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CLRV 4161 trundles westbound along Harbord Street on the Wellesley Line (Route 518) during a muggy summer evening in early July 2010. It's 'linens' indicate that the tram is making its way to Ossington Subway Station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line. It has just passed through the main campus of the Univeristy of Toronto and, crossing Spadina Avenue, is now plying past the businesses of Harbord Village a small working class residential district in the north west section of the old City of Toronto. A local cat plods along parallel to the tram waiting for it to stop so that it can steal a short ride to its prowling grounds. Toronto pussys often sneak on board streetcars - not bothering to pay a fare of coarse, they're like letter carriers in that respect. I'm sure it's mentioned in the Charter of Rights And Freedoms somewhere, after all, the rights of cats and beavers are mentioned more often than those of provinces - I love my country, 'conceived under the influence of alcohol'1. CLRV 4007 travels the same route in the opposite direction, to Castle Frank subway station east of the downtown. Like many TTC streetcar lines, Wellesley travels in mixed traffic for most of its route. It shares the street with cars, trucks, bikes, pedestrians - and cats. And like many current TTC streetcar lines, Wellesley is an amalgamation, assembled from portions of two or three now defunct lines that pre-date the subway era. When the University and Bloor subways were constructed, streetcar lines were straightened to streamline the network of then meandering routes for compatible support of the new subways. Wellesley brought together sections of the old Harbord and Parliament lines and non-revenue support trackage on Wellesley itself. From Castle Frank station, the 518 streetcars travel south on Parliament to Wellesley in the heart of the Cabbagetown district - an early example of what we now call urban gentrification. Curving west onto narrow Wellesley, the line marches from Cabbagetown through what is now Pride Village - home of the Gay Pride Parade and centre of Toronto's gay community. After that there is Yonge Street and the eastern marches of the massive U of T main campus. The line continues on the surface until Bay Street where it dives underground, curves north and west to stop underneath Museum subway station on the University subway line - adjoining the Royal Ontario Museum and the Ontario Provincial Legislature buildings. Beneath Museum station there is full loop around the central passenger platform that allows the streetcars to turn back from either direction if necessary. Museum station is the only underground stop for the Wellesley Line. After Museum station, tram cars travel beneath Harbord Street and the U of T until they reach the surface at a portal just to the east of St. George Street in the heart of the main campus. Now aligned to the centre of Harbord Street, Wellesley streetcars leave the U of T and pass through several working class subdivisions of the old city including Harbord Village. The line crosses both the Spadina and Bathurst Lines and can even be redirected to their corresponding subway stations at need. At Ossington Avenue, the line curves north again where it meets up with the Bloor-Danforth subway line at Ossington Station. Notes: 1Will Ferguson - Canadian Humourist TTC - Toronto Transit Commission CLRV - Canadian Light Rail Vehicle

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As always, my thanks for taking the time to view my work and read my ramblings. I rather like this particular image, although I have to admit there is one very glaring error to it. And I don't mean the constitutional protections for cats and beavers - which I sure is true. I'll leave it to you guys to see if you can spot it - sorry, no prizes. Though this is an unfair demand since you would need to be fairly familiar with Toronto in order to spot it. Good luck.

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