Ottawa's Streetcars Removed 50 Years Ago.

[san379]

they turned a right of way into a bunch of PARKS.. not transit.. now cloging up roads with busses

[Fmaack]

Very cool. I like old footage from Ottawa. I wonder how these street cars did during the winter back then? Lots of shoveling? I'm guessing they had plows but nothing compared to what we have today. Hell, buses still get stuck in the snow now.

Also: I like how Lincoln Fields were actually fields back then. Looks very empty.

[Fmaack]

Very cool. I like old footage from Ottawa. I wonder how these street cars did during the winter back then? Lots of shoveling? I'm guessing they had plows but nothing compared to what we have today. Hell, buses still get stuck in the snow now.

[tintinhamish]

Wonderful footage of the streetcars, and one scene going by my house more or less on the Byron tramway. Last was on an Ottawa streetcar to Britannia in mid-fifties when I was around 7 years old or so. Great.

[OneWarmDragon]

Just to be clear,Ottawa's decision to get rid of the street cars was taking place in most major cities in North america at the same time.

The real push to get rid of street cars was coming from oil companies and the big 3 car producers ,who actively bought out a lot of the street cars,Toronto and San Francisco being the most notable hold outs.

Enter urban sprawl and the decay of living in the downtown core.

[Joberrr]

Everyone drove a lot slower back then! It'd be nice to see people driving slowly like that again and less cars on the streets would be nice too.

The cost of car ownership over a life time is crazy especially if you have to drive regularly or for long distances or both. So many of those work hours get burned away by car costs and it's only going to get worse.

I hope the new Light Rail will be electric. It would be a good idea to future proof the transit system: Thorium based nuclear reactors!

[gnredbull]

Damn it would've been nice for the city to keep at least a few running. A nice attraction to the CAPITAL of Canada. Ahh, oh well.

[STMclassic]

awesome video, are there any remaining streetcar tracks in the city of ottawa that are accessible by bus? and still intact?

[InuKun2008]

@STMclassic If the rails are still there in various spots, brush will have made them hard to see. Best bet is to see if you can print out a map out the routes and see if you can find them in areas not heavily developed. In all likelihood though, almost all, if not all of the rails, are either gone or long buried.

[dnegro]

this is cool i was born in 85

[OttawaOldFart]

For years and I'm talking the 70's here the old streetcar tracks on Beechwood would push the pavement and crack it. The funny part is and this is the end of Beechwood that turns into Helmlock at the base of Oakhill the tracks ran into someones house. My dad told me that the line ran along Rockliffe Park. If you go along the Rocliffe Parkway there is a short retaining wall with a flat space where the Streetcars used to run towards downtown.

[wcg66]

it's hard to watch this, only because of the shame of removing them from the city.

[tjftor]

Checkout my  video Montreal Street Car Ride on my Channel, Thank you.

[LordlyJeremy]

The thing about it is that it would be so easy to put it all back. Most of the old right-of-way was converted to parks, and the old garage (a storage-rental place) and power plant (a rock-climbing facility) are still standing. It would be easy to lay down new tracks, put up new poles, route the old Sparks St. line along Wellington, and rail problem solved!

[InuKun2008]

@LordlyJeremy Easy in that respect, but remember that a certain mayor was voted in with the promise to kill light rail because he felt cars should be the only ones on the road. Motorists are more likely to fight such a measure for either light rail or street cars because they feel a sense of entitlement that both the streetcars and light rail would take away from them, particularly in downtown. The sense that they, and they alone, own the road.

[brishi69]

WOW!!...Very cool video to see, my grandfather drove these back in the day and retired shortly thereafter and then my Dad worked for OTC/OC nowadays...Nice to see old vintage footage of this, thanks for sharing :-)

[cocgle]

Wonderful video. I'd love to see more footage of 'old Ottawa',

Streetcars did have their drawbacks. Ice on the wires or tracks, as well as power interruptions or stalled cars ahead of them. could stop the cars in their tracks and block major roads (after all streetcars can't just be pulled to the side of the road). Streetcars could not make detours and changing or adjusting the routes meant laying new tracks and installing new wires.

[cocgle]

The overhead wires were unsightly and people often twisted their ankles while crossing the road and inadvertently stepping on the track.

The reason they were retired, however, is that throughout the 1940s and 1950s General Motors was aggressively promoting it's modern buses and offering generous discounts and incentives to cities that abandoned their streetcar lines in favour of brand new buses.

[cocgle]

In 1959 buses were modern and convenient. They could make detours at the drop of a hat, they could pass stalled cars and be sent out to the new suburbs and have their routes changed or modified without any need for construction of new tracks and wire installation. In 1959 no one ever thought gasoline would ever be in short supply nor did anyone give any thought to the effect it had on the environment.

[Zigagno82]

This video is wonderful!

It's a pity that the city decided to remove the light rail.. I cannot understand the Ottawa's transportation policy. In fact, cities all around the world (and especially capital cities) improve and extend their own streetcar and subway networks continuously. Ottawa has destroyed it. And everyday we face the consequences during the rush hour: traffic jams and Oc Transpo congestions. Let's go back!!!!

[retroolschool]

This is the best video of its type ive ever seen! That includes the vintage music!

[jdlpro]

Great job! Why where they removed? I don't think I'll ever see in my lifetime light rail in Ottawa, other than the one we have....it's sad.

[jdlpro]

It's such a shame that they removed them, it would add such a charm to Ottawa...it tears me up inside how many things we pass over in Ottawa. Still love the city but it's not run properly.

[gnizleov]

There are some reminders of streetcars still in Ottawa; outside Works burgers near the Queensway on Bank is the last standing pole that once held the wire though which streetcars got their power.

Near the crossing shown here on Richmond Road, there is a stone roadbed

where the track once ran.

I have a similar video to this one taken around the same time. I should put it up.

[8416287]

kool

[Intransitman]

Great video, it really shows how much damage the NCC has done to the city of Ottawa over the past 50 years.

[thestig123]

Does anyone know what year this would be?

[CarlingtonEnews]

1959 is 50 years ago.

The last streetcar service was on April 30, 1959.

Some Ottawa streetcar equipment were sold to other cities and for example an OTC snow sweeper was used in Cornwall until 1971 when that City terminated its electric street railway. It is now in the Seashore Trolley Museum at Kennebunk Port Maine. It still has the original Ottawa paint scheme too.

[bentdrum]

Nice vid, thanks for uploading. I rode the streetcars in Toronto quite a bit when I lived there in the 80's, and now here in Ottawa we're finally talking about "light rail", 50 years after getting rid of ours.

[alarmjeff]

The Great Olde Days !!

If Only We Could Go Back !!

What a City We Once Had...