SILVER ANNIVERSARY OF TTC 4603 AT NCTM
TTC 4603 & TARS 678 at the Visitor Center; January 18, 2015; Photo: H. van der Lee; NCTM collection
This year we are celebrating two big anniversaries at the National Capital Trolley Museum: Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) PCC car 4603 has been part of our collection 25 years, and Third Avenue Railway System (TARS) car from New York City arrived at our Museum 50 years ago. In this blog we will provide a brief history of our Silver Jubilee TTC 4603, whose dedication ceremony at the Museum was held in October 1996; our Gold Jubilee TARS 678 will be featured in in the near future.
Photo: R. McMann; Glenn Franks collection
TTC 4603 was originally numbered TTC 4548 when it was delivered to Toronto on April 10, 1951. It was part of a series of 50 cars which turned out to be the last PCC cars to be built for Toronto. PCC cars had been introduced in Toronto in 1938, and a total of 490 PCC’s (a combination of pre-war air-electrics and post-war all-electrics) had already been delivered to Toronto by the time this latest order was placed in 1950. The TTC PCC cars were appreciated by the public for their comfort and speed, and they were given the nickname “Red Rockets”. It is interesting to note that the body shells for the Toronto PCC cars were built at the St.Louis Car Company, and then they were shipped to Canada for assembly to avoid heavy duties on the import of finished rail equipment. The Canadian content of any PCC built in this manner was said to be ~62%.
The series of 50 cars that TTC 4548 was part of would not only be the last new PCC’s to arrive in Toronto, but also be one of the last series of PCC cars to be built in North America. An era of PCC production that started in 1936 came to end in North America in 1952; however in Europe PCC production continued until the 1970’s in Western Europe (our HTM 1329 is an example of a modernized version of the North American model) and well into the 1980’s in Eastern Europe.
Photo: R. McMann; Glenn Franks collection
PCC 4548 was delivered to TTC on April 10, 1951, and ran on a variety of streetcar lines out of the Wychwood Carhouse. From December 1972 until February 1973 it underwent a rebuild program for which 173 PCC’s had been selected. The working life of TTC 4548 was uneventful until 1981, when it was involved in a minor accident: it was rear-ended by another streetcar. As a result, the 4548 was taken out of service to await disposal. However, in 1988, the car was selected to be rebuilt again as part of a “Major Rebuild” program: 19 of the 4500-series PCC’s underwent some thirty design improvements and material changes, including a new coloring scheme and an almost complete new construction of the car body. Upon completion of the rebuild program the car was renumbered TTC 4603, and placed back in service on July 29, 1989. It remained in service for another six years until it was retired on December 9, 1995 when all PCC service in Toronto came to an end.
Photo by R. McMann; Glenn Franks collection
NCTM member Jim Hogan purchased TTC 4603 in 1996 and donated it to the Museum where, together with its sister car TTC 4602 (which was acquired by the Museum in 2009) it now represents the all-electric version of PCC cars.
 |
TTC 4603 arriving at the museum. |
TTC 4603 arrived at NCTM on April 24, 1996. The routing from Toronto was west from Buffalo toward Erie, PA, then down Interstate 79 to Pittsburgh and traveling the PA Turnpike eastbound, exiting at Breezewood. From there, the truck transported the car along I-70, then I-270 down to the Capital Beltway. The permit for this trip required the car to exit the Beltway at New Hampshire Avenue (HTM 1329 used the Georgia Avenue exit later, in 2001), turning left onto Bonifant Road and then right into the original Museum entrance. Museum member Jim Lilly used his truck to transport TTC 4603 to NCTM.
Since the track gauge in Toronto (4 ft 10+7⁄8 in ) is wider than the standard gauge used at the Museum (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), and the car had left Toronto on its TTC gauge trucks, an improvised ramp was created using switch ties butted together lengthwise in order to unload the car at NCTM. The car was then regauged by placing trucks from Shaker Heights PCC #75 (which had been retained by NCTM for that purpose) under the car. The original TTC wider-gauge trucks for 4603 have been kept by NCTM. The Shaker Heights (SHRT) trucks date to 1947, making them four years older than TTC 4603. Also, the GE brake actuators on the SHRT trucks were removed (later donated to PTM for parts for their SHRT PCC restoration project) and replaced with Westinghouse brake actuators with TTC covers.
 TTC dedication ceremony. Oct 20, 1996. Photo: L. Velte |
TTC 4603 was dedicated at the Museum in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 20, 1996, in which, amongst others, then-Delegate and current Board member Carol Petzold, and Council woman Marilyn Praisner were among the dignitaries present.
Photo: B. Gilleran
TTC 4603 was taken out of service in April 2015 for a major refurbishing of its trucks at Lyons Industries, located near Altoona PA. We hope to have the car back in service soon.
Photo: NCTM Collections
Sources:
NCTM archives, and TTC website: https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar (containing several very detailed articles by former NCTM Vice President and Volunteer Peter C. Kohler).
Thanks to Museum Member Jim Hogan for contributing to this article.