Rollsign Gallery - Kingston, Ontario

Rollsigns from Kingston, ON
P A G E 1 o f 2

Transit in Kingston and area began with the Kingston Street Railway Company on May 9, 1877. With name
changes in 1893 and 1895 it operated until March 4, 1930, when a serious carbarn fire resulted in the
discontinuing of streetcar service, and the suspension of transit service for several months. A temporary
reorganization was undertaken to compensate for the lack of regular service. Later on in 1930, the Kingston
City Coach Company, operated by Colonial Coach Lines, was created to reinstate service. It ran until July of
1962 when the now Kingston Area Transit took over, continuing to this day.

Kingston City Transit's sister system, Kingston Township Transit operated "regional" services to Kingston
Township, Ernestown Township and Pittsburgh Township. It merged with city services late in 1999.

This rather rare linen side route
sign was retrieved off 1976
GMC T6H-4523N #7655. It's
print date is August 8, 1962. It
has 21 exposures. The sign
predates the bus it was on by
14 years! A YouTube video of
this sign can be viewed below.

This mylar front route name sign is off
1975 GMC T6H-4523N #7550. It has no
print date, and has 21 exposures. For
some reason, the "Division" and
"Kingscourt" exposures were blacked
out, then re-added later.

This mylar side route name
sign is off 1975 GMC
T6H-4523N #7552. Its print
date is November 4, 1975,
making this one of, if not, the
first side sign to be on this bus.
It has 19 exposures

This mylar side route sign is off
1976 GMC T6H-4523N #7656.
It is dated August 10, 1983, and
has 24 exposures.
"Bayridge" and "Collins Bay"
were later add-ons.
Its sign tag is shown, below.

This mylar front route name sign is off
1975 GMC T6H-4523N #7552. Its print date
is March 8, 1977, and has 25 exposures.
Again, the "Division" and "Kingscourt"
exposures were blacked out, then
re-added later. The hand-drawn
"#/17" exposure is a nice touch too!

This mylar front route sign is off 1975
GMC T6H-4523N #7554. It is dated
October 29, 1984, and has 26
exposures.
Its sign tag is shown below.

This mylar front route sign is off 1975 GMC
T6H-4523N #7549. It is dated September 25,
1985, and has 27 exposures. Its sign tag is
shown below. - Introduction of names with
route numbers was random: Routes 1, 1A, 5
and 6 were later add-ons, using sticky vinyl.

Scrapped Kingston Transit GMC #7549 (left) and #7655 are stored at
McAdoo's salvage yard, 1338 McAdoo Rd, in northern Kingston, Ontario,
December 15, 1997. Bus #7655 was the vehicle the side linen was
recovered from (the sign in the YouTube video), while #7549 was the
host vehicle for the far left rollsign on this page.

Kingston Transit GMC
#7549 while it was still
in service, is seen at
the Kingston Transit
Yard, June 29, 1995. At
this time, bus #7549
was the oldest in the
fleet. It was the host
vehicle for the last sign
on this page (above
right), and can be seen
in the bus in this
photograph.