Streetcar 153: A Ride Up Lonsdale Avenue

In the mid-1940s, Streetcar 153 carried passengers up Lonsdale Avenue to Windsor Road. Imagine going back in time and riding it from the bottom of Lonsdale.   

You enter through the rear door, greeted by the conductor. He’s wearing a belt with a “coin dispenser” (metal tubes for pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters).

The fare is seven cents; you give him a dime. He adds it to the dime tube, and pushes the penny-tube lever down three times. Out comes three cents’ change. Now you find a seat.   

The seats are rattan-covered, surprisingly comfortable! You settle-in and look around. Walls and ceiling are lined with cherry wood, and there’s a motorman’s cubicle and passenger entrance/exit at each end. For this trip, the motorman is in the cubicle facing up Lonsdale.

Once passengers are settled, the door closes and the streetcar starts to move. The motor hums, and the ride is smooth. Looking out the window, you see businesses and private homes in the first few blocks, then mostly homes — until mid-Lonsdale, which is mainly businesses. From here to Windsor, though, it’s all homes, farms, and/or vacant land.   

Want to get off? There’s a buzzer on each strut between windows. Pressing one notifies the conductor at the rear, who then pulls a special cord once.

This rings a bell above the motorman, and he soon stops the “car.” Departing passengers leave via the rear door. When all is clear, the conductor pulls the cord twice, signaling the motorman to start-up again. 

You get off at the Windsor terminus. There’s a little grocery store, a pharmacy, and a dry-goods store here. Look at the motorman! He’s lowering the streetcar’s “trolley pole” from the power-wire above. And then he goes to the other end and raises a second pole to the wire.

Through the windows you can see the conductor moving along the aisle, reversing the seat-backs so passengers face forward on the trip south.

Streetcar 153 is ready for the return trip. 

Sources: “The Perfect Little Streetcar System, North Vancouver, 1906-1947,” book by Henry Ewert; Betty Poole memories; 1930 Fire Insurance Map; City Directories; Henry Ewert. 

Written by staff and volunteers with the North Vancouver Museum and Archives, “The Past is Prologue” is a series of articles exploring the history and heritage of North Shore.

For more information about the history of the North Shore and to learn about the new Museum of North Vancouver opening in late-2020, visit https://nvma.ca and sign up for the museum’s e-newsletter at https://secure.campaigner.com/CSB/Public/Form.aspx?fid=1807739&ac=gb1d.