Caption: Sunday, December 29th 2019 marked the end of the CLRV streetcar era in Toronto, after over 40 years of prowling Toronto's streets. The Canadian-designed and built cars were developed in the 1970's to fill the requirements of new streetcar equipment, after Toronto reversed its policy of streetcar abandonment it had pursued in the years prior.

Six prototype cars would be built by SIG in Switzerland, with Hawker Siddeley/UTDC in Thunder Bay getting the production order of 190 cars that followed. The first car was delivered December 29th 1977 via rail flatcar to the TTC's Hillcrest Shops in Toronto. After extensive testing of the new design, the first cars finally entered revenue service in late September 1979. They would run alongside the PCC cars for the next decade and change until deliveries of the ALRV's retired most of the aging PCC fleet that remained.

Seen during the testing period, cars 4005 and 4001 (two of the six Swiss-built prototype CLRV's), are posed at the CNE's Exhibition Loop while undergoing MU testing on a snowy January day in 1979, still months away from entering revenue service. Despite being outfitted with couplers and testing in MU, they never operated in revenue service in Toronto MU'ed together, and the couplers were later removed and replaced with front skirting.

After years of providing regular all-day service 7-days a week, the well-worn CLRV fleet was on its last legs when new low-floor streetcars from Bombardier began arriving (after considerable production delays) and car 4005 was one of the first retired and scrapped. Car 4001 held on until the end, and made the official CLRV "last run" on December 29th 2019. It is to be preserved by the TTC in their fleet for historical purposes, along with possibly another car or two.

Ted Wickson photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide