This is at The Bay store on Sainte Catherine. I’ve been on those escalators many times throughout my life. Brings back fond memories of shopping with family and friends who are no longer with us. Cool video!
Yep. Goes to show how well made everything was back in the day. Not to say that everything made today is of inferior quality, but it definitely is not the same now as it was then.
I have always had an appreciation for escalators. 9 years old and younger I really enjoyed riding them. Later my interest escalated to the historical and mechanical sides.
Notice that the landing plate on the Otis unit says "Escal-aire". That was a now-rare model of Otis escalator which, as shown in the video, has a unique balustrade design: glass, but with regular reinforcement beams made of metal. Perhaps this was an early style of glass balustrade, from when engineers didn't think that an all-glass structure would be strong enough for regular use. A similar balustrade design may be found in some of the older stations of the Washington, DC Metrorail subway, on the escalators leading from the mezzanine to the platform (the longer escalators leading to the surface typically use an opaque balustrade). I think those are Westinghouse units, though.
A working piece of history! They _NEED_ to keep that Escal-Aire operational as long as possible. It's a priceless artifact that needs to be preserved, and it's also a testament to the impeccable quality of design that the sixties were known for. This thing can and will work indefinitely as long as routine maintenance is continued... PS. I vaguely recall riding escalators like these in Calgary's Chinook Centre as a kid in the early two-thousands, before the mall was renovated completely and much of the original works were replaced. They have a certain nostalgic charm about them that modern escalators cannot replicate. However, there is a gem of a time capsule located in the section of the mall that leads to the underground bowling alley. It still contains all the original decor from the time of the mall's opening in 1960 and is definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in antique mall architecture.
When I worked in the fire department I spent several years training firefighters about how to perform rescues involving elevators and escalators. When I would go in the mall of other buildings and start taking photos to use in training security would immediately make stop.
Elton , let"s think for 5 minutes. You live in Montreal , you walk on the street in November , December for Christmas shopping. You get in a deprtment store with your snow boots, walk through the store up to the escalators, take the first one , then change on the second floor and so on up to the department you're looking for . Question : which escalator did you put the most salt , water , dust etc.. on ? Which one will rust first ? + Which escalator will be more used by customers the first one or the second one ? Will all customers and employees used as much second floor escalator as first floor escalator ? ( BTW , if you have a special interest in escalators, Elton, I suggest that you tell us more about it . I would like to know who were the first in business escalators , where is the oldest escalator still in operation in Montreal , how cans we see if the escalator is in its original form or was restored etc...Here, in this video , I can slightly see the small diffrences between the original escalator and the new one . In short ,Elton, open us the world of escalators. I never took a look at escalators in that sens .I can tell you about historical pianos , organs , styles , about churches , Montreal bricks, cuisine and many other subjects but I never thought of escalators could be a passion.
The 2 lower units are Schindler SWU's. They were probably installed after the fact because the lower floor wasn't originally in use or there was water or fire damage and they needed to be replaced. Also the manufacturer's nameplate used to be removed when the company lost the service contract to minimize frivolous lawsuits. Or kids just stole them lol
In the elevator and escalator trade we used to refer to escalators as meat grinders......many horror stories of mechanics getting hurt working on escalators....
2,600,000 plus views about a escalator?? this guy has talent, imagine the numbers he'd pull if he walked into a Adult book store filming and narrating??
Following Elton for years when he was simply retroolschool or something like that. Love his homespun Montreal vids. But hey. this is way too suspicious and weird. I saw this vid when it came out years ago. Might even have a comment in here somewhere. There is absolutely 100% certainty that 5.8 mill have not viewed this one. And I notice a ton more of Elton's vids are waaay up in numbers too. Anyone have any ideas how/why? Is someone somewhere - not accusing Elton - monkeying around w/the viewership numbers?
