The Preston Car Company was a Canadian manufacturer of

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s and other railway equipment, founded in 1908. The company was located in the town of

Preston, Ontario Preston is a community in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario. Prior to 1973 it was an independent town, incorporated in 1915, but amalgamation with the town of Hespeler, Ontario, the city of Galt, Ontario ...

(now part of the city of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

). Preston sold streetcars to local transport operators including the

Grand River Railway The Grand River Railway was an interurban electric railway (known as a radial in Ontario) in what is now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Southwestern Ontario. History Background Preston and Berlin Railway Starting in the 185 ...

, the

Toronto Railway Company The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) was the operator of the streetcar system in Toronto between 1891 and 1921. It electrified the horsecar system it inherited from the Toronto Street Railway, the previous operator of streetcar service in Toronto. ...

and

Toronto Civic Railways Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) was a streetcar operator created and owned by the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to serve newly annexed areas of the city that the private operator Toronto Railway Company refused to serve. When the Toronto Railway ...

(the predecessors of today's

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...

), and the

Hamilton Street Railway The Hamilton Street Railway commonly known as the HSR is a public transport agency in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name is a legacy of the company's early period, when public transit in Hamilton was primarily served by streetc ...

. The company also sold a number of its distinctive ‘Prairie-style’ cars to operators in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

; one of these cars is being restored by the

Saskatchewan Railway Museum The Saskatchewan Railway Museum is a railway museum located west of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at the intersection of the Pike Lake Highway (Hwy 60) and the Canadian National Railway tracks (on "Hawker" siding). It is operated by the Saskatchewan R ...

. The

Edmonton Radial Railway The Edmonton Radial Railway (ERR) (also known as the Street Railway Department) was a streetcar service that operated in Edmonton, Alberta, from 1908 to 1951. It was Edmonton's first public transit service, and later evolved into Edmonton Transit ...

received 8 "Prairie" Prestons in 1909 and 1911 and 35 "Big" Prestons in 1913–14. Only a few Preston-built cars now remain, some of them in the collection of the

Halton County Radial Railway The Halton County Radial Railway is a working museum of electric streetcars, other railway vehicles, buses and trolleybuses. It is operated by the Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association (OERHA). It is focused primarily on the history of t ...

museum. The

Edmonton Radial Railway Society Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

has in its collection "Prairie" Preston car 31 and "Big" Prestons numbers 53, 65 and 73. The company was sold to Philadelphia-based

J. G. Brill Company The J.G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for almost ...

in 1921, and the Preston plant closed in 1923.

Plant

From 1908 to 1923 Preston Car plant was located at 633 Margaret Street. After the factory's closure in 1923 the site became a casting plant (later as Kanmet Limited foundry) until 1991. A fire destroyed the foundry, and the site became a vacant brownfield. Part of the old industrial site was redeveloped as Legion Park, and the remainder will become a residential development known as Preston Meadows.

Products

Birney A Birney or Birney Safety Car is a type of streetcar that was manufactured in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s. The design was small and light and was intended to be an economical means of providing frequent service at a lower infrastruc ...

Car (see

TTC Birney Cars In 1920, the Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) acquired 25 single-truck, double-ended Birney streetcars from the J. G. Brill Company. In 1921, the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) acquired all assets of the TCR including the 25 Birney cars. In ...

) * radial car for

Toronto Suburban Railway The Toronto Suburban Railway was a Canadian electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph. History Corporate Timeline The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incor ...

* DE-DT M wood cars - originally ordered by

, these wood DE ST closed electric streetcar were later re-classed as Group D and then later as TTC Class F cars; became work cars for the TTC * DE-DT steel cars - ordered by Toronto Civic, these electric streetcar were re-classed as TTC class J * Peter Witt streetcars

Preserved examples of Preston cars

Cars manufactured by the Preston Car Company are on display at the

and

, and one is in service on the

Nelson Electric Tramway The Nelson Electric Tramway is a heritage railway at Nelson in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. It is one of two operational historic tram systems in the province. Former tramway 1899: Nelson Electric Tramway Co. Ltd. inaug ...

. The

has four Prestons in its collection: one "Prairie" Preston (ex-Edmonton #31) and three "Big" Prestons (ex-Edmonton #53, 65 and 73). The ERRS will begin restoration of "Big" Preston #53 beginning in 2017.

Plant

Products

Preserved examples of Preston cars

See also

References

Further reading