Читать книгу Toronto Sketches 11 - Mike Filey - Страница 11

Shortly before 7:00 p.m. on the evening of November 17, 1904, streetcar number 642, owned and operated by the city’s private transportation provider, the Toronto Railway Company, was proceeding east along Queen Street. As it approached the Grand Trunk Railway’s level crossing just past De Grassi Street, it became clear that something was wrong. Orders issued by the company required streetcars to approach all railway crossings at minimal speed, but for some reason number 642 was travelling well in excess of this limit. Suddenly, the crossing gates began to drop — a Montreal-bound train was approaching. Motorman Willis Armstrong tried, but he couldn’t bring his vehicle to a stop in time. The heavy steam engine smashed into the wooden streetcar, reducing it to kindling. Two passengers were killed instantly and a third died later in hospital. A dozen others suffered a variety of injuries.

Motorman Armstrong was charged with manslaughter and held in jail for several weeks until inspection of the ill-fated streetcar’s braking system proved his statement to police that the system was totally ineffectual. Inspection also determined that a secondary safety feature installed by the company, something called a “Scotch dog,” which, when the crossing gates dropped, caused a five-inch-long bolt to rise above the streetcar tracks and derail the car before it reached the railway tracks, was also deemed totally useless at the speed the car was travelling.

Officials recommended that the level crossing be eliminated and a railway bridge be built as soon as possible. The bridge opened twenty-three years later.

March 21, 2010

View of Queen Street, looking west from the Grand Trunk railway crossing between De Grassi and McGee streets, circa 1892. Note the early electric streetcar on the Lee route stopped at the crossing gate. This route, from the St. Lawrence Market along King and Queen Streets to Lee Avenue in the Beach was only in service for short time.

A similar view in 2010.