Does anyone know if there were street cars on Verdun Avenue at one time? I lived most of my preteen years in the 1940s on 2nd Ave., and I vaguely recall street car tracks but it could have been a toddler's dream.
I can still picture my particular street and how it looked way back when. The buildings haven't change too much but during the early 40s there was very little traffic and parking apparently was never a problem. There may have been 10 cars parked between Wellington St. and Verdun Avenue at most. The front yard fences were made of wood and wire, and the space between the sidewalk and the curb was of fine gravel which I found fascinating for some forgotten reason. Funny how one remembers the little things like lace curtains on the windows on some of the nicer front doors (not ours). Oh well... back to the street cars on Verdun Avenue. They may have been there at one time but probably before my time.
Second Avenue.
THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome. Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.
13 comments:
Biking 2006, I go back to the 30s and 40s and there were no streetcars on Verdun ave, only on Church and Wellington. This subject was brought up before and someone mentioned that the Wellington streetcar used to turn around at the end of the line on Lasalle if my memory serves me right. JM must have information on this as he is a strreetcar buff. Guy
I agree. There were no street cars on Verdun Ave. I lived on Melrose and remember you could take the Verdun Ave bus to Church Ave, visit the library then use your transfer to get the street car on Church to get back via Wellington St. Round trip for 1 ticket...
Does anyone remember when it could turn at Rielle. The track only went for a short distance.It also came off the track once and went through the side of the restaurent.I dont know if there were injuries. I was born in 1939. Ron.
More memories i attended the YMCA summer program on a couple of occasions they rented a tram. We got on at Woodland and went to Belmont Park.
The 58 Street car ran from Place Darmes to Woodland St. Turned aournd in front of pavilion. Ran down Wellington Street The 61 Street car, which was run very seldome, from Place D'armes to Rielle street by backing up.. close to Savoy Theater, Use to be a Greek restaurnat on corner if memory correct also through the Pointe The 25 Street Car, Place D'Armes along Notre Dame. Then Church Ave. Along Wellington To Woodland. Hope I got that right Ron Larman
I forgot about the 61.
C.R.S. I think brought this thread up once before.
I picture in my mind's eye, tracks abandoned and partially buried under asphalt. Maybe in another lifetime huh.
How far back did the buses travel Verdun Avenue? I took the Verdun Avenue bus to Atwater many times, always connecting to a streetcar on St. Catherine Street. Either going to Pie Neuf Street (?) to take a bus to St. Lambert, going to the YMCA near Guy St. (?) to swim with a well known swimming coach, Malcom Ross, and various other trips to the great city of Montreal. Hostile territory for me as a child, and always glad to be back in Verdun.
Second Avenue.
The story I remember at the time is that they had stopped using the Rielle street turn around. All cars were turning at Woodland. The turn was still there however and some one changed the tracks to the turn off. The car that was expecting to go straight to Woodland was going too fast for the turn. Shortly after they took out the turn tracks. Ed
Ron, I seem to remember it ran into a drugstore but don't quote me. Ed
Thanks for that.I remember going into the resteraunt there was quite a mess inside it hit where the long counter was.Would you know about what year that was. Thanks Ron.
Jesus Ed when did this occur? Was it in the papers?
I remember stories of pranksters putting rifle cartridges on the tracks which apparently would cause the car to skip the rail. We place pennies on the rail at the foot of 2nd Ave., which would flatten out. Seemed harmless at the time but still a bad idea looking back. I left Verdun in 1958 and my memories are vague to say the least. Thiis is why this site is so valuable to me and to others who have moved away. Viva La Verdun.
S.A.
Ed,
I always wondered why when a streetcar line was converted to busses that The Montreal Tramways would weld the switches shut. When the 14 and 65 streetcar service stopped, all the switches at Guy & Ste Catherine were welded so that streetcars could no longer turn on to Guy Street. I'll bet this was because of the accident at The Rielle Street turnaround. Now we just have to get someone to admit to throwing the switch. Possible a large truck going over the switch could have caused it to change. I remember a 1962 streetcar collision in Toronto at Roncesvalles and Bloor Street when a TTC maintenance streetcar made an east bound turn from Roncesvalles to Bloor. This turn track was not used too often and the next streetcar did not notice that the switch was in the turn position. When the northbound Roncesvalles streetcar hit the open turn switch it crashed in to a southbound Roncesvalles streetcar. People were injured and the rush hour was royally messed up. Thanks for the Rielle Street posting and answering a 48 year old question. In two more years it will be 50 years since Montreal last saw streetcar service-Walter
There were no Streetcar tracks on Verdun Ave as far as I can remember. There were streetcar tracks on Wellington Street though...
Peteman
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