---

I remember being very, very tired when I took this shot last year. It was a rather warm afternoon for early spring though the evening chill had started to float in from nearby Lake Ontario. For me a long day of many worries and maybe a little mid-life crisis (drat those odd grey hairs), I found myself walking more than a little mindlessly across McCaul Street on the north side of Queen in downtown Toronto. Then, in keeping with the ancient proverb of "fools rush in...", was almost tread upon by this curving streetcar. With a sudden charge of adrenaline which only the most potent bend of Ethiopian coffee can provide, I leaped backwards to the safety of the sidewalk in seemingly one bound. The tram signalling a single dispassionate warning gong for my transgression. Darwin nearly took his vengeance upon me. But I took no wounds and do live to breed another day. This shot is a reminder against such carelessness in the future. It is proudly displayed in my electronic picture frame and once every forty-three (43) minutes it graces the screen for thirty (30) seconds. Just before my cat Lilly's audition photo for 'Life of Pi'. It does stand apart from many other tram photos I like to take - that with a tourist's eye if you will. Angled for the best lighting, freshly washed, proudly sporting the TTC's bright red livery, plenty of reflections from the windows. I am proud of their presence on our streets for many of their virtues as well as their look. But, it is easy to forget that these are invaluable workhorses of the city transit system and not just a quaint curiosity from a bygone era. It is nice to think of them as graceful pieces of urban art, but make no mistake, they are so much more. Old 4085 seems just as tired as I was. Not so pedicured, patched in the grime of the dirty weeks that mark the transition from winter to spring. It laboured, as Toronto streetcars really do, to move vast sums of human traffic through the core districts at the end of a working day. McCaul sports an off street tram loop about two blocks north of Queen. There, after offloading the last of its westbound passengers, Queen cars can perform a mid-route short turn (common during the mid-week rush) to begin yet another eastbound run on the Queen Line (Route 501). Perhaps as absent minded as I was, 4085 had forgotten to turn her rear rollsign - route 505 represents the Dundas Line and not that of Queen Street. I must admit, it surprises me that the linens still work at all after over thirty years. In any other place, there would be three lumbering (and too often stinky) diesel buses doing the same job. Alas, the era of these iconic CLRVs is coming to a close as they reach the end of their life expectancy. Overhauled and retrofitted many times since the late 70's - roll signs coexisting with the crimson LEDs of the tail lights - it has come to the point where it is more cost effective to buy new trams than update the old ones. Further evidence that individual Toronto streetcars are more (and less) than treasured pieces of civic history. The new (and still unclassified) low floor streetcars will start appearing in about two years. Slowly the CLRV fleet will stand down for them just as the PCCs did a generation earlier. I guess if Doctor Who can regenerate... But have no fear, in spite of our idiot mayor's best efforts, streetcars will continue to ply the core of Toronto. And will continue to do so for decades to come. But very soon, it will not be quite the same as it was. But that can be said of any generation of Toronto transit riders. Drat those odd grey hairs. Thank you all for taking the time to view. Notes: CLRV: Canadian Light Rail Vehicle PCC - Presidents' Conference Car TTC - Toronto Transit Commission LED - Light Emitting Diode Rollsign - Way better than pixel boards

---