We’ve recently been to the Home Show at the Stadium, but the event wasn’t very photogenic (although the Glidehouse, a modern prefab house that is exactly the kind of place we would have built on our land in Vermont, had we gone with Plan A — that’s the plan that would have kicked in if Bush and his minions had been defeated. Oh well.)
Speaking of trains (if the previous entry is still visible), on Saturday around 1 PM we did something that was far more quaint and photographable. We took a trip on the last weekend of the year that the Vancouver Historical Society runs the trolley line between Granville Island and Science World. It’s a short trip in an old (about 80 years or so) trolley car, complete with completely refurbished wood paneling, woven cane seats, and some of the original advertising in those cards above the windows (Let’s go Square Dancing on the Trolley! — Another one involved making pies that were ‘digestible’).
The whole experience was just shy of a Disneyland ride, and the car was full of tourists and parents with their children. The people who run it also get into the spirit; one of them was clearly wearing a handlebar mustache, clearly enjoying the chance to play dressup each weekend during the summer and fall. I have more pictures of our short trip to the 1920s on Flickr. It was a nice way to spend a sunny fall afternoon.
The trolley also had an interesting link to the future: In it were details of a proposal for a streetcar that would follow some of the same tracks. I would absolutely love it, but as someone pointed out, the mass transit budget (as well as the patience with all of the construction and hassles for it) was pretty much being blown by the RAV line I mentioned in my last entry. A pity, as it would be an incredibly convenient way for me to go to the east end of downtown, rather than the current way, which is a bus up Granville and then connecting with the Skytrain.
Of course, I never met a mass transit conveyance I didn’t like. Even one that is not much different than the Teacup ride.