The end for the Brussels PCCs – From the LRTA
What makes this story interesting is that some of Brussels PCC cars are still operational after 58 years of revenue service.
I will wager that very few, if any of these cars will be scrapped as there will be plenty of buyers from museums, smaller tram companies, and private, who will purchase these cars and further their operational careers.
How many buses last in revenue operation for 58 years?
The end for the Brussels PCCs :
It has been announced that the last day of operation of the 7000-series single PCC cars in Brussels will be Friday 12 February 2010. All the remaining serviceable cars will be in all-day service from Woluwe depot on routes 39 and 44. During the evening the service will be operated entirely by PCCs until the last departure (actually 01.06 on Saturday morning) from Ban Eik. As the PCCs come out of service they will be driven to Haren depot for storage and disposal.
It is possible that these depot runs will be open to the public, in which case the last arrival at Haren is expected to be at about 02.30 on the Saturday morning.
The first PCC entered service in Brussels in November 1951, and some of the 1952 delivery have survived to the end, 58 years of service.
19 January 2010
A Brussels PCC next to a Bombardier Flexity tram (now used in Vancouver BC)
The PCC’s are hands-down the greatest trams ever built. However, the title is misleading, no? The double-ended cars are still in service, and I remember reading in an older T&UT issue on Brussels, the 7900 series double-end cars are essentially 2 PCC’s linked together with a middle setion?
Zweisystem replies: Definitely the PCC cars were the best designed ever, but as the LRTA website states, I think all the PCC’s and variants will be retired and replaced by the Flexity series of trams, as per the LRTA news item.
I hope they’re saved for smaller markets and heritage lines. It would cost a bundle to get them shipped overseas so I suspect they’ll stay in Europe.
San Francisco runs a popular and efficient tram line using heritage rolling stock salvaged from all over the country. Someone will keep those PCCs going for another 50 years.
No problem. Would be sad to see the 7900’s go!
Only the 7000/7100 series will be retired on Feb 12th, and about half of the 7700/7800 series will be retired by the time all the Flexity streetcars have been delivered (in 1-2 years). The 7900s, the most recent PCCs dating from 1978-1979, will remain in service at least until about 2020. These are the longest PCCs ever built, and essentially/technically 2 streetcars linked together with a middle section.
There is an ex-Brussels 7000 series streetcar in Vancouver! It’s in or behind the Olympic line’s Olympic station shed. Interesting photo-op: a STIB 2009 Flexity and a STIB 1952 PCC reunited in BC 😉
The mention of old seecttrar track near Woodbine station reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to ask for some time. At Broadview and Main Street stations there used to be extra bits of track—I can’t remember exactly, but what I recall is a bit of extra northbound track north of the turnoffs into the stations. The turnoffs into the stations, in turn, were switches rather than the track simply turning. Also, at Broadview station, there was what looked like a vestigial extra track within the station area. I think this is all gone now with the renovations at Broadview and track replacement at Main Street.When I was younger I assumed these were relics of previous seecttrar service north of Danforth (maybe up Broadview, across Mortimer or Cosburn, and back down Main?), but as far as I can tell from various old maps this was never the case.Does anybody know the actual history of these tracks?Steve: At Broadview Station, the loop used to be further north on the property now occupied by a restaurant on the north-east corner of Broadview and Erindale. Streetcars went north on Broadview, east on Erindale (where they now travel westward coming out of the station), then counter-clockwise through the loop (and around a substation that was replaced by the one in the subway station). When Broadview Station Loop was built, the northbound track was left as a tail track for storing dead cars. This was removed when the station got a runaround loop track, and in turn that disappeared as part of the conversion to a two-platform station.At Main Station, there was a short tail track for storing dead cars on Main just beyond the loop entrance. Until 1955, there was no loop where Main Station is now, and the Carlton car went to Luttrell Loop, the east end of the Danforth carline.Neither of these ever went further north.Tail tracks were quite common, but they have disappeared around the system over the years and in some cases even though the track (and switch) might remain, the overhead was removed. See Kipling Loop.One place where track was laid but not used was on Pape where the double track went north of Lipton Loop (now Pape Station) in anticipation of an extension north to serve the industrial area in Leaside (where there is now a big box mall at Eglinton). The Pape Avenue Leaside bridge was built with extra steel (and TTC overhead poles) so that the carline could go further north. However, the Depression intervened cutting off this and other expansion plans. The bridge was widened comparatively cheaply from its original four lanes thanks to the extra strength provided for the seecttrars. A similar arrangement on the Bathurst bridge north of St. Clair allowed for it to be widened.