ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[bgb_ca]

Is it coming up tonight?

[ijmorlan]

Is it coming up tonight?

4th LRV just went past Willow & William.

[bgb_ca]

[Canard]

Cool video! Pretty sure Kevin and I spotted you when we drove past!

Here's some of the footage I shot:



Worth noting that the crossing gates at Old Albert Street are now operational, so I'm assuming the ones in Waterloo Park are, too.

Kevin and I seriously contemplating cycling up alongside, but in the end, I'm kind of glad we didn't: It didn't leave the Lancaster Yard until about 10:30pm! That would have been one awfully frigid wait. It's too bad it went up so late - all the others were between 8pm and 9pm. Waiting an hour or so isn't so bad...

[bgb_ca]

Cool video!  Pretty sure Kevin and I spotted you when we drove past!

Well if you are referring to the person freezing their behind off on Union by the tracks then yes, that would have been me.

Can the next one arrive when it's not -20 out?

[ijmorlan]

Cool video!  Pretty sure Kevin and I spotted you when we drove past!

Here's some of the footage I shot:



Worth noting that the crossing gates at Old Albert Street are now operational, so I'm assuming the ones in Waterloo Park are, too.

Kevin and I seriously contemplating cycling up alongside, but in the end, I'm kind of glad we didn't:  It didn't leave the Lancaster Yard until about 10:30pm!  That would have been one awfully frigid wait.  It's too bad it went up so late - all the others were between 8pm and 9pm.  Waiting an hour or so isn't so bad...

Somebody needs to stick a tracking device on the flat car. Then your phone could tell you when it moves onto the spur and you could emerge from a nearby Tim Horton’s or whatever and meet the train a little ways up the line. Not that I recommend trespassing on railway property for the purpose of installing it or anything!

[Canard]

I think a radio scanner would probably suffice. As a kid, I remember my dad had one that was always on in our car whenever we went anywhere, so we could listen to railway chatter. If it still works and if they still use the same "system", I'm sure I could borrow it from him...!

[tomh009]

Yes, they still use radios. Some of that traffic is even streamed on the Internet, though not our area. For example:
http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/23/131/

[Square]

Did the train still have to stop at King in Uptown Waterloo?

[Canard]

We couldn’t quite see as we were waiting closer to Erb/Caroline.

As for the scanners, I don’t know how it all works - I remember my dad’s would scroll fast through numbers 1-20, about once a second, and if any activity was detected it would stop. I’m guessing that it had 20 pre-programmed frequencies you had to figure out and enter?

Any idea what those frequencies would be for the GEXR train?

[ijmorlan]

Did the train still have to stop at King in Uptown Waterloo?

From my house I can see the train stop whenever it is reasonably long. In the past it stopped at Regina, then slowly edged through the gap between the buildings, then stopped again at King. Based on the sounds it makes and what I can see from my house I think it still does that.

[Square]

Did the train still have to stop at King in Uptown Waterloo?

From my house I can see the train stop whenever it is reasonably long. In the past it stopped at Regina, then slowly edged through the gap between the buildings, then stopped again at King. Based on the sounds it makes and what I can see from my house I think it still does that.

Thank you, was just wondering if the traffic lights on King turn red, and if the train has to completely stop and someone stops traffic like before or does it slowly inch forward?

[Square]

We couldn’t quite see as we were waiting closer to Erb/Caroline.

As for the scanners, I don’t know how it all works - I remember my dad’s would scroll fast through numbers 1-20, about once a second, and if any activity was detected it would stop. I’m guessing that it had 20 pre-programmed frequencies you had to figure out and enter?

Any idea what those frequencies would be for the GEXR train?

Try this link, I think it has our railroad frequencies :  https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=7873

[ijmorlan]

From my house I can see the train stop whenever it is reasonably long. In the past it stopped at Regina, then slowly edged through the gap between the buildings, then stopped again at King. Based on the sounds it makes and what I can see from my house I think it still does that.

Thank you, was just wondering if the traffic lights on King turn red, and if the train has to completely stop and someone stops traffic like before or does it slowly inch forward?

Good question. When it’s a bit warmer maybe I’ll race the train over to King and see what happens. It appears that they installed detector loops between the rails so I assume the signals are activated by the train. If so, then flagging should no longer be required, any more than it is required in order for a transport truck to cross the street, but I suspect that it will still be required by the rules.

Anyway, I always thought the flagger should be permitted to stand on the “porch” at the front of the locomotive. The trains are sufficiently visible that I don’t think they should be required to risk their life by walking out onto the street in case some drunk doesn’t see the train inching its way across the street.

[tomh009]

As for the scanners, I don’t know how it all works - I remember my dad’s would scroll fast through numbers 1-20, about once a second, and if any activity was detected it would stop. I’m guessing that it had 20 pre-programmed frequencies you had to figure out and enter?

Any idea what those frequencies would be for the GEXR train?

That's exactly how a modern scanner works.  Older ones (from the 1970s) had fixed frequencies for each channel: you needed to buy the correct frequency crystal for each channel.  Later (in 1980s maybe?) most scanners became digital and programmable.

If you only want to monitor GEXR (Square provided the link for the SWO train frequencies) you wouldn't even necessarily have to have a scanner: a (digital) shortwave radio tuned to the GEXR frequency would work well, too.