Megaton327
Senior Member
4408 was out of service heading from the CNE to go into service on Spadina (overheard operator talking to supervisor); at Spadina, instead of using the loop entrance to head north, the driver triggered the automatic switch to go from eastbound Queen's Quay directly onto northbound Spadina. The switch worked and he began his turn, derailing soon after. The 4 wheels in the 1st module of the car all derailed, but the wheels in modules 3 and 5 remained on the tracks. As the car was out of service, only the driver and a Presto rep were onboard, nonetheless it did not seem like the derailment was violent and they both seemed uninjured.
Eastbound 509s were, naturally, blocked--there were at least two present that became trapped for the duration of the incident. Additionally, 4408's derailed/turning front end blocked straight-through westbound 509 cars from proceeding, however fortunately it did not block southbound to eastbound turning cars nor southbound to westbound. Consequently, 509s coming westbound were able to simply enter Spadina Loop, exit the loop southbound back towards Queen's Quay, and turn westbound to continue to the CNE, a very brief and easy diversion. Eastbound cars were able to detour Bathurst-King-Spadina, and turn eastbound onto Queen's Quay and continue towards Union. One westbound 509 had just passed the loop entrance and eventually reversed far enough to enter it; another 509 had actually entered the switch set to go straight at Spadina, that one just reversed a few feet and turned north directly onto Spadina. Eventually the influx of TTC supervisory/maintenance vehicles was blocking streetcars from making most turns, ironic as the derailed vehicle itself was not. Shuttle buses were eventually ordered, which I think was fairly unnecessary as Queen's Quay-Spadina Loop-Spadina-Queen's Quay (westbound) and Fleet-Bathurst-King-Spadina-Queen's Quay (eastbound) are not horrible diversions to endure, but they ran buses anyways.
Eventually they decided the best solution would be to have 4408 simply reverse--as all wheels in modules 3 and 5 were still on the rails, 2/3rds of the wheels, they figured it would be easy enough to get the wheels in module 1 to come back into line, which was my reasoning as well (an hour or so earlier). As they were reversing the trolley pole came under a section insulator, so they lowered it and raised the pantograph instead for the remainder of the reversing. Eventually the wheels did fall back into the rails correctly and the car reversed fully out of the intersection, it then switched back to the trolley pole. I had to leave at that point, but the alert was cleared shortly thereafter, so presumably they sent it back to Roncesvalles.
As for the cause, there was a large quantity of debris/dirt/mud in the eastbound-to-northbound turning track at Queen's Quay and Spadina; it was plainly obvious, and supervisors were groaning upon seeing the track once 4408 had reversed, that this had caused the derailment--when making the turn it came to a patch of debris clogging the rails and hopped up onto the debris, and off the rails onto the concrete surface of the ROW. This is a very rarely used piece of track--it is not used for any regular service, nor even as any detour that is used with any regularity (the southbound to westbound track off Spadina, and the westbound Queen's Quay northbound into Spadina Loop track, on the other hand, are used for detours much more regularly, e.g. the multiple collisions along Queen's Quay recently). I think it has been widely used as a detour only once since Queen's Quay reopened, when some work had to be done at Bremner and Spadina and the 510 detoured King-Bathurst-Queen's Quay, so the rails were not getting cleaned out by streetcar wheels. They should have had somebody come by and give them a vigorous pressure-washing on June 19th when Queen's Quay reopened, or at least once the automatic switches came up and their use became more likely, but evidently that had not happened. There was really a colossal amount of gunk sitting there after they scraped and swept the track grooves. Not the driver's fault, not a problem with the LFLRVs, and completely avoidable with a bit of cleaning.
Pictures from scene--first off, the derailment itself, LFLRV 4408:
CLRV 4149, a westbound 509 heading to exhibition, can be seen here with its reverse light on to back out of the intersection (once it reversed past the switch it went north onto Spadina).
