A Short History

I decided to write this blog so I would have a small journal on the rebuilding of an Ottawa street car I somehow got involved in.  Over the pass number years, people have come to and gone from Building 696  located at OC Transpo's St. Laurent garage. They all came to help out, however some did not stay long enough for me to get to know their name let alone remember them.  For this reason I thought I  had better take a few notes in order to keep their memory of alive, document the progress of the streetcar's rebuild and to better my poor writing skills.

The group generally comes together for 2 to 3 hours of work every Wednesday evening.  Not a great deal of time to get much accomplished...however progress is slowly being made.

A very large percentage of the members are transit enthusiast who know a great deal about streetcars and buses.  One member even operated Ottawa streetcars for three years before leaving the Ottawa Transportation Commission for other endeavours.  I know very little about streetcars or street car systems but I do enjoy riding on them.  My forte would be railways, with great interest in their passenger services past and present.  I also enjoy the mechanical aspect of railroading hence my involvement in the 696 project.

The first group of entries that I will present will bring the story up to the present.  Initially, photos will be few as it is hard to set up work projects and take photographs at the same time.  Once I'm up to date with the story, I will make sure that I take the time to shoot photos of the project's progress.  Now let the story begin.

Ottawa Transportation Commission 696 started life as Ottawa Electric Railway car 633 when it emerged from Ottawa Car Company in 1917.

How 696 looked as built in 1917.  At the time she was numbered 633.

A decade later 633 was rebuilt and renumbered to 696. This rebuild included lengthening the car from 45 1/4' to 49 1/2'. The added length was to the front vestibule, the car body stayed the same at 33'.

696 was retired 1958.  A few years later 696 ended up at the Canadian Railway Museum (Exporail) in Delson,QC.  Unfortunately the car was stored outside with little protection from the riggers of the Canadian climate.  In 1989 the car returned to Ottawa and was placed in storage at OC Transpo with the hope of being restored to operating condition.