Published in the July 2018 issue of the Kerby News
2442: Calgary Transit’s Newest C-Train Car
Along Horton Road, in Calgary’s Haysboro Community, a long railway flatcar will appear from time-to-time on a stub branch of the Canadian Pacific (CP) railway. On the flatcar will be one of Calgary Transit’s brand new light rail vehicles (LRV), wrapped in bright white protective plastic. The LRV is at the end of a long rail passage from the Siemens Company plant near Sacramento, California where it was manufactured.
Because I enjoy occasionally watching the comings and goings of CP’s railway traffic, I have observed the white-bundled LRV’s sitting on their flatcars at Aylith yard. I wondered how Calgary Transit crews managed to remove the LRV from the flatcar and onto the tracks. The best way to find out, I decided, would be to call Calgary Transit and ask!
Sherri Zickefoose, who works in media relations, answered my call and undertook to see what could be done to allow me to observe the unloading of an LRV and its subsequent move to the Anderson Garage. Sure enough, early on the morning of April 26, I received a text message from Sherri that a new car would be delivered to Horton Road and would be unloaded that morning. She also arranged for me to visit the Anderson Garage to witness the removal of the plastic wrap that had protected the car during its long transit from California.
I arrived at the site around 9:00 o’clock and saw that a small crew had already begun preparations. Eight large vertical jacks, linked together hydraulically to ensure an even and equal lift of the car, had been placed at jacking points on the LRV body. Ken Aab, Technical Services Representative for Calgary Transit, worked with Sean Lowey, a Siemens Company electrician, to begin the lift. Previous to my arrival,
tie-down chains, rail blocks and other assorted connectors had been removed to free the LRV from the flatcar.
As I watched, LRV number 2442 rose slowly from its transporter, suspended by the hydraulic force of the jacks. A small forklift then tied on to the flatcar and pulled it out from under the LRV. Now hovering in the air, a fortune worth more that three million dollars was dependent on the strength of the jacks and Ken’s precise manipulation of their controls to slowly lower it onto Canadian Pacific’s tracks.
With the transit car firmly on the rails, it was time for the second step of the welcoming process. A heavy four-tired tractor drove up behind the LRV and lowered its rail wheels onto the tracks. Using its hydraulics, the tractor lifted itself until only its rail wheels were engaged with the track and its rubber tires were running on large steel rollers extending from the rail wheels and providing traction. On the front of the tractor, where a loading bucket would normally sit, a coupler of the same construction as the couplers on the LRV was installed. By slowly driving the tractor forward, the couplers connected. The units were now ready for the short drive across the CP mainline to Calgary Transit rails.
Running parallel to the CP and Calgary Transit lines, a safety fence now had to be opened to allow the switching of the tractor and the LRV. As well, clearance needed to be obtained from both Canadian Pacific and the dispatcher at Transit to ensure there would be no conflicting traffic from either source. With the fence removed and clearance obtained, the tractor pulled the new car across the CP main line and onto the territory of Calgary Transit. Ken told me that the car would soon be moved to the Anderson Garage to be unwrapped and to begin its formal acceptance inspection.
And so, I witnessed the process by which the City of Calgary receives its new light rail vehicles from California. “That’s only half of what we do at this location,” Ken told me. He explained that Calgary Transit now has four models of light rail cars. The first cars, U2 models bought from Siemens and imported directly from Germany, started the C-Train service in 1979 and many still operate over the system. In 2001, the system began obtaining 72 SD160 cars in Series Five, Six and Seven. Following that, in 2007, 38 Series Eight cars began arriving. The newest cars, S200 models, began arriving in 2013 with 63 cars ordered. Ken explained that an ongoing program sees the older SD160 cars updated in order to be able to operate together. “Thirty-two older units will be returned to Siemens in California for refurbishment and updating of systems,” Ken explained, “and all of those will be loaded here and unloaded here when they return from the manufacturer.” Ken has a lot of heavy lifting to look forward to.