4408 having lowered its trolley pole and raised its pantograph to reverse:
4408 having lowered its trolley pole and raised its pantograph to reverse, and with the front wheel covers opened to aid visibility during the attempt to get back on the rails by reversing:
Dirt visible caking the rails immediately after 4408 finished reversing. It is clear, in the centre-left of the image, about 3ft in front of the police officer's right foot, where the derailment occurred. Notice the white scratches on the concrete running from there to the centre-right of the image (they extended a bit past there) where the streetcar's wheels had been on the concrete:
One of the CNE-Union 509 shuttle buses was an artic--guess there must have been one stationed on standby at Dufferin Loop, or maybe they even pulled one off 29:
Eastbound 509s were, naturally, blocked--there were at least two present that became trapped for the duration of the incident. Additionally, 4408's derailed/turning front end blocked straight-through westbound 509 cars from proceeding, however fortunately it did not block southbound to eastbound turning cars nor southbound to westbound. Consequently, 509s coming westbound were able to simply enter Spadina Loop, exit the loop southbound back towards Queen's Quay, and turn westbound to continue to the CNE, a very brief and easy diversion. Eastbound cars were able to detour Bathurst-King-Spadina, and turn eastbound onto Queen's Quay and continue towards Union. One westbound 509 had just passed the loop entrance and eventually reversed far enough to enter it; another 509 had actually entered the switch set to go straight at Spadina, that one just reversed a few feet and turned north directly onto Spadina. Eventually the influx of TTC supervisory/maintenance vehicles was blocking streetcars from making most turns, ironic as the derailed vehicle itself was not. Shuttle buses were eventually ordered, which I think was fairly unnecessary as Queen's Quay-Spadina Loop-Spadina-Queen's Quay (westbound) and Fleet-Bathurst-King-Spadina-Queen's Quay (eastbound) are not horrible diversions to endure, but they ran buses anyways.
Eventually they decided the best solution would be to have 4408 simply reverse--as all wheels in modules 3 and 5 were still on the rails, 2/3rds of the wheels, they figured it would be easy enough to get the wheels in module 1 to come back into line, which was my reasoning as well (an hour or so earlier). As they were reversing the trolley pole came under a section insulator, so they lowered it and raised the pantograph instead for the remainder of the reversing. Eventually the wheels did fall back into the rails correctly and the car reversed fully out of the intersection, it then switched back to the trolley pole. I had to leave at that point, but the alert was cleared shortly thereafter, so presumably they sent it back to Roncesvalles.
As for the cause, there was a large quantity of debris/dirt/mud in the eastbound-to-northbound turning track at Queen's Quay and Spadina; it was plainly obvious, and supervisors were groaning upon seeing the track once 4408 had reversed, that this had caused the derailment--when making the turn it came to a patch of debris clogging the rails and hopped up onto the debris, and off the rails onto the concrete surface of the ROW. This is a very rarely used piece of track--it is not used for any regular service, nor even as any detour that is used with any regularity (the southbound to westbound track off Spadina, and the westbound Queen's Quay northbound into Spadina Loop track, on the other hand, are used for detours much more regularly, e.g. the multiple collisions along Queen's Quay recently). I think it has been widely used as a detour only once since Queen's Quay reopened, when some work had to be done at Bremner and Spadina and the 510 detoured King-Bathurst-Queen's Quay, so the rails were not getting cleaned out by streetcar wheels. They should have had somebody come by and give them a vigorous pressure-washing on June 19th when Queen's Quay reopened, or at least once the automatic switches came up and their use became more likely, but evidently that had not happened. There was really a colossal amount of gunk sitting there after they scraped and swept the track grooves. Not the driver's fault, not a problem with the LFLRVs, and completely avoidable with a bit of cleaning.
Pictures from scene--first off, the derailment itself, LFLRV 4408:
CLRV 4149, a westbound 509 heading to exhibition, can be seen here with its reverse light on to back out of the intersection (once it reversed past the switch it went north onto Spadina).
4408 having lowered its trolley pole and raised its pantograph to reverse:
4408 having lowered its trolley pole and raised its pantograph to reverse, and with the front wheel covers opened to aid visibility during the attempt to get back on the rails by reversing:
Dirt visible caking the rails immediately after 4408 finished reversing. It is clear, in the centre-left of the image, about 3ft in front of the police officer's right foot, where the derailment occurred. Notice the white scratches on the concrete running from there to the centre-right of the image (they extended a bit past there) where the streetcar's wheels had been on the concrete:
One of the CNE-Union 509 shuttle buses was an artic--guess there must have been one stationed on standby at Dufferin Loop, or maybe they even pulled one off 29:
