ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Well, that's what I thought too, but it's Tuesday - so they've done it at least twice.

[Viewfromthe42]

I'm getting a little worried about the car access from Caroline to the north of WTS parking. It is one way, and a long stretch, but when getting groceries this week I noticed three separate cars blasting it to try and beat any oncoming legitimate traffic, so that they could get to Caroline, rather than go Erb-King-Willis/William to get there. Between the pedestrians and cyclists who are walking right alongside this, and the speeds at which these stunt drivers floor it, someone is very possibly going to get hurt.

[ijmorlan]

I'm getting a little worried about the car access from Caroline to the north of WTS parking. It is one way, and a long stretch, but when getting groceries this week I noticed three separate cars blasting it to try and beat any oncoming legitimate traffic, so that they could get to Caroline, rather than go Erb-King-Willis/William to get there. Between the pedestrians and cyclists who are walking right alongside this, and the speeds at which these stunt drivers floor it, someone is very possibly going to get hurt.

They would have to use Erb/Regina/William, since King and Willis are both still closed.

No excuse, just pointing out the required route is actually a bit different.

[Canard]

I'm sorry, but I can't visualize at all what or where you're describing; your route doesn't seem to match what is actually open right now. Can you clarify?

[Markster]

I got caught in the Bridgeport/Caroline trap on Monday.

It's really poorly signed, approaching from Albert street. I don't know about from King.

You're stuck before you even see the traffic jam

[Canard]

But the Erb/Caroline closure has been advertised for like a month...

I have a problem with the fencing between Waterloo Town Square (North Face/Valumart Entrance) and the tracks. The fencing had been adjusted so it's only a metre or two wide path for pedestrians and cyclists, and with two bike racks there it was almost impossible for me to ride through there last night. They either need to move the fence, or the racks, or close the racks temporarily.

[schooner77]

They have track down, going through the intersection of Caroline and Allen.

[Markster]

But the Erb/Caroline closure has been advertised for like a month...

There is a large difference between "Knowing a closure is coming" and "Knowing it is closed".

I'm very active in these things, and I didn't know it was closed (for real, not "scheduled to be closed but actually in a few days") on Monday. There was no signage as I approached from Albert St.

[KevinL]

With our discussion of the Schneider Creek bridge earlier, I took the liberty of scouting out that area yesterday, starting at the end of Overland.

The work area looking south. I believe the fenced-off area is due to host a TPSS.


The LRT tunnel under the parkway.


Freight tunnel. The tracks still run straight on towards Ottawa; eventually they will get shifted west, but not yet.


Both tunnels in profile. 

[KevinL]

As you can see, there's no actual shot of the Schneider Creek bridge here. I don't have the right sort of camera for it (only had my phone), but if someone does...

I can confirm the natural space south of Overland is accessible by foot, if somewhat boggy and muddy, and will take you to a decent vantage point. I have no idea who owns the property and whether actually setting foot there counts as trespass. That I leave up to the individual's discretion.

I did get a bit of a look at the Hayward/Courtland area, though, which is very busy just now.

Lots going on on Hayward:


And up Courtland, you can see the catpole bases are in:

[Canard]

I'm very active in these things

I know you are, which is what baffled me about how you would get stuck in the closure

Moving on, I discovered the answer to something that had been bothering me about the design of the catenary for some time. The catenary is divided up into sections, about a kilometre or two long. At each end (not one end - this is important), there is a counterweight tensioner which uses a pulley arrangement to dramatically increase the tension on the line (small weight = big force).

That's all fine and dandy and works great, except that with two floating ends, nothing is defining where the whole catenary string wants to be in the direction of travel of the train - ie, parallel to the rails. You could grab any point on the whole stack and pull it one way or another, and all of the outrigger arms that support the catenary are on hinges so they'll pivot to wherever.

What I found last night, pleasantly: Exactly halfway between the counterweights, there's a "<>" arrangement of steel ropes that define the angular location (position) of those outrigging arms - providing an anchor point. So from this centre anchor, the tensioner at one end is responsible for tensioning that half of the catenary stack, and the tensioner at the other end is responsible for that end.

Something I should have figured out long ago, but it was just one of those "...oh!" moments while looking at it last night that made me smile.

[kps]

I can confirm the natural space south of Overland is accessible by foot, if somewhat boggy and muddy, and will take you to a decent vantage point. I have no idea who owns the property and whether actually setting foot there counts as trespass. That I leave up to the individual's discretion.

According to our friend Mr Gis, it's parkland, part of the Peter Hallmann Ballyard.

[megabytephreak]

They have track down, going through the intersection of Caroline and Allen.

I took a photo after work today. Just getting started. No rebar mats or anything yet.

   

Also, I was suprised to notice that in this section they have the catpoles installed even before the track is in.
There also seems to be a lot more room on the far side of the tracks that I was expecting. It looks like they could have made the street part at least a meter wider here.
I've definitely freaked a passenger out driving down it recently where it almost looked like it should have been a one way street.
   

[Waterlooer]

I believe there will be a 3 meter wide multi-use trail to the other side of the tracks which is why there's so much room. But yeah, the car lanes are very narrow here.

[schooner77]

Yes, Caroline really narrows down at the intersection, with the wide sweep of the track, as it transitions to Allen.