Leaving Horton Road, I drove south to the Anderson Garage and was welcomed in by Ed Gajecki, lead technical advisor on LRV quality and capital projects. While he briefed me on technical details of the new cars, LRV 2442, now attached to another of the new cars that is in operation, arrived at the garage and was parked in a service bay that allowed safe access to its roof. Ed gave further information about how servicing takes place here for the rail cars and escorted me on a very thorough walk-around of the entire facility. Our first stop was at car 2442 now in the hands of Clayton Sawatsky and Karl Colthurst, both employees of Wabtec Equipment and on loan to Siemens to help service the new cars. Clayton climbed out onto the roof of the car and began cutting through the plastic wrap. Karl did similar work on the ground, pulling the wrap down as it was being freed above. As the plastic came down, Ed pointed out large bold messages printed on the wrap. “We get a lot of questions about this,” Ed told me. “DO NOT HUMP is an instruction to railroad workers not to run this flatcar load through a railroad hump yard.” Ed explained that such sorting yards use a small hill or “hump” over which a set of locomotives pushes strings of rail cars. Uncoupled at the top of the hill, the rail cars glide down the other side of the hill and are automatically switched onto various tracks depending on the final destination of each car. Although there are retarders built into these tracks, the meet-up of the rolling car with stationary ones ahead can be pretty impactful, and not at all friendly to expensive and fragile loads like light rail transit cars.
Continuing our tour, Ed showed me two areas of the facility that demonstrated the advance of technology over the time that C-Trains have been in service, now nearing 35 years. Jerry Burns supervises a unique room full of equipment representing the complete suite of the electrical components found on older cars. Through his control panel, he can simulate “running” a car and can detect and analyze any faults found in the equipment of operating cars. Included was a devise called “the cam” that continuously alters the DC voltage of the overhead wire to make the car accelerate, brake and to provide electricity for other components. This machine looked like something from a science fiction movie set and was fascinating to watch as Jerry simulated a car in operation. Ed explained that some of the older electrical components are no longer manufactured or are difficult and expensive to source. In the Anderson Garage, such components are overhauled as much as possible to help keep the older fleets of cars in service.
Next door, I met Andy Stratton. Andy’s work is similar to Jerry’s, that is, to keep the electrical components of the newer cars in operational condition. But Andy’s shop and the components he works on is at least a couple of generations newer that those found in Jerry’s shop. Metal cabinets full of printed circuit boards come directly from cars to be diagnosed and repaired but because of the complex and integrated nature of such modern technology, problem components can be difficult to separate out.
The final leg of my tour took us into an area of the shop where earlier series SD160 cars were undergoing renovation and upgrading. Ed told me that while some cars are sent back to California for renewal, the Anderson shop is capable of completing similar work. As evidence, I examined one car that had completed bodywork and primer paint and was awaiting the final application of Calgary Transit’s unique paint pattern in the new and quite gigantic paint booth. “A great facility for painting LRVs and articulated busses,” Ed commented.
I spent a most enjoyable day with some of Calgary Transit’s most valuable assets. My thanks and appreciation to all of them. And seeing the arrival of new light rail vehicle 2442 was a rewarding experience as well that satisfied my curiosity.
2442: Calgary Transit’s Newest C-Train Car
Along Horton Road, in Calgary’s Haysboro Community, a long railway flatcar will appear from time-to-time on a stub branch of the Canadian Pacific (CP) railway. On the flatcar will be one of Calgary Transit’s brand new light rail vehicles (LRV), wrapped in bright white protective plastic. The LRV is at the end of a long rail passage from the Siemens Company plant near Sacramento, California where it was manufactured.
Because I enjoy occasionally watching the comings and goings of CP’s railway traffic, I have observed the white-bundled LRV’s sitting on their flatcars at Aylith yard. I wondered how Calgary Transit crews managed to remove the LRV from the flatcar and onto the tracks. The best way to find out, I decided, would be to call Calgary Transit and ask!
Sherri Zickefoose, who works in media relations, answered my call and undertook to see what could be done to allow me to observe the unloading of an LRV and its subsequent move to the Anderson Garage. Sure enough, early on the morning of April 26, I received a text message from Sherri that a new car would be delivered to Horton Road and would be unloaded that morning. She also arranged for me to visit the Anderson Garage to witness the removal of the plastic wrap that had protected the car during its long transit from California.
