They're the Rocketeers(National Post, 21 Jan 2003)
by Liz Clayton
You might not know them by sight, but there are people riding around on the TTC with us every day for more complex reasons than simply going from point A to point B. They’re riding for fun. They’re taking pictures. They’re picking up old bus transfers off the ground and pressing them into scrapbooks. They’re transit enthusiasts.
Transit enthusiasts don’t just enjoy riding the TTC: they enjoy the whole transit experience. From the science of maps and timetables to the visceral pleasures of a shiny new vehicle, these lucky individuals have taken their commute to a higher level. The transit landscape is a rich one: steeped in nostalgia, and ever-evolving along with our city. In the right hands, a subway transfer becomes a momento of a moment in time, a splendid city, and the transit system that unites the two.
Rick, a TTC fan who lives near Bay subway station, has amassed an impressive collection of transfers — though the collection might not be as handsome as one might wish. “For many of them I had to sort of ‘garbage collect’ — look for ones on the ground at subway stations and on buses, and blowing in the wind,” says the collector, who would just as soon not use his last name.
And the rest of his collection? “I would purposely take bus routes I didn’t have to — just to get the elusive hard-to-get transfer.”
What better way to have an easy urban adventure than to take a bus you’d never normally take — simply for the act of riding that bus?
Speaking of buses, those dirty, aging TTC buses may sound like unlikely objects of affection, but for people like Marshall Shunk, they’re as good as it gets. Shunk operates the website “Marshall’s Bus Page” (home.cybrnet.net/~mshunk/buspage), an exhaustive collection of photographs of different models of TTC buses.
Shunk’s carefully tended galleries include photos and details about unique vehicles like the now-decommisioned trolley buses, and strangely purposed buses like the TTC InfoBus and the TTC Mobile Command Unit. (The elusive ambulance buses, no longer official TTC vehicles, don’t make the collection’s cut.)
Several local web pages besides Shunk’s extol the delights — and minutae — of the TTC. James Bow and Aaron Adel’s “Transit Toronto” website (www.transit.toronto.on.ca) is one of the most prominent.
Bow , who now lives rather far from the TTC in Kitchener, says his love of the TTC is largely nostalgic.
“I am particularly fond of the TTC because it was a big part of my growing up. I had a very good childhood living in downtown Toronto. The TTC took me everywhere without complaint. Couple this with the love all children seem to have for trains, and I think the mix produces a strong bout of nostalgic feeling,” says Bow.
Bow’s website features extensive histories and photo galleries detailing the TTC’s past and present, as well as an up-to-date weblog about current happenings around the TTC. Items worth reporting could include a stolen glimpse of a rare vehicle, like a bright yellow rail-grinding car noisily working on the streetcar tracks, or news about changes to transit routes. (Looking for the latest on whether or not St. Clair will become a limited-access streetcar corridor like Spadina Ave? You’ll read it there first.)
For transit geeks, however, collections aren’t limited to relatively easy-to-get things like photographs and transfers. More outlandish collectibles include enormous streetcar roll-signs (long scrolling lists of destinations that measure several feet long), elaborate models, and even sounds.
“I record the sound of the buses engines, the subways and the streetcars themesleves, just for the sheer pleasure of listening to transit and collecting the sound,” says local transit buff Allen Dicion.
“This is maybe the weirdest thing I do as a enthusiast.”
While collecting may serve to preserve some nostalgia, there’s nothing like taking an actual trip through the past on a historic streetcar, which is a lot easier to do than you may think.
The TTC has two handsome 1951 President’s Conference Committee streetcars on its fleet available for private charter. Groups like the Toronto Transportation Society avail themselves of these vehicles, as well as other unique or soon-to-be retired vehicles for fan trips — parties on wheels where the guest of honour is the vehicle itself.
And an hour from downtown, transit fanatics and anyone who never tired of their toy train set can find excitement at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum. This volunteer-run museum features its own radial rail loop on which members run dozens of historic streetcars, many of which are vintage TTC cars still bearing signs with ghostlike destinations such as “JANE/BLOOR”.
Of the 300 members of the railway museum, about 30 of them operate the streetcars, which take about a year to learn due to the variety of the fleet.
Back downtown, the TTC is grateful the level of interest — perhaps even adoration — transit enthusiasts have for their company.
“The way I see it is, what would we do without them?” says Bob Boutilier, TTC Deputy General Manager Surface Operations.
Boutilier believes that groups such as transit fan clubs, and other more political groups like the Rocket Riders, are of great benefit to the TTC.
“Having people out there who are not directly connected with us, who don’t get any payment, who are doing that because they believe it’s something good for the city...it’s very positive from our standpoint.”
With the recent fare hike and an ongoing lack of necessary government funding, the TTC needs all the fans it can get.