A Corner in North Glenmore ~50 Years Apart

The two photos that make up this Then & Now were shot from the same position, but at least fifty years apart. It’s repeated here all too often, but it’s a great thrill to stand where an old photo was captured, and take one that’s similar. Call it weird. In the old image used today we see a rather unremarkable scene on a corner in North Glenmore (Calgary) and so many years later we’ve come to duplicate the shot. Best we can.

It’s an everyday scene no matter how you slice it and yet today it’ll surely evoke so many memories. You’ll hear them say: Calgary had trolleybuses? Remember the neighbourhood corner store? It was just a block from home! Our Grammy lived nearby. It’s fond recollections, probably from childhood, of this place or one just like it. A similar corner exists in every older neighbourhood in cities all over.

It’s a simple scene. There’s an intersection in a residential area of North Glenmore, a small shopping centre and a passing bus. Our mission: take the old photo and do our best to duplicate it in both angle and composition. Bus included. Getting good results (never guaranteed) is most satisfying, but the fun of doing it all the better. Can we get the shot?

There’s been some change here, then to now, but much of its original character remains. The strip mall looks the same and heck even many of the line poles so as well. The one house in back is now gone (but still there when we earlier shot this Then & Now in 2014 – pic included) and that leads one other noticeable difference…the buses. Diesels have replaced the trolleys and the overhead wires removed. Oh, and how the trees have grown.

The original photo and appears to be in the public domain and sourced by Team BIGDoer. Who shot it or when are both unknowns. Although, given the vehicles in view, and other factors uncovered during research, we know it’s from the early to mid 1970s. However, not past 1975, as trolleybus service ended that year.

Post World War Two a number of larger transit systems across Canada were burdened with an aging streetcar network and many made the transition to trolleybuses. It happened in the US too. Sometimes the new replaced the old and other times the two coexisted for a bit.

There were many reasons to take this path. Parts of the streetcar electrical infrastructure could be reused, they were economical to run and the technology well proven. Also, it’s suggested that internal combustion (mostly gas powered) buses of the day, were close, but not yet up to the task (somewhat debatable).

Diesels had yet to fully prove themselves but would soon come to dominate and because of this no new trolleybus networks were built after 1951 in this country. The boom came and went quickly. While most cities that operated trolley buses continued to use them for some time after, they were often treated as orphans and not always kept up as they should.

Calgary’s network lasted from 1947 to 1975.

At least a dozen other cities in this country operated these buses but the only transit using them present day is Vancouver BC. Always the biggest network in Canada, this system is modern, efficient and seems to have a good future. It helps that it’s large, busy network (trolleybuses excel in high-use situations) and powered by cheap hydro-sourced electricity.

There are a few operating trolleybus networks in the US and many more in the rest of the world. They’re particularly popular in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries.

The buses seen are along Route #7, aka the South Calgary Run and it follows pretty much the same path today as it did back then. It runs from downtown and the end turn around point only a few blocks away from where the photos were taken.

This section of the route dates from the early 1960s, with the establishment of the North Glenmore neighbourhood and prior, the route ended in the nearby community of South Calgary.

The bus in the old photo, #431, was a model T44 (trolley – 44 seats) built in 1948 by Canadian Car and Foundry. It was one of just over seventy of this model on the CTS roster, across several orders (1947-1950). Joining them were a small number of slightly larger examples and otherwise similar looking T48As, bought new in the years 1950-1953, along with some second hand buses. About twenty were bought from US systems.

This bus lasted to the end of electric operations in 1975 but then shipped off to Vancouver BC to be used as a parts source for that city’s fleet of trolleys.

Canadian Car and Foundry (or simply CC&F) made these at their factory in Fort William Ontario. It’s part of Thunder Bay today. Buses in general were produced from 1945-1962 but trolleybuses only from 1945-54. This same facility made aircraft and aircraft assemblies from the 1930s-1950s. Today the factory is owned by transportation conglomerate Alstom but earlier a Bombardier facility. They make passenger and transit rail cars.

All CC&F trolleybuses were built under license of the JG Brill (or ACF-Brill) company of the US. Canadian built models differed somewhat from their American counterparts but usually still called Brills. CC&F as a bus builder ended up outliving JG Brill.

The bus seen in the cotemporary photo, #8004, is a New Flyer of Winnipeg Manitoba model D40LF (diesel, 40ft and low floor). It’s from 2007 and one of perhaps a couple hundred of this model on the roster. They were a popular model not only with CTS but other transit system across Canada and even in the US. New Flyer dates back to 1930 but did enter the transit bus field until the late 1960s.

Low floor by the way means exactly that and means no steps are needed to enter the bus. This makes it easier for those of limited mobility to enter and exit whereas older models required a person to climb up. Low floor buses gained popularity starting in the early 1990s and remain the defacto standard today.

Vehicles in the original image include an early 1970s Ford Pickup and another car perhaps from the mid-’60s. Hints of Chevrolet? Our car IDing skill are hit or miss and as always we welcome input from those more in the know.

The strip mall in back dates from the late 1960s and has living quarters upstairs for the people who ran the grocery store. The name of that store is not seen in the old photo and it seemingly makes no mention in any directories of the era we have access to. Today it functions as Mega Mart, a true independent corner store and that’s a rare breed.

There’s one behind-the-scenes photo included here and it demonstrates how decidedly low-tech the process is. We do a printout and mark key points within the then photo that help us line up the scene. Now all we had to do is wait on a bus going in the right direction and ten minutes later, we had the image.

The 2014 photo shows how the scene here in North Glenmore has changed even in that short time.

If you have an old photo, yours own or in the public domain, that you’d think would be a good starting point for a Then & Now, by all means send it our way. It can show a street scene like this or even a landscape. We’ll visit the spot, document it as best we can and then post the results on this website. Fun for all!

Search suggestions: (new tab): Calgary Alberta Trolleybuses and Trolleybuses in Canada.

They’re saying…

Off the Beaten Path with Chris and Connie is a brilliant concept. Thank you for enriching our lives with so many engaging and entertaining posts. Five stars all the way. Erin Bay.

Then & Now awesomeness…
Superman 1978: Cemetery Scenes.
Bird’s Eye View Three Hills Alberta.
Downtown Bawlf Alberta.

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Date of adventure: Ca 1970s and September, 2024.
Location: North Glenmore, Calgary Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board, City of Calgary, Old Phone Books and Henderson Directories at various sources and Mega Mart for the refreshing slushie but no thanks for the dud lotto ticket.

On a corner in North Glenmore Calgary ~50 years apart.

A low tech process and waiting on a bus in the right direction.

Thanks for the slushie, but no thanks for the dud lotto ticket.

The corner in North Glenmore 2014 – note the changes since.