The TTC has a Request for Bid open on merx for the retrofit of pantographs on up to six legacy streetcars.
The base bid is for one car, with an option for five additional.
If this work goes forward, Toronto might still see its legacy fleet returned to occasionally active duty, but there is no further information in the request.
The legacy fleet is temporarily stored at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum.
Steve Munro 
Just a paper scam. Will never happen.
Just like the Trillium going to Hamilton for “evaluation”!
This city does not give a damn about its transportation heritage.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if this is generated from movie/TV industry interest. They’ve used them to shoot so many times when they want to shoot in Toronto and set something in the past.
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Didn’t some of the early CLRV streetcars have pantographs? Did any of them get preserved, guessing those will be easier to be implemented?
Steve: The prototype cars tested in Europe had pans. There is a photo at SIG by John Bromley in this article showing a CLRV with a pan.
TTC thought about converting the overhead system to pans, but the project was canned for budget reasons. These cars should be easier to convert. The PCCs and Witt are a greater challenge.
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Steve, do you know if there will be further long term benefits to the pantograph changeover? My understanding was that a lot of changes to the overhead were needed to run trolley poles and pantographs at the same time…but now that poles are completely phased out, is there the potential to over time further upgrade the overhead to 1) be simpler 2) more reliable 3) cheaper 4) more standardized 5) other benefits – and is the TTC considering any changes in that direction?
Steve: The change to pan-only overhead is already well underway. Many intersections no longer have frogs where curves and through wires meet, and tangent wire has been staggered to provide even wear on the pan’s carbons.
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No legacy streetcars should be brought back to service, they are not accessible and as such would be illegal to bring them back. If the TTC wants to bring these back, then they need to make these accessible.
There is already a surplus of the new accessible streetcars. Why do we need to waste our precious tax dollars to bring these inaccessible ones back? This is just a conspiracy to discriminate against the disabled and the elderly.
Steve: These cars are not intended for revenue service and this has nothing to do with discrimination against the disabled and elderly.
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El Paso runs PCCs with Pans and Newark and Pittsburgh operated PCCS with Pans.
Steve: It’s a question of the roof structure, but it shouldn’t be difficult. The Peter Witts in Milano have pans too.
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Referring to the book “The Witts” by Larry Partridge, the TTC experimented with bow collectors on a few of its Witt streetcars in order to avoid dewirements. This occurred circa 1929. Page 20 of the book showed a photo of a bow collector on a TTC Witt. It was not a simple bow replacing a shoe at the end of the pole, but rather two poles with crossbars holding up the bow. It looked very ungainly compared with a single-arm pantograph.
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What would these vehicles be used for if they don’t fit the accessibility standards for passenger trips? Would they be able to be used for rail testing/training purposes or something along that?
Steve: Parades and official events would be a common use. Older vehicles regularly ran in the Beaches Easter Parade until the overhead became non-compliant for trolley poles. Vehicles that pre-exist the regulation do not need to be retrofitted.
Also, where a service is not accessible, as long as there is an accessible alternative, this is not a problem. For example, several subway stations are still inaccessible, but the TTC runs a parallel bus service. How successful/useful this might be is another question, but it satisfies the legislation. I suspect that if a PCC found its way into revenue service, this would not be a problem as long as it was an “extra” on a line otherwise operating with accessible vehicles.
In some cases where older cars operated as part of a community event (St. Clair comes to mind), no fare was charged.
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The CLRV’s and ALRV’s could have had air-conditioning. However, because of the increase in power consumption, it would have meant needing thicker overhead catenary, better electrical transformers, and better electrical distribution. The trolley pole also could not handle the power contacts needed, which meant pantographs. In other words, it was not in the budget.
Likely the vintage streetcars will not be air-conditioned, but will need pantographs to use the thicker catenary.
Steve: These cars will need pans because the overhead is no longer compatible with poles especially at intersections.
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