Why doesn the TTC paint its newer subway cars, like it did with the Gloucesters?
The answer is money. The fact is that it costs the TTC a fair amount of money to maintain paint schemes and, if the TTC can eliminate this expense, they will. The better question to ask is why the TTC bothered to paint the Gloucesters, and the answer to that was because the Gloucester’s bodies were made of steel. Thus, the paint represented a necessary step to protect the Gloucester bodies from rusting. Even with the paint, the Gloucesters stored at the Halton County Railway Museum do show a little sign of rust. The bodies on the TTC’s later cars were made of aluminum, which don’t corrode as readily. So, why are the TTC’s surface vehicles painted? One answer is probably visibility and identity; customers are happier if they can see the bus or streetcar coming and the paint scheme identifies the transit agency operating the vehicle. This is less of a concern on the subway, of course, where there is no competing vehicular traffic and road conditions. Also, the surface vehicles are made p
