This is what TTC subway cars looked like in the last century
Toronto might have some of the fanciest subway cars in North America, but go back 30 years and you could sill ride an old Gloucester car.
Over and above their iconic red colouring, these trains were noteworthy for the fact that they were the first to ride the rails in Toronto, and their incandescent lights would periodically turn off because of the way that they were wired.
Although the TTC was originally interested in purchasing Chicago PCC to service the Yonge line when it opened in 1954, a change of heart led to the purchasing of 104 of the Gloucester cars for $7,800,000.
To put that into perspective, the contract with Bombardier for the TTC's first 70 Toronto Rocket trains was roughly a billion dollars.
The G-series cars were followed into service in 1962 by M1 cars that were built by the Montreal Locomotive Works. These were longer trains than the G-series, and though only 36 were ordered, subsequent trains maintained the dimensions of these cars.
H-Series cars were introduced back in 1965 and would become a fixture of underground transit in Toronto, running through six series before ultimately being retired. The last H6 train made its final journey on June 20, 2014.
Since then, the TTC subway has been run exclusively on Bombardier T1 and Toronto Rocket Trains. The lights don't randomly go out and there's no single seats anymore, but there are still little hints of the old cars in the layouts used today.
Here's what Toronto subway cars looked like back in the day.
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