Friday, May 31, 2013

Streetcar accident

Sept 2, 1928 Toronto. Looks like car #2132 rearended #2156.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The accident was briefly described in The Times and Guide Newspaper. Here's a link to the clipping which I posted on the Weston Historical Society Facebook page back in 2012. Here is a link to that clipping. https://www.facebook.com/113972951953777/photos/a.442905395727196/459838664033869/?type=3

The accident occurred as a switch in the tracks at King and Main Street North in Weston. The line through Weston was predominantly a single line of tracks, but there was a switch/bypass to to the north side of King Street where the line split into two sets of tracks for a short distance before merging again into the single line again. This was necessary to allow opposite travelling streetcars to pass each other.

Here is a link to the photo when I posted it back in the same album on the WHS page in 2012. https://www.facebook.com/113972951953777/photos/a.442905395727196/459837870700615/?type=3

I may be wrong, but I got the impression that the switch either failed, or someone made a mistake at the switch and the two streetcars collided more or less head on. The damage on the two streetcars would seem to suggest that at one of the streetcars was at an angle to the other. The damage to streetcar 2132 is at the corner and not as severe as the damage to the streetcar 2156 which has the damage radiating out from the centre of the end.

I have the original photo of Streetcar 2156. There is a bit of information on the back. It describes the image as "Tor. Civic Car #114 (T.T.C. 2156) after collision on Weston Line Sept 3 1928". It also indicates that there is no negative.

Mister G said...

Thanks for the information and analysis! more info is always good.