According to a Vancouver Sun article from 1955, Vancouver’s streetcar system was retired 57 years ago today. This was reported by Openfile which dug up a fantastic shot of the streetcar from the Vancouver Archives (pictured right).
Kitsilano served as the final resting place of the streetcars, which were highly influential in Vancouver’s neighbourhood development in the first half of the 20th century.
From the 1957 piece:
“The streetcars, which are being replaced by “trolley coaches” in a citywide conversion, have operated since 1890, and to honour the history of the system, several vehicles are made available specifically for “the oldsters – only those who were pioneer residents of Vancouver before 1900.”
Today, work crews are already busy ripping up sections of the track and tearing down the single electric wires that were the streetcars’ source of power,” the article continues. “Sunday night the last of the streetcars were pulled across the Kitsilano trestle over False Creek to their resting place at the Kitsilano barns.”
Read more here.
Last modified: April 24, 2012
