ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[trainspotter139]

sounds like they are putting things away for today due to the thunderstorm

[embe]

...the absolutely massive crossing arm went completely nuts when it went up. It looks to me like it made the “up” switch, so the motor turned off. But, because the arm is so long, it bounced, and forced the pivot back off the switch. So, the motor pulsed “up” again, amplifying the whip... and it got worse and worse until I heard gears stripping. Then it faulted out, with the lights stuck on.

Tell me you got this on video, sounds hilarious! (and potentially very dangerous, folks...good thing it was caught during testing)

[Canard]

I was back by later and saw they got it fixed when the 2nd last train went through for the day.  A crew was tweaking and monitoring it, probably adjusting that limit switch.

It definitely was hilarious! Sorry, no video.

   

[ijmorlan]

It was fast, but keep in mind there’s probably +\- 2 or 3 minutes to my posts relative to the event occurring, ijmorlan. It would not be a direct correlation that could be used for accurate timing. They are moving between UWaterloo and Willis Way only.

OK, that makes sense. I really shouldn’t be trying to take exact timing from message posting times. I’m just really interested in how it moves along the line

I saw them go through at Seagram; the absolutely massive crossing arm went completely nuts when it went up. It looks to me like it made the “up” switch, so the motor turned off. But, because the arm is so long, it bounced, and forced the pivot back off the switch. So, the motor pulsed “up” again, amplifying the whip... and it got worse and worse until I heard gears stripping. Then it faulted out, with the lights stuck on.

How stuff like this wasn’t found months ago is beyond me... if I was installing that stuff it’d be the first thing I’d check once I got power on it.

Positive feedback can be trouble…agreed, it’s crazy that basic stuff like this is still a problem. Nothing to do with Bombardier, except indirectly in that Grandlinq would have had more incentive to get it together if they weren’t going to be able to hide their lateness behind LRV delivery problems. But at this point I think Grandlinq is pretty close to becoming the critical path, maybe they already are.

[Canard]

No, it has zero to do with Bombardier whatsoever. As soon as they had volts to those arms they should have had someone cycle them up and down, and set all the limit switches.

I'm glad it was a minor adjustment, but still annoying they wasted half a day (they stopped testing for about 2 and a half hours to fix it) likely because of it.

At one point today, they did have to E-Stop near the University. I heard "STOP STOP STOP!!!!" about 30 seconds after they left UWaterloo heading southbound, followed by a "call me" (ie, offline conversation). Later in the day, there was a cop parked in the median at the University Ave crossing, watching people like a hawk. My guess: someone wasn't paying attention (headphones, staring at phone, etc.) and walked right in front of a train.

[trainspotter139]

No, it has zero to do with Bombardier whatsoever.  As soon as they had volts to those arms they should have had someone cycle them up and down, and set all the limit switches.

I'm glad it was a minor adjustment, but still annoying they wasted half a day (they stopped testing for about 2 and a half hours to fix it) likely because of it.

At one point today, they did have to E-Stop near the University.  I heard "STOP STOP STOP!!!!" about 30 seconds after they left UWaterloo heading southbound, followed by a "call me" (ie, offline conversation).  Later in the day, there was a cop parked in the median at the University Ave crossing, watching people like a hawk.  My guess:  someone wasn't paying attention (headphones, staring at phone, etc.) and walked right in front of a train.

From what I could tell, the big arm at Seagram was being bombarded by the wind and being pushed into the crossing, right into the path of the LRV. The "STOP STOP STOP" was between University and Seagram. RailTerm had to make some adjustments (again) to the arm to get it to stay somewhat straight

[jeffster]

No, it has zero to do with Bombardier whatsoever.  As soon as they had volts to those arms they should have had someone cycle them up and down, and set all the limit switches.

I'm glad it was a minor adjustment, but still annoying they wasted half a day (they stopped testing for about 2 and a half hours to fix it) likely because of it.

At one point today, they did have to E-Stop near the University.  I heard "STOP STOP STOP!!!!" about 30 seconds after they left UWaterloo heading southbound, followed by a "call me" (ie, offline conversation).  Later in the day, there was a cop parked in the median at the University Ave crossing, watching people like a hawk.  My guess:  someone wasn't paying attention (headphones, staring at phone, etc.) and walked right in front of a train.

From what I could tell, the big arm at Seagram was being bombarded by the wind and being pushed into the crossing, right into the path of the LRV. The "STOP STOP STOP" was between University and Seagram. RailTerm had to make some adjustments (again) to the arm to get it to stay somewhat straight

Bombardier was bombarded by the wind?

Crazy.

[Canard]

   

Passenger on her phone. I circled around (on my bike).

“Hi, you can’t park here.”
:: continues to stare at phone, ignoring me ::
“Hi, did you see that sign?”
:: looks up at me briefly, waves hands, points at building, goes back to phone. ::
“YOU CANNOT PARK HERE. THESE ARE TRACKS THAT TRAINS GO ON.”
:: while staring at phone, waves her hand at me, shooing me away. ::

[bgb_ca]

And they will keep doing this as long as there is no proper enforcement because they know they can get away with it. They should be a priority for ticketing/towing even if there are no trains running at the moment. But the cities/region won't do that.

[jeffster]

Passenger on her phone. I circled around (on my bike).

“Hi, you can’t park here.”
:: continues to stare at phone, ignoring me ::
“Hi, did you see that sign?”
:: looks up at me briefly, waves hands, points at building, goes back to phone. ::
“YOU CANNOT PARK HERE. THESE ARE TRACKS THAT TRAINS GO ON.”
:: while staring at phone, waves her hand at me, shooing me away. ::

BMW=Entitlement.

Looking forward to the day that these vehicles are tagged and towed.

[jamincan]

Preferably while the driver is busy shooing them away while on the phone.

[Canard]

Would pay.

No damage at Block Line to the crossing arms that we could see driving by today - which arm was it that you thought was broken off?

[trainspotter139]

Would pay.

No damage at Block Line to the crossing arms that we could see driving by today - which arm was it that you thought was broken off?

They could have fixed it last night too. I'm sure RailTerm went up and down the line for an OCS inspection after the storm and found it if it was broken.

[Canard]

I'm just trying to picture this - how could it "swing" if it's supported at the base?

[KevinT]

Caught some signal timing runs today at the Old Albert crossing: