26.03.18

Along The No. 20 Line: Rolf Knight offers a terrific dérive along the ghost line of the old no. 20 streetcar line, based on his memories as a young lad in 1949. In Vancouver most modern trolley bus routes follow former streetcar lines on account of the elevated electric cable grid. At present the no. 4 bus approximates the route of Knight's waterfront journey, at least portion east of Main St.

"We are waiting for the No.20 streetcar in the Highland district of Vancouver East on a late May morning in 1949... A half-dozen cars and trucks have gone by in the ten minutes we've been waiting at Kamloops and McGill...You lean against the telephone pole at the corner or you kick pebbles from the gravelled roadside, glancing up the track for the tenth time to see if the streetcar is coming." (p.13)

"There are only a handful of passengers on board so far because we're only four blocks from the line's eastern terminus. The No. 20 approaches the eastern wharves and runs by almost every dock on the Vancouver waterfront... There's a sharp turn onto Nanaimo..." (p.14)

"We creep down the broad brick boulevard of Eton Street and begin to switchback down the hill; four ninety-degree turns in six blocks. Streetcars aren't so good on steep grades. On frosty mornings they almost slide down the hills, braking all the way." (p.15)

Looking up Eton the pavement buckles, splits and blisters atop the layered cobbles. We take note of the width of the formerly trammed street.