Sargent Avenue's street car track

This summer's roadworks on Sargent Avenue have uncovered the remnants of its old street car track. You can see the timbers just underneath the asphalt. Once they get to that side of the street, keep an eye out to see if the tracks are still there in places.

People began asking for street car service to extend down Sargent beyond Sherbrook Street as early as 1906 when residential development was taking off in the area.

The extended line went into service in April 1909 to Arolington Street and was later extended to Valour Road. The plaza with the soliders' monument is where the turnaround point was.

Winnipeg Electric Co. trolley bus (City of Winnipeg Archives)

In 1938, Sargent Avenue was chosen to be the experimental route for trolley bus service and the tracks were paved over. (One source says this was the first trolley bus service in Western Canada).

Trolleys used the overhead electrical wires of street cars, but had rubber wheels. This made them much quieter than the old wooden street cars that clanged along the tracks. They could also change lanes which allowed for things like on-street parking. (Above is an image of the Sargent trolley bus at a downtown stop in the 1940s.)

Trolley service came to an end in 1970 when Transit replaced them with diesel bus service.

© 2020, Christian Cassidy