Caption: The same photographer who shot this photo of CP 7026 crossing the former TG&B "Old Bruce" service track over Bloor Street, was also shooting streetcars that day in the same spot. They caught this pair of TTC PCC's lead by 4494 MU'ed with a 4600-series A11 car in Queen service, heading westbound on Bloor Street past Perth Avenue about to duck under the "subway" (common Toronto parlance for an underpass or viaduct before transit subways started being built) under the service track, the CN Weston Sub, and CP Galt Sub mainlines. After ducking under the rail corridor and climbing the grade to Dundas, the cars would continue west for Jane Loop. The local Milnes coal & fuel oil dealer is visible at the southwest corner of Bloor & Perth. The signage on the building opposite reads "H. Waines Custom Cabinet Work and Upholstering, 1435 Bloor W, LE-5-2638"
PCC cars serving the busy Bloor and Danforth streetcar lines were often MU'ed together to handle the larger passenger loads, and certain classes of cars were equipped with front and rear couplers for such operations. Once the crosstown Bloor-Danforth subway line opened between Keele and Woodbine in February 1966, streetcar operations ended on that stretch of Bloor, and the Bloor and Danforth "shuttle" runs at both ends that ran until the extensions to Islington and Warden opened in May 1968 were able to get by with single cars. MU'ed PCC operation continued on busier routes such as Queen however.
Original photographer unknown (but visible at bottom right!), Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.
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Note the Milnes Coal yard one of many dealer chains across Toronto. Most had identical brick office buildings.
TTC m.u. trains of PCC’s were crewed by 2 Operators. In TTC parlance the second man (trailing car) was said to have a “chauffeur”!