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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
(06-22-2017, 06:51 AM)jeffster Wrote:
(06-21-2017, 10:22 AM)BrianT Wrote: 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?

Non-expert here, but I think the obvious answer contains a fair bit of truth: it isn’t necessary. You realize the Montreal subway has regular, standard gauge steel track and wheels in addition to the rubber tires and their support tracks? The steel track and wheels steer the train, while the rubber tires support the train. But as we know from conventional rail, steel wheels are perfectly capable of supporting the train also. This is not to ignore the benefits of the rubber tire system, which I understand include a smoother and quieter ride, but it’s a lot of extra stuff to build and maintain for a relatively minor improvement.
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Tires also allow you to accelerate faster and climb steeper grades. ICTS gets around this by using a (contactless) LIM which provides thrust directly to the bogie, so the wheels are only there to support the load of the vehicle.
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And, if I recall correctly, you cannot have any exposed-to-elements sections for rubber tired systems? Which would put the whole of Toronto out, since you generally want to avoid having multiple car types for the same service which can't be interchanged.
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Yes, Montreal is relatively unique in having its metro entirely enclosed.
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Not true of all systems - Montreal made that rule themselves. Many (all) AGT systems run outdoors, do fire VAL, etc... again, let's discuss on the other thread as so to keep this one on-topic for ION LRT.
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(06-22-2017, 06:05 AM)Canard Wrote: IN FUN DRAMA NEWS:

Well, that seems a bit petty.
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(06-22-2017, 08:40 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: And, if I recall correctly, you cannot have any exposed-to-elements sections for rubber tired systems? Which would put the whole of Toronto out, since you generally want to avoid having multiple car types for the same service which can't be interchanged.

Hmmm, most bus systems seem to run fine outdoors…

Sorry, couldn’t resist.
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(06-22-2017, 10:52 AM)timc Wrote:
(06-22-2017, 06:05 AM)Canard Wrote: IN FUN DRAMA NEWS:

Well, that seems a bit petty.

I’m going to defend Canard’s comment as just a light-hearted way of referring to an interesting observation with some relevance to the Metrolinx-Bombardier situation.
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I read that as the petty was referring to Metrolinx (and not Canard's comments).

I'm pretty fine with it either way. Seems silly on the part of Metrolinx. But they have some legitimate grievances...
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Yeah, I meant that Metrolinx was being petty, not Canard.
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(06-22-2017, 10:56 AM)ijmorlan Wrote: Hmmm, most bus systems seem to run fine outdoors…

Well, Blizzak doesn't make 305/75R20's Tongue
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(06-22-2017, 11:25 AM)timc Wrote: Yeah, I meant that Metrolinx was being petty, not Canard.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I’m mostly just amused by this particular development. But at least they didn’t leave the “Bombardier” and add “ sucks!”.
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Haha, no worries.

...I started to wonder if maybe this all happened when they re-painted it and just never bothered to go back for more decals, which would be a fairly innocent thing... but actually, no - they did get another Bombardier badge for the time, since here it is in the current livery, but with the Bombardier badge proudly displayed:

[Image: maxresdefault.jpg]

...so this is definitely intentional.
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I've noticed the Metrolinx Twitter feeds are sharing promotional stuff for Alstom now...
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Mom's got a new boyfriend!!
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