![]() So it would be even longer before he would have any meaningful results available on which to base any recommendations).Īt a last chance first public meeting held later that month, a few shortcomings in the report became apparent. ![]() So he recommended replacing the trolleys with compressed natural gas-fuelled buses (at the time, under a Ministry of Transportation initiative, the company had one running but the start of its test period was then almost a year away. He said 40% of the electric fleet was out of service on a daily basis (not because it wasnt dependable but, in part, because he had pulled them off one of their routes) and that the installation of overhead in the new Wentworth garage then being planned would add $1 million to its cost. In support of it, he said the trolleys were outdated and unreliable (4 years after he rebuilt them). Schweinbenz recommended ending the trolley service. Then, in May, 1986, another report prepared under Mr. The report recommended against the upgrading and suggested the trolleys be phased out in 1993 when the coaches would reach the end of their useful life. A report presented to the transit committee said the trolleys had neglected electrical systems (they had all just been repaired or replaced, as necessary, on the oldest buses and the newest trolleys were only six years old barely broken in) and that the power supply and distribution system needed upgrading (both the substations and overhead were well-maintained and reliable). Schweinbenz in apparent support of the effort remarked that the work would extend the trolleys service another 10 years.īut less than 2 years later (in August, 1984) we got the first indication that the trolleys were in trouble. They were stripped to their frames, motors were rewound, insulation and electrical components were replaced, new seats and floors were installed and the buses were repainted inside and out. Still, in 1982, under the new leadership of Heinz Schweinbenz, the company spent almost $1 million rebuilding the oldest trolleys in the fleet. Cooke who had been the General Manager for years and who was both a strong advocate for the trolleys and the service in general retired. Adobe golive trial driver#It would have been inconceivable to any driver or passengers alike that anything could change except for the better. Well over 30 million riders were patronizing the little HSR every year then and were showing no sign of abating. At quitting time, a trolley silently slipped away from the curb downtown on each of the three electric routes as frequently as once every four minutes LOADED! As a driver, I couldnt conceive of handling the crowds any other way no diesel in the fleet could begin to compete with the trolleys seamless getaway or match its performance on routes with schedules so tight every second counted. Everyday nearly half of the systems passengers rode a trolley to get to work or school or the stores. In 1980, when I went to work for the HSR, the companys Flyers were the very backbone of its service. It was systematically undermined, sabotaged and ultimately betrayed. The trolley service that I spent the best part of the last twelve years of my working life driving didnt just get discontinued. A service I think deserves more than a tiny notation in the annals of history that on such a day it was discontinued. No! This dark day in December was the culmination of a protracted struggle to stifle the last gasp of a much-loved service. It was decidedly not a repeat of that morn in 1951 when the first gleaming Brills had replaced the aged, squealing, steel-wheeled dreadnoughts. It was not the end of one great age and the bright, shining dawn of another. ![]() No crowds lined the route, no pipers played, no drums beat, no speeches stirred an assembled throng. ![]() At the close of December, 1992, the trolleys quietly rolled into the new Wentworth Street yard from their last runs on Barton Street and unceremoniously ended 100 years of electric transit service in Hamilton. ![]()
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