The TTC has a long history of keeping their bus and rail fleets well beyond most other regions, even buying up old stock that others discard (fishbowls ran until about 12 years ago). Keeping things running well is such an underrated capability, and one the TTC should be very proud of.
Trams can operate for at least 30 years, if not sometimes 40 or 50 years. And actual trains even longer because they don't usually crash into cars or trucks at all. If you manage to modernize your fleet enough to use the trains this long you save tons of money that you can use to do other things! Here in Cologne one series or LRVs was just modernized to operate for another 30 years, which saved the city millions of euros PER VEHICLE
@@edwardmiessner6502 As someone who lives in the Boston area, put my vote in for that as well. Although I would worry that the sheer soul-draining negative energy of the MBTA(*) might corrupt the TTC instead . . . . (*)The MBTA ALWAYS has very ready excuses why things cannot be done.
One of the things that kickstarted my interest in transit was when I was 5 and the local tram network opened their new depot / yard with a public open day and celebrations, they had old trams running as shuttle, a parade and more. Its really important to have the general public participate in transit instead of having it solely as background.
I don’t think enough people realize how important the environment is for workers in an industrial setting. Good lighting, comfortable climate control, color, nice landscaping, etc. Too many industrial workplaces are like dungeons. Happy workers make safer workers. In this case, they also make transit safer.
@@vokasimid5330 I know of a factory that expanded to increase production. The difference between the old and new parts of the factory were like night and day. Because the new addition required less skill to run (and less workers), the older more experienced workers stayed in the old dungeon like part, while new workers were in the new addition. It seemed like a punishment for many years of difficult work and loyalty. Hopefully they survive the inevitable attrition and future modernization, or are able to retire beforehand. While automation and other technologies improve working conditions, or eliminate the need for work that no one should have to do, the benefits are unfortunately concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.
Kudos to the TTC for valuing design for those both within and outside of the facility! Every space/place deserves well designed architecture, even what we might consider industrial or utilitarian, and such design pays great dividends. :) Thanks Reece for the peek within!
I frequently ride by the Leslie Barns on my bike rides. Thank you, Reece, for the opportunity to see what was behind the fences. Transit porn for transit stans. You must have had a hard time falling asleep the night before your tour. What an amazing facility. Thanks for sharing the experience with us.
The Doors Open events are great! I highly encourage any GTA local with even a passing interest in infrastructure or local history take the time to check out some of the places!
I’ve had the good fortune to bicycle that area on several visits to Toronto. Beautiful, friendly City. I had no idea the immensity of the operation “behind the fence”. Thank you for sharing this experience.
The quality of your videos is getting to be excellent. Very professional and well done. The TTC has always impressed me with how well they maintain their equipment. I mean by and large the streetcars, buses and subways are pretty well taken care off. And their staff do an excellent job. I wish people would have more pride in the TTC because it does allot right (and many things wrong)
There are two places the streetcars go to sleep. The Leslie Yard and the intersection at College and Lansdowne, which just happens to be right next to a Timmies.
I wish they took us to these sorts of places as kids for field trips! I just remember the science center and ROM. Science center was also literally right beside my school. It would be a great way to get kids to understand just how important these places are and where the streetcars and other transit vehicles go when they aren't riding on one.
Absolutely loved the video! I can only click the thumbs up one time, but I definitely give it two thumbs up!! Very interesting and informative! It was so interesting, I could have watched a video that was twice as long! Thanks!!
I remember this place being under construction for quite a while, I'd frequently see it as I would go to the Canadian tire nearby quite often. If I remember right this was quite a while before the current low floor streetcars were even in regular service, only being tested I think, around 2017 or 18? Part of me still misses seeing those old CLRVs at the Russel car house.
Some of my favorite videos are your behind the scenes. I've always wanted to visit these places since I was a kid! I wonder if you'd ever consider a meet and greet event, maybe even sponsored by the TTC in one of those locations?
toronto's bombardier streetcars are really cool! the only thing i wish was different is that they had doors on both sides and had 7 sections instead of 5 for additional capacity.
Because of the way the streetcar system works, you cannot have doors on both side of the cars. That only works on systems where the streetcars actually reverse for the return trip. I think the new LRT lines in Toronto have the reversing streetcars, so you will see doors on both sides of the cars.
@@brianmcdonald6519there’s nothing stopping a system with turning loops from ordering trams with doors on both sides. But there isn’t much reason to do this. You lose space on the inside, you have more moving parts that can break and all your stations will have platforms on the same side, so you’d never actually use the other set of doors. If you build new lines designing them for bidirectional vehicles can make sense because you have more options for stations and don’t need to build turning loops. This is why some cities have both types of vehicles, depending on the line (Berlin and Mannheim for example). But if your system was already built for unidirectional vehicles you have little benefit from ordering bidirectional ones.
