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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
(01-18-2018, 10:42 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: The desire line for the path to parallel the tracks here is strong:

I’ll take some of the credit for that. When there was lots of snow a few weeks ago I made a point of establishing that path, not just walking through but stomping the snow down somewhat. I’m pleased to see that many others have now taken the same path. I think it’s safe to say that grass will never grow there. Anybody want to take wagers on when the Region will re-pave it the way it should have been from the start?

Incidentally there is another path through the garden parallel to the tracks on the other side where there also should have been an official path. I’ll be interested to see what that looks like in summer — there is no grass anyway, just mulch.
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(01-18-2018, 11:00 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(01-18-2018, 10:42 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: The desire line for the path to parallel the tracks here is strong:

I’ll take some of the credit for that. When there was lots of snow a few weeks ago I made a point of establishing that path, not just walking through but stomping the snow down somewhat. I’m pleased to see that many others have now taken the same path. I think it’s safe to say that grass will never grow there. Anybody want to take wagers on when the Region will re-pave it the way it should have been from the start?

Incidentally there is another path through the garden parallel to the tracks on the other side where there also should have been an official path. I’ll be interested to see what that looks like in summer — there is no grass anyway, just mulch.

Lol....that's a good one.

It took till the second time I went to school, and 30 years after construction of the Davis Center (and the students paying for part of it) for the university to pave the mud path through the courtyard between the DC and the MC at UW.  Maybe the region will do better.
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A shame all that beautiful new landscaping is now destroyed...
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(01-18-2018, 11:30 PM)Canard Wrote: A shame all that beautiful new landscaping is now destroyed...

Nothing has been destroyed except for some grass that is growing where pavement should be. It would be a bigger shame if people just accepted whatever bad decisions were made. The fact that both paths are now obviously well-travelled proves that it’s not just me: the problem really is with the plan, not with one guy who has it in for grass in certain locations.
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(01-18-2018, 10:42 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: They were installing some wooden boxes at the bottom of two of the catenary poles at Caroline/Erb today. They were wrapping them in tarps. One of them had a big blue extension cord sticking out. Any ideas what for?

I presume they've poured some kind of concrete shell around the base, probably to make the giant bolts that hold down these poles less of a hazard (see Street View for a 'before' look).
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(01-18-2018, 11:41 PM)KevinL Wrote:
(01-18-2018, 10:42 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: They were installing some wooden boxes at the bottom of two of the catenary poles at Caroline/Erb today. They were wrapping them in tarps. One of them had a big blue extension cord sticking out. Any ideas what for?

I presume they've poured some kind of concrete shell around the base, probably to make the giant bolts that hold down these poles less of a hazard (see Street View for a 'before' look).

Interesting, I guess they assume they will never need to unbolt them.  Makes me wonder why they use bolts in the first place...
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Standard practice. It’s called grouting. They set the anchor bolts in the concrete, and set the pole flange over the bolts, using nuts on both sides to adjust the height and angle precisely. Once they’re happy with it they fill in the base with concrete.

Virtually every steel roller coaster is built this way.
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Well I saw the one closest to the road before it got boxed up and nothing had been poured yet; but they were probably just preparing the cover for when the concrete did arrive.

Thanks!
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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Warming tents (“hoarding”) is up now at Conestoga near (but not around) the Fastrax switch heaters of the crossover.

The hoarding tents have also grown at Borden and Charles - now a full half-tube 2 or 3 m high, encompassing the entire curve.

A couple of guys were in the yard at the OMSF picking away at one of the switches.

A shame - today was supposed to be pretty exciting so I’m sad it’s been postponed. Hopefully more activity out on the line next week.
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More new signage in uptown. Interestingly installed by regional trucks/workers not GrandLinq/Keolis.
   

They installed quite a few across uptown today.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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They’re all over the entire line - that was fast!! I was giving my folks a tour of the line yesterday afternoon and noticed them everywhere.
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(01-19-2018, 10:17 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: More new signage in uptown. Interestingly installed by regional trucks/workers not GrandLinq/Keolis.


They installed quite a few across uptown today.

These new ones are for pedestrians i think. the larger ones are for drivers.
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I talked to one of the construction workers at Borden and Charles today while biking by.
  • The rails are out of position in the curve by a few millimetres.
  • The massive half-tube tent over top of the curve is so they can keep working on it in the winter.
  • There is about 150 mm of concrete absent on both sides of the outboard rail.
  • didn’t ask him about timeline, but he did confirm it has delayed testing, and they’re reworking their plans (lots of paperwork) and focusing their efforts now on the Northern part of the line (watch for LRV testing on Northfield to Conestoga next week).

(Not sharing this on Facebook or twitter.)
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(01-20-2018, 05:43 PM)Canard Wrote: I talked to one of the construction workers at Borden and Charles today while biking by.
  • The rails are out of position in the curve by a few millimetres.
  • The massive half-tube tent over top of the curve is so they can keep working on it in the winter.
  • There is about 150 mm of concrete absent on both sides of the outboard rail.
  • didn’t ask him about timeline, but he did confirm it has delayed testing, and they’re reworking their plans (lots of paperwork) and focusing their efforts now on the Northern part of the line (watch for LRV testing on Northfield to Conestoga next week).

(Not sharing this on Facebook or twitter.)

That would explain the gauge checking on the other curves.

It is a good thing that they found this no matter when it was found. a curve that is out by a few millimetres would cause too much wear on the bogies, make a lot of squealing noise or cause a train to derail.
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(01-20-2018, 06:23 PM)trainspotter139 Wrote:
(01-20-2018, 05:43 PM)Canard Wrote: I talked to one of the construction workers at Borden and Charles today while biking by.
  • The rails are out of position in the curve by a few millimetres.
  • The massive half-tube tent over top of the curve is so they can keep working on it in the winter.
  • There is about 150 mm of concrete absent on both sides of the outboard rail.
  • didn’t ask him about timeline, but he did confirm it has delayed testing, and they’re reworking their plans (lots of paperwork) and focusing their efforts now on the Northern part of the line (watch for LRV testing on Northfield to Conestoga next week).

(Not sharing this on Facebook or twitter.)

That would explain the gauge checking on the other curves.

It is a good thing that they found this no matter when it was found. a curve that is out by a few millimetres would cause too much wear on the bogies, make a lot of squealing noise or cause a train to derail.

My question would be why is this finally getting detected and fixed now. Given that service was supposed to start last year, shouldn’t the tracks and other system components have been ready for LRVs in advance of the originally-planned opening day? Gauge checking should have been done at most weeks after the initial track installation and the corrections could have been made a year ago. Why the lack of urgency throughout this entire project? This part isn’t Bombardier’s fault.
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