Flyer 5116, location unknown in Burnaby
A Flyer Charmer . . . .   I recall the throaty sound of the power unit in this model.  The D-700 was a New Look competitor without the New Look's good looks.  Durability was an issue;  all the Vancouver units were withdrawn in the early 1980s to be replaced by some of the last GM New Looks to be manufactured.  During a Toronto visit in 1985, I saw trolleybuses with this body style mingling with PCC cars.  Toronto still had the double wires then.  I forget where this photo was taken;  31-Douglas was a Burnaby route based at the Kensington garage, not my usual locale, and I don't recognize the background.  Note the orange and yellow "local service" striping and the lettering spelling GVTS.
Prevost 5503 at Kootenay Loop
Prevost Rarity at Kootenay Loop . . . .   The Quebec manufacturer is hardly known for its transit buses.  Vancouver rostered a few of these critters to work the grade up to Simon Fraser University.  I'd ride them just to watch the driver handle the 4-speed gearbox.  An adroit driver could start his bus in second gear, even uphill.  The crankshaft being unusually fore-and-aft, the engine took up more interior space.  It also made maintenance more difficult.  My mechanic friend remembers how hard it was to replace the main universal joint on a Prevost that didn't make the hill.  Kootenay Loop is the end of the Hastings trolley overhead.  It was here that a parked trolley lost its brakes and rolled driverless into a shop window.
Brill 2281 on Granville at Dunsmuir
Granville Mall and the 2281 . . . .  A classic Brill T-48 hangs on a ruby on Granville at Dunsmuir.  The buildings were cleared for the Pacific Centre expansion, and Holt Renfrew opened a store here in 2007.  With all the SkyTrain work going on here, the overhead has been disconnected.  Route 4 served my Kitsilano neighbourhood.  Buses going along Fourth to Blanca Loop returned as 17 Oak, so drivers knew the route as "FO".  The 2281 received these orange and brown stripes after the Socialists got kicked out.  The Socialists cooked up the new stripes in 1972 to hide the system's Hydro heritage and call attention to the expanded transit services they instituted during their brief reign.  Orange-yellow was the code for "local";  orange-brown stood for "suburban".  With the return of the Social Credit government, Hydro exited the transit business and orange and brown became the system-wide style.  A few vehicles got plain orange stripes until 1982, when 2700, the prototype E-901 trolley, debuted with a scheme of British red, white and blue.  In due course the fleet followed suit.  But orange and brown endured until Translink.
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