Ottawa’s historic Streetcar 696 relocated and viewable by the public

Ottawa’s historic Streetcar 696 has found a new home in Smiths Falls. CTV’s Peter Szperling has the details.

A part of Ottawa’s streetcar history can now be visited at its new home.

Long before the LRT, and for more than a century, Ottawa’s residents hopped on streetcars to get around the city.

For more than two decades, a group of volunteers has been restoring streetcar number 696.

“I figure we must be around 150,000 person hours,” said Rheume Laplante, the project’s coordinator.

The restoration faced a bumpy ride, including the project being put into limbo. The city needed the space occupied by the streetcar at an OC Transpo garage, and eventually Laplante says the streetcar was moved to a storage facility in east Ottawa.

“Since the pandemic (it’s been) one thing or another,” Laplante said.

On Tuesday, the streetcar was relocated to the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario in Smiths Falls.

“That’s the way we would like to see it,” said Laplante. “We feel all the work, and all the sponsors, and all the volunteers that work to it, that’s our pay.”

He says that approximately $250,000 of material and donations have gone into the restoration so far.

Laplante estimates the streetcar is about 90 per cent restored.

“They did such an amazing job on the restoration,” said Tony Humphrey, president of the board for the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario. “We have been looking for a streetcar for a long time, and we heard about this one.”

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Humphrey says there is still “a little bit of love to put into it,” saying it needs some windows and seats.

Laplante says he will continue to work on the streetcar restoration, alongside volunteers from the museum.

“It will be a great success.”

According to Humphrey, the streetcar was originally manufactured in Ottawa, and having it on display at the museum gives visitors an insight of what actually ran down the streets in Ottawa years ago.

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“So exciting for us here at the museum,” said executive director Becky Allen. “What a great opportunity for us to have a little piece of Ottawa history that wasn’t on public display and accessible to the public.”

According to museum officials, the plan is to allow visitors to ride the streetcar. Humphrey says that it may be a phased approach, with the streetcar first being towed by another rail vehicle before its electric motors can move it solo.

The City of Ottawa thanked volunteers for their patience while it worked to find the streetcar a new home.

““The City of Ottawa worked with the Streetcar 696 volunteers to coordinate a relocation of the vehicle and its associated parts to the Eastern Ontario Railway Museum in Smith Falls,” said Facility Operations Director Dan Brisebois. “This collaborative effort will ensure that the streetcar can be properly stored in a facility which has the capacity and the equipment to store such a vehicle.”

While it’s not able to move yet, it is on display for visitors to see. The museum is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, and $6 for children ages 5-12.