ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ac3r]

Does anyone know why we didn't do any sections of the LRT with green track? Grüngleisnetzwerk in Germany has a good study on why they're a benefit to cities, from added aesthetics, reduced noise, water management to reducing heat islands. It seems like we could have covered the ugly grey ballast we have with some soil and plants, and have a much nicer looking LRT (especially in the urban areas).

[panamaniac]

Too costly to maintain?  Either that or just not unsightly enough ...

[KevinL]

Apparently they build frames and shells in Kingston, interiors and bogies in Thunder Bay, now. So this unit (whatever its final owner) is halfway done and in transit between factories.

[bgb_ca]

I saw the picture, and while I can't confirm, I don't think that was a ion car. It looked like it was grey and not blue, and I could not tell for certain due to the angle, but it looked like a single ended car that engligton uses.

According to this Twitter posting, it actually is for Waterloo:

https://twitter.com/chrisjamesdrew/statu...9138318339

I’m a bit unclear on how they know that however. Will this be The Dress of 2020?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress

Also just wondering about the single-ended comment. As far as I know, the exterior shape of the Eglinton cars is identical to ours; the difference is that instead of one of the cabs there is more passenger space.

I haven't seen one in person (and all the pics I could find are the front), so I am unsure what the back looks like, but would it look exactly the same or different? I would figure it would be a bit flatter.

That vehicle was however confirmed not to be a ion one but an engligton one being shipped to thunder bay for completion.

[ijmorlan]

I haven't seen one in person (and all the pics I could find are the front), so I am unsure what the back looks like, but would it look exactly the same or different? I would figure it would be a bit flatter.

That vehicle was however confirmed not to be a ion one but an engligton one being shipped to thunder bay for completion.

The Eglinton ones may indeed be a different shape at the back. My impression is that they were supposed to be the same shape but I too have not seen a clear photograph.

Who confirmed it is Eglinton? Just wondering because the Twitter post I found seemed pretty sure it was for Waterloo (but no cite, so I can’t evaluate its reliability).

[bgb_ca]

I haven't seen one in person (and all the pics I could find are the front), so I am unsure what the back looks like, but would it look exactly the same or different? I would figure it would be a bit flatter.

That vehicle was however confirmed not to be a ion one but an engligton one being shipped to thunder bay for completion.

The Eglinton ones may indeed be a different shape at the back. My impression is that they were supposed to be the same shape but I too have not seen a clear photograph.

Who confirmed it is Eglinton? Just wondering because the Twitter post I found seemed pretty sure it was for Waterloo (but no cite, so I can’t evaluate its reliability).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/wrlrt/pe...120874051/

[ijmorlan]

Who confirmed it is Eglinton? Just wondering because the Twitter post I found seemed pretty sure it was for Waterloo (but no cite, so I can’t evaluate its reliability).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/wrlrt/pe...120874051/

Thanks very much.

It appears the posting to which I linked is gone now. Twitter doesn’t even have the courtesy to indicate that it is gone. On a related note, I wonder why the original poster replied to his own tweet to correct it from Eglinton to Waterloo, but then (apparently) deleted the tweet to correct it back to Eglinton? Way too much stuff just disappearing, rather than being annotated with a correction.

[neonjoe]

Did anyone here buy the LRT Mockup that visited the region way back when?
https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-st...t-history/

[panamaniac]

Hope the RofW History Museum can acquire it.

[taylortbb]

Hope the RofW History Museum can acquire it.

The region was the one selling it. It was used in the Going Places exhibit, and then probably decided it was far too large to keep.

[jeffster]

Does anyone know why we didn't do any sections of the LRT with green track? Grüngleisnetzwerk in Germany has a good study on why they're a benefit to cities, from added aesthetics, reduced noise, water management to reducing heat islands. It seems like we could have covered the ugly grey ballast we have with some soil and plants, and have a much nicer looking LRT (especially in the urban areas).

I like the look, and wondered that myself. My only guess that winter maintenance may have cause too much harm? I mean, at least to ION officials. Linz has about 61 cm of snow per year. So it's not like it's snow free. But perhaps their warmer winter climate may make snow removal easier.

[ijmorlan]

Hope the RofW History Museum can acquire it.

The region was the one selling it. It was used in the Going Places exhibit, and then probably decided it was far too large to keep.

That seems shortsighted. Anyway, the mockup could be itself used to store related small items when it’s not on display; and when it’s on display, those items would presumably also be on display.

[ijmorlan]

Apparently it’s been exposed to the elements, including water damage, and the photo in the newspaper article seems to show it just sitting outside. Nobody at the Region ever heard of a tarp?

[jeffster]

Apparently it’s been exposed to the elements, including water damage, and the photo in the newspaper article seems to show it just sitting outside. Nobody at the Region ever heard of a tarp?

The region is going to wait a few years, then when the mock-up is wanted, the region can buy it back from the private owner for 20x what they sold it for. Mark my words.

[ijmorlan]

Does anyone know why we didn't do any sections of the LRT with green track? Grüngleisnetzwerk in Germany has a good study on why they're a benefit to cities, from added aesthetics, reduced noise, water management to reducing heat islands. It seems like we could have covered the ugly grey ballast we have with some soil and plants, and have a much nicer looking LRT (especially in the urban areas).

I like the look, and wondered that myself. My only guess that winter maintenance may have cause too much harm? I mean, at least to ION officials. Linz has about 61 cm of snow per year. So it's not like it's snow free. But perhaps their warmer winter climate may make snow removal easier.

Snow removal is not normally required on railways except for exceptionally snowy areas or areas with extensive drifting or avalanches. I’m pretty sure the local freight railways around here are never plowed. Embedded track is different; I’m not entirely clear how different. Up to a point it should still be possible for the LRVs to push aside snow, but if the flangeway ices up you can get derailments and it’s possible deep snow would be a problem. But unless emergency vehicles (or other traffic, but that doesn’t apply to our system outside of intersections) really are using the track area embedding isn’t required anyhow so who knows.