This was a great video! I work closely to aviation so I'm used to the maintenance done to airplane which has its own complexity and size but the size of the tram multiplied by the number of cars make this shop incredible and much bigger than I would have expected. In comparison the REM maintenance shop in Brossard seems tiny!
the hall looks really good and spacious for so few service tracks going into it, must be nice to work there. My german cities tram network in numbers isnt that far off Toronto, alltho the annual ridership is much larger even tho it serves a noteable smaller overall population (no underground network pushes a lot more transit onto trams) ... the maintenance facilities ofc reflect that as a larger ridership naturally also result in a need for more maintenance. But we dont have such a luxurious workshop, here its more service tracks closer together and no fancy extra high roof. Our maintenance certainly looks more efficient and cost effective for the owner, but I bet our workers would love to trade that for a nicer workplace like that Toronto workshop palace.
I've worked in aviation for a couple of decades, and man this is a nice facility. I wish our hangars were this nice. Maybe I should switch my career to another transport mode! 😅
Reece, very interesting video! I am wondering if the building is in any way restricted to the current rolling stock? You have mentioned in other videos that some transit systems lock themselves into dealing with only one manufacturer. Can the Leslie Barn be modified if they wanted to buy different tram cars without people complaining about the cost of the barn's modifications? Your descriptions did make it sound as though the building is very purpose built for the existing trams. Just curious. Again thanks for the very interesting video.
Hey RM, I'm curious to know your take on the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth trains approaching the end of their intended lifespan: Do you think upgrades or replacement is feasible (or even necessary at all), or should we be prepping for line 2 to end up like the Scarborough RT in 5 or so years down the line? Sorry to ask you this super specific question, btw. I take line 2, and you seem like the person to go to for an answer that's neither overly optimistic or excessively alarmist.
There is no reason for Line 2 to be dismanteled for the following reasons: - Line 2 is significantly longer than Line 3. - Line 3 can be thought of a continuation of Line 2 so an expansion of the latter to Scarborough makes the former net redundant. - Similarly, it makes no sense to dismantle a line when expansion plans exist outside of malicious reasons. - Line 3 uses an incompatible system compared to the rest of the network whereas Line 2 is closer to the standard of the network (and Line 4, another short subway line, uses the same trains as Line 1). - IIRC Line 3 was dismanteled because of expansions on the GO Stouffvile line while Line 2 has no such problems.
The TTC has been working towards replacing the old line 2 trains. I expect the funding for this will eventually come through from higher levels of government. I haven't read the Toronto Star story, but the headline looks like the equivalent of clickbait.
Making Line 2 a driverless automatic metro like Paris Métro Ligne 14, Vancouver's Skytrain, and the Docklands Light Railway would be a nice way to make it like the Scarborough RT.
Those facilities help a lot to prevent vandalism. In cities like New York City vandalized trains are repaired immediately, because most vandals will not damage a train that does not already show damage.
I've always wondered if streetcars could be used on the LRT 5 and 6, and vise versa (assuming they're compatible w each other like power and track and maps)
Totally incompatible. Track gage on 5 and 6 is different from the rest of the system. Also, I do not believe there is any point along the routes where they intersect anyway.
What y'all think about a green yard. I always think a train yard has too much concrete. Is there a significant benefit of all this concrete or can we have just normal ground?
@@robertcartwright4374 exactly, while we are trying to make green tramways, it would be interesting to look at the logistics of green vs gray railyards as well.
I know that the concrete can cause heat island effect, and the fact that it's impermeable is also bad; so there is permeable concrete that can be used that does allow for water drainage, but not sure the cost of actually replacing all of what's already there. The other thing I can think of is there's this white coating that is often placed on roofs to reduce heat island effect, not sure if would work on the concrete in a parking lot, but maybe that's an alternative?
I just took a look around a few tram yards here in Germany and while they do also have significant portions covered in asphalt, some are a lot greener. Munich-Leuchtenbergring basically looks the exact same as the one in Toronto, while Karlsruhe-Rheinhafen or the Augsburg-Rotes Tor depot have green track or at least grass in some sections. They all seem to be paved or covered where vehicles would be parked though, so there probably a reason to it (safety, cleanliness?).
Well, I grew up in two cities that had extensive PCC streetcars (Pittsburgh & DC). Seems to me that "maintenance" wasn't such a big deal "in the day." Back then (in those two places) the systems were own and operated by private companies which were able to collaborate and produce a base design of cars that lasted decades. Sorry, but I'm not impressed by the "modern" transit systems.
I live in Sydney, Australia and one of this cities biggest regrets is tearing up our tram system in favour of cars, it was the biggest tram system in the world at the time. You guys are lucky.
