The last whistle
Q It’s a sound that anybody who uses transit in this city knows. “Thank God, we’re finally leaving,” as you squeeze in between other commuters during the morning rush, or “No! I’m missing my train!” as you run, try not to spill your coffee and face the fact that you’re late for work. It’s the TTC subway door chime. We all know it, but where did that sound come from? Jesse Mirsky speaks to the guy who knows.
A From the time the Toronto subway opened in 1954, the train’s driver blew an oldfashioned whistle to tell passengers the doors were closing. That’s how it was for almost 40 years. The driver would look down the platform in both directions, blow the whistle, shut the doors and depart the station. It worked well, for a while. But sometimes the whistle, blown from only one side of the platform, was inaudible. People were being caught in the closing doors. According to former deputy general manager Lynn Hilborn, a passenger was once killed after being dragged along the platform by a departing train. The passenger’s backpack had become caught in a closing door.
So in the early 1990s, the TTC decided to make a change. First it had to figure out how to retrofit all of the subways with an enunciator and speakers that could sound in every car. Engineers at the TTC got to work. Once they had creat- ed a mockup of the new doors, general manager Al Leach and Mr. Hilborn went to see the design.
''We walked into the room where they had this [subway door] and to great fanfare they proceeded to open the door and this sound went off. It sounded like a klaxon,” said Mr. Hilborn, with a laugh. ''You jumped out of your socks when you heard it.” Acknowledging that it would become the most recognizable sound in Toronto for decades to come, Mr. Hilborn made a suggestion.
''I said, ‘Great, you’ve got it working ... it’s just the noise — it doesn’t work,’ ” he said. ''‘I’m thinking something more like the Avon Lady.’”
Mr. Hilborn was referring to the classic Avon Cosmetics commercial where a doorbell rings and a voice says ''Avon calling.”
The engineers found a similar sound module to the advertisement’s chime and the TTC bosses gave their approval.
Mr. Hilborn’s story effectively quells the myth that the inspiration behind the chime was the start of the Sesame
Street theme song. ''When you think about it, in hindsight, yea, it’s the same three notes,” he said. ''But, probably, Sesame Street took that from the Avon Lady! That’s how popular the Avon Lady was.”
In 1991, six H4 subway cars were modified to use the chime, and by 1995, all trains had been converted.
As for that old, ineffective whistle, it was blown for the last time at 11:09 a.m. on February 21, 1995, as it departed Kennedy Station. The whistle was given to Mr. Hilborn, but he left it behind when he retired from his post.
The TTC had it bronzed and put on display at its Yonge Street and Davisville headquarters, just outside Mr. Hilborn’s old office.
The last TTC subway whistle.