Vancouver Tours on the Brill Trolleybus No. 2416 – Day 1
On the weekend of August 15th and 16th of 2015, I went on two amazing tours on the Canadian Car-Brill T48A No. 2416 Trolleybus. Built in 1954, this bus used to run on the various routes in Vancouver until 1984. Our tours went all over city, including Stanley Park and UBC, and was driven by the renown and retired bus operator Angus McIntyre, who drove buses in Vancouver for 41 years.
This is the video for the first tour on August 15th. We started at 7pm at Marpole Loop, and then went on the following itinerary (click the times to jump ahead to that part of the video):
0:39 – Departing Marpole Loop
5:34 – Arriving at Marine Drive Station
6:57 – Marine Drive Station
7:03 – Departing Marine Drive Station
8:03 – Northbound on Main Street
10:58 – Angus makes an introductory speech about the tour (sound is a bit low here, be sure to turn your volume up)
Not shown – We have a photo stop at a turnaround on 10th Avenue, just south of Broadway, Main, and Kingsway.
15:18 – Turning right from Main onto Broadway, then Kingsway
16:35 – They were passing around a picture of Angus McIntyre driving the GM New Look “Fishbowl” bus at the recent Vancouver Pride Parade.
16:50 – Continuing southeast-bound on Kingsway
18:21 – Angus introduces Don Ackman (not 100% sure of his name), a well-known Vancouver historian who runs tours in the city. Some comments are made about the possibility of running tours of various neon-light fixtures around the city, but many of those fixtures have gradually disappeared over the years.
21:45 – Passing the 2400 Motel near Kingsway and Nanaimo, which sports one of the few neon signs left in the city.
23:12 – Entering a turnaround at Kingsway at Slocan
24:54 – Northbound on Slocan Street (today’s trolleybus routes no longer run along this stretch, but the wires are still here to allow buses from Nanaimo to access Kingsway)
27:54 – Westbound on 22nd Avenue
29:37 – Arriving at Nanaimo Station
30:08 – Nanaimo Station
30:18 – Northbound on Nanaimo Street
31:01 – Angus makes a comment about the overhead advertisements on the bus.
31:47 – The Brill trolleybus crosses the new Powell Street Overpass for the first time ever. Before the overpass was built earlier this year, vehicle traffic had to go through a railway crossing.
33:09 – Turning left from Powell onto Main
33:33 – We spot some Transit Security Personnel conversing on the street.
33:58 – Due to water main construction on Pender Street, the #4 and #7 buses have been re-routed onto Hastings Street. To accommodate the detour, a new trolley wire switch was installed to allow for buses to turn right southbound from Main Street onto Hastings. Angus drives the Brill for the first time ever on this switch.
Not Shown – We drive down Hastings, then back on to Pender, then all the way down Georgia to the Stanley Park Loop.
35:15 – Stanley Park Loop
35:38 – Boarding the bus at Stanley Park Loop and taking a look at the interior and the advertisements.
Not shown – We take a 30 minute rest stop at the corner of Denman and Pendrell, in the heart of the West End.
37:16 – Southbound on the Granville Street Bridge with the interior lights off.
38:50 – Westbound on 4th Avenue
42:09 – Arriving at Blanca Loop. Angus announces that he’ll be doing a few loops here in an attempt to produce sparks on the overhead trolley wires.
42:37 – Angus begins his run around Blanca Loop.
44:10 – A large electrical arc is produced as the Brill traverses a switch.
46:26 – Angus comes out to explain what happened with that arc.
46:49 – Changing the destination signs at Blanca Loop, from a #4 Fourth to #17 Oak
48:16 – Suddenly, some random wandering troubadours (?) enter the bus to play a number for us just as we were leaving Blanca Loop. The things you see in this city…
50:08 – All passengers disembarking at the Marpole Loop, which is the end of our tour for today. However, there’s another tour happening tomorrow. You can view the video for the Day 2 tour here:
Thanks to TRAMS and Angus McIntyre for hosting these tours. For more information, click the following links:
TRAMS website:
A description of the Brill trolleybus we rode on on the TRAMS website:
An article about Angus celebrating 40 years a transit operator in Vancouver: