Caption: Not your regular Toronto streetcar: TTC Snow Sweeper S-30 plies its trade along the streets of Toronto, clearing snowy slush from Broadview Avenue near Wolfrey Avenue as a line of cars builds up behind.

Having a large streetcar network across the city, it was important to keep the tracks clear during winter weather. For decades, the TTC had its own fleet of snow-clearing equipment, including rail-mounted snow sweepers and snow plows (apparently they even had regular snow-clearing routes they were sent out on). TTC S-30, originally built for Taunton MA in 1920, and later serving on the Third Avenue Railway System of New York until 1947, was equipped with a set of motorized rotating sweeper brushes at both ends and side plow blades to push the snow back to the curb. Because of the bristles, the rotating brushes worked better than a standard plow blade to clear snow out of the flangeways of streetcar tracks. They were even used to couple up to and push stranded or disabled streetcars stuck in the snow.

The snow sweeper fleet was phased out by the early 70's, in favour of the city's own snow removal services. A few stored sweepers could still be found lingering around the back tracks of Roncesvalles Carhouse yard as late as 1973. Two units have been preserved: sweeper S-37 at the Halton County Radial Railway in Milton, and S-31 at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.

Robert D. McMann photo (duplicate slide), Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.