Calgary fishbowl tribute:

 

            Attending the Calgary fishbowl farewell charter in 2013 was most likely the last time I would ever ride a fishbowl in service in Calgary. I have assembled a collection of pictures of Calgary’s fishbowls taken between August 2002 and September 2013.

 

            I shall start with the fishbowl I often went out hunting for between 2002 and 2003: #1122. I went after 1122 because 1122 was the number of my all time favorite GO fishbowl so when I saw a fishbowl in Calgary numbered 1122, I knew right away I had to get some pictures of it even though it was just like the other fishbowls in the series and not related to GO Transit 1122.

 

 

            When I finally found 1122 for the first time and photographed it, the man driving asked me why I was taking photos. When I told him the story of GO 1122 back in the Toronto area and that I was a transit fan, he asked if I wanted to take a tour of the Spring Gardens bus garage (where 1122 was running out of). I couldn’t resist. When we arrived, I photographed the driver with 1122. If my memory is correct, the driver’s name was Maru or something like that. Unfortunately, many of the photos of 1122 didn’t turn out, so I had to go looking for 1122 again. I was unable to ride it until the day before I flew home for Christmas. I would see Maru one or two more times since then.

 

 

As you can see, this photo didn’t turn out the greatest, but if you can identify the driver, I’d be thankful.

 

            Some other photographs I took on the garage tour did turn out. They were of retired buses; mostly fishbowls, but there was an accident damaged D40LF there. I didn’t think to ask for a rollsign from a retired unit; too bad.

 

 

 

            Like with TTC’s older fishbowls, when I was living in Calgary between 2002 and 2003, the oldest fishbowls had mylar rollsigns instead of electronic. Here’s #759 with a mylar rollsign.

 

 

            I later caught #759 running on Calgary Transit route 4. When the bus was waiting to turn left across the C-Train line, the gate came down on top of the bus! However, the line was parallel to the road, so #759 wasn’t hit and when the gate went up, the bus left.

 

 

            During my time in Calgary, I kept wondering what the oldest fishbowl was in service. Whenever I saw a fishbowl with a lower fleet number than what I had previously assumed was the oldest, I said to myself “How low do you go, Calgary fishbowls?” It turned out the oldest was #694 which I photographed at Spring Garden bus garage. I never rode 694 in service though.

 

 

            The oldest fishbowl I did ride was #716.

 

 

            While I photographed many fishbowls in the two-tone blue livery, I also photographed a number in the newer livery. Here’s fishbowl #1123 at Whitehorn C-Train station back when the C-Train ended at Whitehorn.

 

 

            This photograph shows the back ends of various original Calgary fishbowls in both liveries.

 

 

            When I came to Calgary in 2002, only the fishbowls were in the two tone blue livery as all not fishbowls had been retired by then. I dubbed those fishbowls “Blue bowls”. So here are various examples of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            After I graduated from SAIT and left Calgary, many two tone blue fishbowls were retired including 1122. When my friend Mark and I visited Calgary in 2007, we were lucky to ride #967 which was one of the few remaining fishbowls in the two tone blue livery.

 

 

            After my Western Canada trip, more two tone blue fishbowls had been retired until only one remained: #1046. I may have seen 1046 when I was at SAIT, but then, it was just another two tone blue fishbowl.

 

 

            These photos show the interior of fishbowl #1046. All of Calgary’s original fishbowls had this style of interior; even the ones repainted into the newer livery.

 

 

 

            In 2002-2003, Calgary Transit was running three fishbowls they had bought used from St. Albert Transit. They were numbered 1017 to 1019. I rode 1018 and 1019. As you can see, they were painted in a different livery. The ex St. Albert fishbowls also had mylar destination signs even though they were numbered above fishbowls with electronic signs. As a matter of fact #1019 was the last fishbowl running in Calgary with a mylar sign!

 

 

 

 

            The ex St. Albert fishbowls had the most comfortable seats in Calgary’s fleet. The driver called them the “luxury models”! Here’s the interior of 1019.

 

 

 

            Here’s 1122 on the last day I got to ride it in April of 2003. On that day, I had gone to my favorite place to fan from planning to ride either 1122, a rollsign bus, (original Calgary or an ex St. Albert), or Maru if I saw him again. It turns out 1122 was the first to come. I photographed and rode it on a “U” shaped ride that ended a block away from where I started.

 

 

 

            After I got off 1122, I still had plenty of time to fan. I decided to return to where I boarded 1122 from to see if either Maru, or a rollsign bus would come. The winner was fishbowl #811 which I photographed before I got on.

 

 

            This photo shows an overhead photo of #1125 which is in the newer livery.

 

 

            Here are two more shots of fishbowls in the newer Calgary Transit livery. I took them on my Western Canada trip and when I came to Calgary for the farewell charter.

 

 

 

            Our charter bus was #1156, one of the younger fishbowls in the fleet.

 

 

            The charter visited Spring Garden bus garage; (the second time I’ve been in there!) Like the first time, I photographed some retired fishbowls.

 

 

 

            This ends my tribute. Click to go back to the charter report:       Calgary fishbowl charter report