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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
From the Functional Design Plans, you can see the four transition points identified as follows:

TS = Tangent to Spiral.  This is when the track moves from being straight, into the spiral (decreasing radius curve).
SC = Spiral to Curve.  This is the transition point between the variable-radius spiral, to the constant-radius curve section.
CS = Curve to Spiral.  Opposite of above.
ST = Spiral to Tangent.  Opposite of above.

(When the system was being built I kept seeing these marks on the pre-rolled curved sections when they were delivered, so I dug a little deeper. Smile )

Without using a transition spiral, there is a hard jerk.  The analogy would be driving a car at some fixed speed and then suddenly jerking the wheel by turning it instantly say 90 degrees one way or another.  Once you're in the curve, holding the wheel... it's smooth because it's a fixed lateral acceleration that you are feeling.  But the rate of CHANGE was instantaneous - you jerking the wheel.  That's like going from straight to a fixed radius curve.

Spiral curves are the automotive equivalent of gently turning the wheel. The lateral acceleration (force) is applied gradually, so it feels smooth.

Steel roller coaster engineering took a good 2 decades to figure this out. All original Arrow Dynamics steel coasters had horrible, fixed-radius curves which result in slamming and banging and a very jerky ride. While the trains themselves would ride smoothly on the rails, any time the track went from straight to curved, you'd slam your head against the restraints. Probably the most violent example of this still around today is the Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point - the return run back to the station is just brutal. I laugh every time I see it.
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Incidentally, jerk is the actual term used for the measured change in acceleration over time.
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(12-28-2018, 02:48 PM)jamincan Wrote: Incidentally, jerk is the actual term used for the measured change in acceleration over time.

The second derivative of velocity!
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(12-28-2018, 02:15 PM)Canard Wrote: Steel roller coaster engineering took a good 2 decades to figure this out.  All original Arrow Dynamics steel coasters had horrible, fixed-radius curves which result in slamming and banging and a very jerky ride.  While the trains themselves would ride smoothly on the rails, any time the track went from straight to curved, you'd slam your head against the restraints.  Probably the most violent example of this still around today is the Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point - the return run back to the station is just brutal.  I laugh every time I see it.

I thought that was part of the fun! Tongue Smile
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More from the Woolwich Observer...

[Image: aJ8Xo33.png]
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Wonder if they got permission to use the logo, eh?
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I usually post these when I see them, but if anyone's curious, here is an archive of this artist's LRT comics going back to 2015. Doesn't include various anti-public transit and bike infrastructure comics. He started by drawing ION as a literal white elephant devouring money and it kind of went downhill from there.

https://imgur.com/a/D17orfS

[Image: yXKXmsD.png]
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I really wish I didn't see these. They just make me angry.
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(12-28-2018, 09:40 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: More from the Woolwich Observer...

[Image: aJ8Xo33.png]
This one isn't even remotely accurate with respect to timeline...
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(12-28-2018, 10:27 PM)Canard Wrote: Wonder if they got permission to use the logo, eh?

Fair use due to the satirical nature of editorial comics.
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502 and 510 are out for testing & training today!

Edit - 510 is heading back to the OMSF, though, because the horn stopped working (sounds like it has iced up). 514 coming out with a different team.
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Horns icing up is not the sort of problem we want to see in our climate. Hopefully a fix is in store...
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The gong failed on one of the other vehicles not too long ago, but that's got to be a software issue, since it's digital. The horn is a "car horn", which has a mechanical moving element that vibrates. I'm just guessing it was weather-related based on the chatter I heard, that they said it was "barely audible". If it wasn't working for another reason (software, wiring, etc.), it would have just stopped altogether, and been silent.

The fix, I would hope, is that the horn is removed. Smile I hate it so, so much.

10h32: 502, 513 and 514 are the LRV's which are out now.
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(12-28-2018, 11:50 PM)Canard Wrote: I really wish I didn't see these.  They just make me angry.

It would be different if it was The Record; but I still haven't figured out why The Observer continues to post these shots at the LRT. How are they involved, or any of their readers involved, in all of this?
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Woolwich is not properly involved, of course. But big city foibles are easy conversation for such areas.
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