CLRV 4016

Location: Spadina Avenue at King Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Operator of Vehicle: Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)
Date of Photo: March 11, 2007

It is the start of a new (Gregorian) year and decade, but some transit vehicles will not be seeing revenue service in either one.  There are several vehicle retirements one could choose to profile here, but today, we are looking at the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) fleet that made its final run this past Sunday, December 29.  These cars, and their articulated ALRV counterparts, were designed and ordered when the TTC’s fleet of PCC streetcars were at or near the end of their useful lives.  The first CLRV arrived on TTC property on December 29, 1979, exactly 42 years to the day before they would be retired. 

The CLRV was designed with the intention that it could be used as a standard streetcar design across all of Canada.  However, like similar attempts to design a universal transit vehicle in the United States, this did not prove to be a successful venture.  Although the MBTA in Boston leased three CLRV cars to test on their Green Line, they ultimately opted not to purchase CLRVs.  Ultimately, the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority was the only agency to purchase light rail vehicles from the Urban Transportation Development Corporation that built the CLRVs.  Due to the specialized parts on the CLRV that were not mass produced due to the fact no other systems operated these cars, the TTC found these cars increasingly difficult to maintain over time.

As the CLRVs approached retirement age, the TTC opted to replace them with Bombardier Flexity Outlook streetcars rater than refurbish the CLRV cars.  The last ALRV was removed from service on September 2, 2019, and the final CLRV was removed from service this past Sunday.  The TTC is retaining some cars for inclusion in a historical fleet, selling a handful of cars to transit museums, and scrapping the remainder.

I had the opportunity to ride these cars in 2007, which is the only time I’ve been to Toronto (though I’d like to go back some day).  It also turns out I got a photo of CLRV 4046 during that trip; 4046 is the only streetcar of this type to have air conditioning installed (it was done as a trial that was not carried over to any other cars).  

To see a news report from the CBC about the retirement of these cars, click here.  

For more photos of the TTC’s CLRV streetcars, please click here.