“x2 - Wednesday, March 23, 1983 - North Shore News

Lonsdale.

In fact, I know where
there are a couple of
streetcars just going to

waste. They sit, mostly
forgotten, inside the old
Dominion Bridge building in
Burmaby. They are = run
down, no doubt about it, but
they could easily be
restored.

Recently, I had a chance
to prowl through these old
streetcars. I must say, it gave
me a massive and immediate
flashback to the days of my
childhood, which is. the
effect Pm sure they would
have on anybody over 40.

For the teenyboppers it
would be a different thrill,
but a thrill it would still be.
One distinguishing feature of
the old streetcars was that

strictly personal

by Bob Hunter

A streetcar to desire

THE BEST IDEA [ve heard lately is North Van

Alderman Gary Payne’s suggestion that an an-
tique street car system be built to revitalize Lower

they were designed with the
Victorian Era not far behind
them.

Some of the same sense of
elegance that you find in the
older London Underground
cars — the Tubes — lingers
on in the old Canadian
streetcars.

This is the perfect moment
to get a= project like
Alderman Payne's in motion
but not just because the
economy is showing signs of
life.

With the arrival of the

Automated Light Rapid
Transit system in Van-
couver, leaping outward

from the new stadium like
some sort of Ray Bradbury
sci-fi creation, life on the
Lower Mainland will have

come full circle back to the
Golden Age of rapid transit,
which ended, roughly, with
the tearing up of the old
tramway tracks and _ the
stupid decision to switch to
buses.

The ALRT system is the
last word in state-of-the-art
mass transit, running as it
does on  magnetically~
powered linear inducton
motors. It will put Van-
couver legitimately into the
big leagues in terms of world
cities.

To resurrect actual an-
tique streetcars on the North
Shore now would be a
stunningly imaginative coun-
terpoint to the gleaming high
tech system across Burrard
Inlet.

As a frearview mirror
image of ancient transit, the
Lonsdale system would
automatically acquire status
that was both historic and

Survey onfosterhomes —

On Thursday, March 24, a
telephone survey conducted
by the North Shore News will
be contacting some 400
residents by phone and ask-
ing the following question:

“Would you consider tak-
ing a foster child into your
home, on a temporary basis,
with room and board paid by
the Ministry of Human
Resources?”

Those asking the question
will be indicating that they
have been asked by the
Ministry of Human
Resources to conduct a

survey in North and West
Vancouver Also. the ladies
will have the name and

phone number of the person
at the local office of the

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CuSlonterns

EATON'S

ministry which they can give
out if asked. That person is
Sheila Lonegren, 984-4281.

Super product

Special price

*« maximum

“yes”,
and “refuse to answer.”

value you'll
jump at.

39 inch moon gravity

rebounder

goo

— while supply lasts
— 2 year warranty
— made in Canada

Here are 5 reasons to Dounce Dach
in 83 with rebound exercise

Exercises every cell in your body tor

strength budding
Removes up to 85% of the stress

CANADA’S LARGEST

SELECTION OF REBOUNDERS
AND TRAMPOLINES

Acceptable answers are
“no”, “don’t know”,

includes
tape

contemporary. and in a
properly understated way, it
would one-up Vancouver.

You have to keep in mind
that mass transit has entered
a remaissance. At the
moment, there are at least 68
mass transit systems in the
world that incorporate either
subways or elevated tracks.
There are another 21 such
systems under construction,
including Vancouver's.

The number of systems
has tripled since the Second
World War, for the simple
reason that a single subway
Car Can Carry as many people
as a 20-lane superhighway.
The ratio is much the same
for streetcars.

Against this: background
of proliferating urban
railways, a city with a sense
to preserve or, better yet, to
revitalize any remnants of its
old-days transit system will
automatically hand itself a
place in the world's
imagination.

I have no doubt that in the
long run — say a generation

“HAPPY 31st
BIRTHDAY IAN

MUCH LOVE AND
BEST WISHES
FROM MOM & DAD

has been out of orde
but it is now repaired.
Please note our new
hours: .
Mon & Tues 10-6
Wed closed
Thors-Fri- 10-8
Sat-Sun —-: 10-6
1388 Main St.
North Van
980-4118

RON ZALKO ACTIVEWEAR AVAILABLE AT 736 MARINE DR., N.V.

from now — the Lonsdale
system, if established, would
have far more tourist

drawing power than ALRT
itself, which will merely be
taken for granted by then.
There is a good chance, in
fact, that by then, the

Lonsdale system will be in
far better operating con-
dition than the lightweight
fiberglass-shelled coaches

‘ee

:

z

zapping through Vancouver.

One thing Athat is agreed
upon by all civil engineers is
the fact that the old urban
trains were” built Like tanks
and probably had centuries
of use left in, them when they
were pullefi in favor of
buses. :

On Lowér Lonsdale, I
have seen thé future. It is the
past. E

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