels in the trailer, and some sort of secure mechanical connection between the cars just to name a few. Another job for the future :-)
