More intimate shots of Vancouver's ETBs
2782 outside the shady payroll loan office Second 2171 by Chapters Books Robson St
On borrowed time: 2782 and a YVR-bound B-Liner pass the shady payroll loan office at Howe and Drake. I don't buy books at Chapters: The fourth generation of Vancouver trolleybuses is represented by 2171.
The operator's "cage" of the E-901 Interior of the E-901
Keep the chin up: The operator of 2941 waits for the lights to change at Broadway and Burrard.  That mag-card farebox is a generation behind Oyster.  $2.50/ride. Shake, rattle, roll: 1980's Flyers had the usual North American interior fittings of stainless steel pipe and Arborite panels, held together (sort of) by pop rivets.
The 2910 on Seymour at Robson with a woman in the shot My last photo of an E-901 in service -- the 2910 again
Good timing: In its all-over Eggshell White paint, the 2910 passes Robson on Seymour.  The striped card warns operators that dewirements are common here. This is it: the 2910 seen from the Tim Hortons donut shop on Pender.  It's 7 PM on April 17, 2008, and this was my last action photo of an E-901 Flyer.
Morning on Granville Bridge and the 2946 Overhead switchwork leading onto the bridge
Operator Alert: Every N/B bus on the G-Bridge passes this bit of "special work" at 5th and Granville.  The wires entering from the left are for the 10, 16 and 17 routes, converging with the 4 and 7 routes entering from the top.  The switch at right lets the operator choose either the centre lane or curb lane on the bridge, leading respectively to Granville and Seymour downtown.
Casting a big shadow: Old 2946 is heaving her bulk up the grade of Granville Bridge, seeking her terminus at 63rd Avenue.
It is possible to make out 2 power/coast contact sets here, one at the left for the use of buses coming from Granville, and another set between the converging and diverging switches (look above the POWER card).  As far as I can tell the 2 sets are connected in parallel.  Suppose an operator coming down Granville guns her bus over the left contacts.  The current flows from the hot (left) wire through the switch like this:
(1) left solenoid, (2) clipped-on wire, (3) "hot" contact, (4) bus, (5) "ground" contact, (6) long fibre tube aligned over the curbside wire, and finally, (7) to ground through the right solenoid.  With a big "ka-ching" sound, the frogs snap over, guiding the poles to the wires that serve the curb lane on the bridge.  The frogs are restored to the straight-through routing as the poles pass through them.  When Canada Line is finished and the downtown portion of Granville St is reinstated as a TB route, operators will again "coast" this switch to use the inside lane wires on the bridge.  But not for long, because the days of these foot-operated bird perches are numbered.  There are plans to upgrade all the switches to wireless control.  Veteran operators took great pride in their mastery of the old switches.
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