jordanmkasla2009
Active Member
At least one was brought to Kitchener yesterday.
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Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)
At least one was brought to Kitchener yesterday.
KevinT
Active Member
Thanks Dan, they've been spotted together in GEXR's Lancaster yard: https://twitter.com/mrjasonli/status/1018878525292580864
I don't think the siding where GEXR's Elmira run drops them off can hold them both, my guess is that one will head up the spur tonight for offload tomorrow morning, and the second later in the week.
KevinT
Active Member
So Tuesday night's Elmira freight took both IONs plus two buffer flatcars up to the usual storage siding, and I'm happy to report that all four cars do fit there. Myself and a friend biked alongside for most of the trip, the Spurline and Laurel trails are wonderful for this.
This morning saw Waterloo Region's first double offload. All four cars (from the north end, buffer + ION + buffer + ION) were fetched from the siding and parked on the southbound track (mixed heavy and light rail) beside the OMSF. The Trackmobile + buffer at the north end disconnected and moved out of the way so the ramp could be connected to the ION + buffer + ION consist.
The first ION was offloaded by fishing it down the ramp with the Trackmobile + buffer car, similar to previous offloads. The Trackmobile + buffer retreated up the freight track, and the OMSF's battery powered shunter took the first ION into the yard. Once the ramp was disconnected and moved out of the way, the TrackMobile + buffer came back, reconnected, and shuffled the whole stack north so the second ION was parked where the first had been. (It must be the ideal spot for ramping.) Then Trackmobile + buffer + carrier + buffer headed back up to the siding to dump two of the cars, while the ramp was reconnected to the remaining carrier.
After a break for lunch the Trackmobile + buffer fished the second ION down the ramp. They retreated to the freight track while the shunter moved the second ION into the yard, while the ramp was disconnected and moved out of the way once again. The Trackmobile + buffer came back to fetch the final carrier, putting all four cars together again in the siding for the nightly freight to pick up tonight. It was all over by 1:30.
Unfortunately I had some work calls to make while all this went on, so I didn't get my usual footage of the first ION coming off. So much for my streak! I caught the second one though, and will hopefully get some video posted later on tonight.
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KevinT
Active Member
Matt M S
New Member
steveintoronto
Superstar
It's a treasure trove of shots, not just a "few".
pstogios
Senior Member
Beautiful photos! Thanks!
crs1026
Superstar
^Not only are they great shots of the LRT, they speak vilumes about what a great city K-W has become. I hardly recognized some of those locations !
- Paul
- Paul
Irishmonk
Senior Member
KW has transformed itself into a mini San Jose. Definitely one place on the rise.
TransitBart
Senior Member
Nice work!
1. So the winner of first Ontario city to get its act together and get an LRT Line in service is....naturally the 4th largest city on the continent, Toronto. Nix that. Kitchener-Waterloo. Kudos. Maybe the comparison to San Jose is deserved.
2. When do we ge to ride this puppy? This testing here is making 2021 look very dicey for Eglinton. (The first pics have snow in them and it’s mid-summer.) Plus all that lawsuit and more time stuff in Toronto. I could see full-service schedule qty of trains running in Toronto for a year to get all the details right at this rate. Clearly, you don’t open one Monday at 0600 and put 20 trams in revenue service for the day.
3. Now if there were a way to get from Toronto to iON that did not involve a bus. Oh. Wait. Other thread. Two issues. Moving the Kitchener GO/Via Station. And that darn all-day thing. So we’ll all drive - ack - to test ride transit. Plus, is there a way to get from San Jose to here on transit? Wow! Brilliant. You can go east into the city or west to KW from YYZ. Oh. Not yet. Ok.
4. Who remembers what iON stands for or means? Or does it?
/endsarcasm This is a good step.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
4. iON (or ion) is Greek for "going".
TransitBart
Senior Member
Very cool. Thank you. ευχαριστώ
KevinT
Active Member
Two vehicles out testing today, 505 and the most recent delivery, 509:
@steveintoronto, I think it was you that tagged me in the crosstown thread a few weeks back regarding the use of aspect signals in KW. I didn't have a good picture of my own to share and couldn't find the one I wanted to link to from Facebook so I didn't reply at the time. There's good video of one active in this clip though, enjoy...
@steveintoronto, I think it was you that tagged me in the crosstown thread a few weeks back regarding the use of aspect signals in KW. I didn't have a good picture of my own to share and couldn't find the one I wanted to link to from Facebook so I didn't reply at the time. There's good video of one active in this clip though, enjoy...
steveintoronto
Superstar
Serendipity! I was in Kitchener today having a good look at the new infrastructure. What immediately impresses me is the quality of catenary, the gauge, support, supply, and how overbuilt it is. It's not pretty, but it's beautiful.
I admit to being a bit perplexed as to the track routing though, but then again, Kitchener is anything but a rational street geometry. It makes London UK, and Paris seem simple in comparison.
Took the GO 30 bus in this morning with bike, cycled down to Cambridge, then across to Guelph and then around locally.
Hespeler has a charm that fortunately has pretty much been left in place. Cycling across the #24 and 401 bridge going north, escaping the madness and then floating through Hespeler never gets old for me.
I was taking special note of the signals on the LRT, both road and railway ones. I'd love to read an engineering report on them, have Googled many times, still can't find.
And yes, it was me that tagged you. You've have some valuable input on engineering and infrastructure for ION and other systems.
drum118
Superstar
I haven't heard a date when the line will open, but Ottawa system is supposed to opened by the end of Nov.
Turnover to the city is supposed to be Nov 2, but what I saw for a number of station, going to be hard press to meet that day, even with the current 7/24 schedule.
2 trains doing testing from LeBaron Station to Tunney's Pasture Station when we had a look at the system.
The 2 systems are night and day apart.
I have issues with some of the route for the KW, but will work well for centre street running.
Planning on getting up to KW next week
More up on site
Turnover to the city is supposed to be Nov 2, but what I saw for a number of station, going to be hard press to meet that day, even with the current 7/24 schedule.
2 trains doing testing from LeBaron Station to Tunney's Pasture Station when we had a look at the system.
The 2 systems are night and day apart.
I have issues with some of the route for the KW, but will work well for centre street running.
Planning on getting up to KW next week
More up on site
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