An oldie from our subway system, the Montreal Metro: One of the old MR-73 class of subway cars, all were retired recently when the new Azur trainsets came into service. The MR-73 cars didn't have the possibility of walking from car to car in transit, but the Azur trains are wide open from nose to tail. That makes for some interesting views as the trains snakes through the curves and ups and downs. All Metro trains run on rubber tires rolling on concrete rolling surfaces. Standard metal wheels inside allow them to go over switches and in the underground storage yards. Horizontally mounted tires ensure they stay in line. They all run on 750 VDC. I remember riding on an even older generation of subway cars when I was little (before 1970 when we moved to the burbs). They looked much the same as the MR-73 sets.
Riding Michelin tires 50 years ago in Paris was weird after 10+ years on New York City subway steel wheels. Definitely more comfortable.
The tire-type running was chosen after a delegation from Montreal went to Paris to take a look at and experience their "Métropolitain" in the early 1960s. Then subway construction went at a frenetic pace to have this new system ready for the 1967 Universal Exposition, Expo '67 (which I also remember some parts). The earth dug out from subway construction contributed to enlarging St Helen's Island to three times its original size and creating Notre Dame Island from almost nothing. Dredging of the St Lawrence Seaway and river helped a lot too. Of course, a Metro station was built on St Helens Island too. There were a couple of surface trains built for Expo 67: the Mini-Rail, which snaked all around the island and provided a slow, relaxed tour of the site: And the Expo Express which, for some strange reason, my Dad never photographed. It was a light, almost subway-like train that looked modern for its day. it went from a terminus on Montreal island and went down over St-Helen's Island, where the Metro station was, over Notre Dame Island, and back up to St Helen's to the other end of the line, at the La Ronde amusement park. I was fascinated by that train. It was big (for me), fast and quite a bit noisier (very important for a youngster like me...). Ah, good times!
We attended Expo 67. Looking back, it was one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had, with the multicultural exposure that came with visiting the various pavillions and Montreal itself. It was much, much different than a small town in Michigan. I do remember riding the Metro, but don't remember many of the details since that was overshadowed by the train trip from Port Huron to Montreal, also a great experience. Sigh. The things I wish I'd paid more attention to. While I'm at it, here's this week's photo from late 2019- a pair of Huron and Eastern GP40-2lw's at the Marlette elevator, with 3038 resplendent in G&W orange and 3036 still in Central Mighigan black as patched out by HESR. As a side note, I swung by the enginehouse at Wenona yard in Bay City on my way up north yesterday. It's looking very much like a pumpkin patch there with the notable exception being 3036, still wearing its old black paint.
Wow... It shows how solid those new cabs are. And how long it takes for a train to stop - 3200 feet! To think that collisions like this at crossings are more frequent than we hear about.
This track repair train was parked in front of our Sebring Model Railroad Club yesterday (Sunday) so I could take pictures from our lawn. Our club used to be a Pennsylvania RR freight station. Now it's the NS main between Pittsburgh and Chicago. Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk
Those track maintenance/repair trains are pretty much like a well-choreographed dance number Hey, I bet that's how Frank Ellison would have described them! Doug
Saturday, I was taking my break at one of our customers in Stockton, Ca. which happens to be very close to the BNSF intermodal yard there. I caught ex BN (CS) SD40-2 #7807 doing the switching there. It's good to still see an SD40 again!
From what I've found, the loco was retired in 2009 and ITSX switches the Intermododal yard for BNSF in Stockton. Interesting that it hasn't been repainted.
