ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[KevinL]

Got some broader shots, too.

Frederick (both sides):



(A barrier wall is being put together on the traffic-facing side. The only place in the system to get this.)

The Hydro work on Duke (not technically related to the project, but hey):


Kitchener City Hall - glass is starting to go in on the feature wall:

[Square]

As I had thought, the rails are in alignment but are only cut - no weld is in place.

This is true at both Frederick station and Kitchener CIty Hall, for the record.

Okay, despite looking this over when I took the pictures I'm just realizing something - I'm not sure welds are intended here. These rails appear to be bolted at these spots.

I didn't catch on at first because the rubber is wrapped around them, but if you look closer you can see bolt plates.

Here's Frederick:



And that one connection, up close:


Kitchener City Hall:

Maybe this is where those thick black ground wires connect here?

[Canard]

Very interesting!  I wonder if that's just a temporary alignment until they can weld it - although that'd be the first we've seen if it really is the case.  Maybe just the first that anyone has noticed!

Also, really neat to see the half-height wall here - a great idea. This will discourage people from running across traffic to get to the platform.

1/1 - Friday, March 17

   
I'm rarely out late, but was working quite late and ended up passing by Northfield.  Did a total double-take and whipped back around.  The platform lights are on!

   

   
I guess that answers my question about what those things were on the Anchor Wall!

   
Cool to see the signboard powered up, too.

[Square]

^^ What about the Northfield Bridge? Was a gap in the rail where it changed from embedded to ballasted track, now I saw that it got welded.

[KevinL]

More from Frederick - this time from above! The pedestrian walkway offers quite the vantage point.









Later in the day, the Mass Electric crew were busy at the Duke intersection - which is gaining quite a spiderweb of support cables.

[ijmorlan]

^^  What about the Northfield Bridge?  Was a gap in the rail where it changed from embedded to ballasted track, now I saw that it got welded.

Question about welding where there was a gap: for welding, wouldn’t the two pieces of rail need to touch each other? So how does the gap get filled? Does the welding actually fill the gap, or do they pull the rails together, or something else entirely?

[tomh009]

Later in the day, the Mass Electric crew were busy at the Duke intersection - which is gaining quite a spiderweb of support cables.

Definitely!  Getting the cat wires to follow a curve needs a whole lot of posts and extra cables.

[danbrotherston]

^^  What about the Northfield Bridge?  Was a gap in the rail where it changed from embedded to ballasted track, now I saw that it got welded.

Question about welding where there was a gap: for welding, wouldn’t the two pieces of rail need to touch each other? So how does the gap get filled? Does the welding actually fill the gap, or do they pull the rails together, or something else entirely?

I'm under the impression, from my admittedly amateur understanding of how welding works, and from videos I've seen, that the weld will bridge some gap, possibly a gap is even necessary.  The process of welding actually adds material.  In more traditional welding there is a steel rod as the added material, but in thermite welding, I believe the added iron material is a product of the thermite reaction which also produces the heat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNBDWuWz9ZE

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

[Canard]

Awesome new video showcasing the new assembly hall for FLEXITY in Millhaven!

[Pheidippides]

GrandLinq was trying to tell you in code the Ion's start date. The 8:19 actually means service begins in 8 months and 19 days.

[jamincan]

I'd prefer August 19.

[KevinL]

As I had thought, the rails are in alignment but are only cut - no weld is in place.

This is true at both Frederick station and Kitchener CIty Hall, for the record.

Okay, despite looking this over when I took the pictures I'm just realizing something - I'm not sure welds are intended here. These rails appear to be bolted at these spots.

I didn't catch on at first because the rubber is wrapped around them, but if you look closer you can see bolt plates.

Finally got a bit of a closer look and I believe the bolting is temporary. The bolt actually runs between the two pieces of rail, there's no holes in the rail itself.

[Canard]

Nice to see Metrolinx Pilot LRV No. 2 leaving Thunder Bay (the last of the 3 FLEXITY Freedom's to be built there), heading for Millhaven. Wave hi to the crew who built our first train!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is a first look at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Metrolinx?src=hash">#Metrolinx</a> pilot vehicle no. 2. As planned, it’s getting ready to head from Thunder Bay to Kingston for testing. <a href="https://t.co/x3Hzd3pTMD">pic.twitter.com/x3Hzd3pTMD</a></p>&mdash; BombardierRail (@BombardierRail) <a href="https://twitter.com/BombardierRail/status/843636078833819648">March 20, 2017</a></blockquote>

[ijmorlan]

Question about welding where there was a gap: for welding, wouldn’t the two pieces of rail need to touch each other? So how does the gap get filled? Does the welding actually fill the gap, or do they pull the rails together, or something else entirely?

I'm under the impression, from my admittedly amateur understanding of how welding works, and from videos I've seen, that the weld will bridge some gap, possibly a gap is even necessary.  The process of welding actually adds material.  In more traditional welding there is a steel rod as the added material, but in thermite welding, I believe the added iron material is a product of the thermite reaction which also produces the heat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNBDWuWz9ZE

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

Thanks for the info, especially the video, which seems to make it clear that they do indeed fill a gap. They even had a calibration tool to ensure they left exactly the right gap. I had been under the impression that welding primarily meant heating up the two parts until they softened enough to merge upon being pressed together but that is apparently not the case.

[ert86]

After what feels like forever ago the tent at Fairview is finally coming down