ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[jeffster]

And here we go...

https://www.facebook.com/ctvkitchener/po...8282039793

Should have gone for the monorail ... Detroit did..and look at them now.

[jeffster]

I CANT HANDLE THIS

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's like an ANGRY DEATH LRV and it's going to melt your face off ? <a href="https://t.co/zIqf2m50lc">pic.twitter.com/zIqf2m50lc</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/877323524561543168">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

Won't someone ever think about the kids? OUR KIDS! Or any kid.

Except for Bob at the hardware store, he has no kids.

[ijmorlan]

And here we go...

https://www.facebook.com/ctvkitchener/po...8282039793

Should have gone for the monorail ... Detroit did..and look at them now.

I don’t believe Detroit has a monorail. Although, strangely, I found at least one article which referred to their People Mover as a monorail:

https://gizmodo.com/i-spent-a-day-on-the...1723996796

[jamincan]

I suppose you could consider it a dual-monorail system where the vehicles travel on two parallel monorails?

[Canard]

LOL!

Detroit has the the third UTDC ICTS Mk. 1 installation, after the Scarborough RT and Vancouver Skytrain. It's as much of a monorail as the Toronto Zoo AGT was. The LIM reaction plate probably confuses people.

Lovely morning:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Harsco Mk. IV track tampers keep our rails aligned with millimetre precision. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/futureIONrider?src=hash">#futureIONrider</a> <a href="https://t.co/YU0XotRPMM">pic.twitter.com/YU0XotRPMM</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/877475302674485249">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

[ijmorlan]

LOL!

Detroit has the the third UTDC ICTS Mk. 1 installation, after the Scarborough RT and Vancouver Skytrain.  It's as much of a monorail as the Toronto Zoo AGT was.  The LIM reaction plate probably confuses people.

Lovely morning:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Harsco Mk. IV track tampers keep our rails aligned with millimetre precision. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/futureIONrider?src=hash">#futureIONrider</a> <a href="https://t.co/YU0XotRPMM">pic.twitter.com/YU0XotRPMM</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/877475302674485249">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

Beautiful photograph. I love photos that make “industrial” things like railroad work cars look artistic.

Your comment about the Toronto Zoo system dredges up a memory for me. It’s vague, so I’m not certain, but I have a recollection of thinking of it as being a monorail when I visited the Zoo in the early 80s. Actually, on thinking about it, I would argue it’s closer to being a monorail than ICTS is — there is a single long structure that supports the train, rather than one on each side as in conventional rail. The main difference is that the train sits in the track rather than around it. Also, the support structure doesn’t have the thin profile I normally associate with monorail. However, I’m happy to be corrected if monorail has a more specific accepted definition.

[danbrotherston]

Walked past the "bricked" crosswalk today. Appears to be an embossed asphalt material covered with some granular (plastic?) coloring. I saw this used at John Street and Allen Street but not further up nearer uptown at William, not sure why they use this further south but not near uptown. William had standard ladder crosswalk marked.

[urbd]

Walked past the "bricked" crosswalk today. Appears to be an embossed asphalt material covered with some granular (plastic?) coloring. I saw this used at John Street and Allen Street but not further up nearer uptown at William, not sure why they use this further south but not near uptown. William had standard ladder crosswalk marked.

That bricked crosswalk looks so good! they should've used it throughout Uptown and Downtown (at the very least!).

[timc]

It's good to know that it's not actually brick. I think we learned that lesson already.

[Viewfromthe42]

The southern crossing of King at Francis is a good demonstration of why trusting Grandlinq to do brick work is a bad, bad idea.

[danbrotherston]

Are there details on this? I haven't heard of it.

As for brick vs. embossed asphalt. I'm not sold yet. I've seen embossed asphalt look really ugly rather fast, as well, who knows how well that surface will wear. But I guess time will tell.

[trainspotter139]

Minor nitpick (since I'm seeing it more and more, including on the media articles):

LRT = Light Rail Transit, or Light Rapid Transit: The System
LRV = Light Rail Vehicle: The thing that goes on the tracks (trains)

I'm just so baffled that Berlin and Dandenong (Melbourne) can crank out LRV's left and right, and we just can't seem to do it here at all.

Canadian content requirements set by Metrolinx unfortunately. If they didn't exist we would have all 14 in testing by now.

[Markster]

The southern crossing of King at Francis is a good demonstration of why trusting Grandlinq to do brick work is a bad, bad idea.

If you want to get the feeling of riding over a cobblestone street, just roll over that crosswalk. None of the bricks are level. They are all at jaunty angles.

[Canard]

Your comment about the Toronto Zoo system dredges up a memory for me. It’s vague, so I’m not certain, but I have a recollection of thinking of it as being a monorail when I visited the Zoo in the early 80s. Actually, on thinking about it, I would argue it’s closer to being a monorail than ICTS is — there is a single long structure that supports the train, rather than one on each side as in conventional rail. The main difference is that the train sits in the track rather than around it. Also, the support structure doesn’t have the thin profile I normally associate with monorail. However, I’m happy to be corrected if monorail has a more specific accepted definition.

Probably better to continue this in our other transit thread, but briefly, it's an AGT system - Automated Guideway Transit.  Rubber-tired "people mover" if you will.  Designed and built by Bendix-Dashveyor, it was one of four systems that found homes for trial markets after the Transpo72 expo.

• Bendix-Dashveyor sold their system to the Toronto Zoo
  
• Boeing sold their system to Morgantown (Morgantown PRT)
  
• Vought sold their system to DFW Airport (Airtrans)
  
• ...not enough coffee to remember the fourth right now, I'm thinking it was Rohr or OTIS
  

...anyway, I love AGT systems and am happy to discuss them over here till my fingers cramp  When I went to Japan I actually designed my trip route around riding as many of them as I could (they're as common there as LRT systems are in the US).

IN FUN DRAMA NEWS:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">...here's what it used to look like. <a href="https://t.co/pYdeH2IBvA">pic.twitter.com/pYdeH2IBvA</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/877828568545239040">June 22, 2017</a></blockquote>

...I can't believe it (well, actually I can).

[jeffster]

I suppose you could consider it a dual-monorail system where the vehicles travel on two parallel monorails?

It was more like a mini-Montreal subway on rubber tires and guided on the guideway by side tires that ran along the lip of the guideway.
http://transit.toronto.on.ca/spare/0022.shtml

Oh the memories I have coming back as a child! Absolutely loved that monorail!

Question, though, someone here mentioned the subway in Montreal, on tires. Why isn't this done more often?