G-series (Toronto subway car)

G-series
A G-Train heads south at Rosedale Station circa 1971
In service	1954–1990
Manufacturer	Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
Built at	Gloucester, England
Constructed	1953–1959
Scrapped	October 6, 1990
Number built	140 (Total) G1: 100 G2: 6 G3: 6 G4: 28
Number in service	None
Number preserved	2 (owned by private museum)
Number scrapped	136
Fleet numbers	G1: 5000-5099 G2: 5100-5105 G3: 5110-5115 G4: 5200-5227
Capacity	62 seated
Operator(s)	Toronto Transit Commission
Line(s) served	Yonge–University line, Bloor Danforth line (only on farewell trip)
Specifications
Car body construction	Steel (G1, G3, G4), Aluminum (G2)
Car length	17 m (55 ft 9 1⁄4 in)
Width	3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
Height	3.5 m (11 ft 5 3⁄4 in)
Doors	6 sets (3 sets per side) per car
Weight	38,140 kg (84,000 lb)
Traction motors	Crompton-Parkinson
Power output	68 hp (51 kW)
Auxiliaries	None (?)
Electric system(s)	600 V DC Third rail
Current collection method	Contact shoe
Braking system(s)	Westinghouse Brake and Signal Co. digital electro-pneumatic braking and Electro-dynamic reheostatic service brake
Track gauge	4 ft 10 7⁄8 in (1,495 mm)

The G-series was the first of rapid transit cars used on the Toronto subway, built 1953-59 by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company of Gloucester, England, for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) of Toronto, Canada.

As the only Toronto subway cars to be manufactured outside of Canada, its design was mainly influenced by the and of the London Underground. Since the TTC's original concept for the subway system foresaw the use of rapid transit cars derived from the President's Conference Car (PCC) design of its streetcar network, the cars were also equipped with bulls-eye incandescent lighting similar to that of a PCC, and a small operator's cabin located in the front left corner of each car. To this end, it was influenced by the cars used on the Chicago 'L', felt through the work of DeLeuw, Cather & Co. of Chicago, whom the TTC contracted as a consultant for the rapid transit project.

The G-series cars were frequently described as "robust and reliable", despite being constructed overweight and energy-inefficient. On October 6, 1990 the last G-series trains operated on the Bloor-Danforth line, being replaced by H-series trains. The only surviving cars, still mated in original condition, are fleet number 5098 and 5099, which are kept at the Halton County Radial Railway in Milton, Ontario.

Two mockup cars were delivered with slight variation from the final design:

A total of 140 cars were built. Most were steel-bodied and had painted exteriors; however, six (G-2 series) experimental aluminum-bodied cars demonstrated the benefits of using aluminum for rapid transit car construction. The G-3 class cars were built as 'non-driving-motors' in that they had motorized trucks but were not equipped with an operator's cab or driving controls and thus could only be used in the middle of the train.