I arrived at the site around 9:00 o’clock and saw that a small crew had already begun preparations. Eight large vertical jacks, linked together hydraulically to ensure an even and equal lift of the car, had been placed at jacking points on the LRV body. Ken Aab, Technical Services Representative for Calgary Transit, worked with Sean Lowey, a Siemens Company electrician, to begin the lift. Previous to my arrival,
tie-down chains, rail blocks and other assorted connectors had been removed to free the LRV from the flatcar.
As I watched, LRV number 2442 rose slowly from its transporter, suspended by the hydraulic force of the jacks. A small forklift then tied on to the flatcar and pulled it out from under the LRV. Now hovering in the air, a fortune worth more that three million dollars was dependent on the strength of the jacks and Ken’s precise manipulation of their controls to slowly lower it onto Canadian Pacific’s tracks.
With the transit car firmly on the rails, it was time for the second step of the welcoming process. A heavy four-tired tractor drove up behind the LRV and lowered its rail wheels onto the tracks. Using its hydraulics, the tractor lifted itself until only its rail wheels were engaged with the track and its rubber tires were running on large steel rollers extending from the rail wheels and providing traction. On the front of the tractor, where a loading bucket would normally sit, a coupler of the same construction as the couplers on the LRV was installed. By slowly driving the tractor forward, the couplers connected. The units were now ready for the short drive across the CP mainline to Calgary Transit rails.
Running parallel to the CP and Calgary Transit lines, a safety fence now had to be opened to allow the switching of the tractor and the LRV. As well, clearance needed to be obtained from both Canadian Pacific and the dispatcher at Transit to ensure there would be no conflicting traffic from either source. With the fence removed and clearance obtained, the tractor pulled the new car across the CP main line and onto the territory of Calgary Transit. Ken told me that the car would soon be moved to the Anderson Garage to be unwrapped and to begin its formal acceptance inspection.
And so, I witnessed the process by which the City of Calgary receives its new light rail vehicles from California. “That’s only half of what we do at this location,” Ken told me. He explained that Calgary Transit now has four models of light rail cars. The first cars, U2 models bought from Siemens and imported directly from Germany, started the C-Train service in 1979 and many still operate over the system. In 2001, the system began obtaining 72 SD160 cars in Series Five, Six and Seven. Following that, in 2007, 38 Series Eight cars began arriving. The newest cars, S200 models, began arriving in 2013 with 63 cars ordered. Ken explained that an ongoing program sees the older SD160 cars updated in order to be able to operate together. “Thirty-two older units will be returned to Siemens in California for refurbishment and updating of systems,” Ken explained, “and all of those will be loaded here and unloaded here when they return from the manufacturer.” Ken has a lot of heavy lifting to look forward to.
Leaving Horton Road, I drove south to the Anderson Garage and was welcomed in by Ed Gajecki, lead technical advisor on LRV quality and capital projects. While he briefed me on technical details of the new cars, LRV 2442, now attached to another of the new cars that is in operation, arrived at the garage and was parked in a service bay that allowed safe access to its roof. Ed gave further information about how servicing takes place here for the rail cars and escorted me on a very thorough walk-around of the entire facility. Our first stop was at car 2442 now in the hands of Clayton Sawatsky and Karl Colthurst, both employees of Wabtec Equipment and on loan to Siemens to help service the new cars. Clayton climbed out onto the roof of the car and began cutting through the plastic wrap. Karl did similar work on the ground, pulling the wrap down as it was being freed above. As the plastic came down, Ed pointed out large bold messages printed on the wrap. “We get a lot of questions about this,” Ed told me. “DO NOT HUMP is an instruction to railroad workers not to run this flatcar load through a railroad hump yard.” Ed explained that such sorting yards use a small hill or “hump” over which a set of locomotives pushes strings of rail cars. Uncoupled at the top of the hill, the rail cars glide down the other side of the hill and are automatically switched onto various tracks depending on the final destination of each car. Although there are retarders built into these tracks, the meet-up of the rolling car with stationary ones ahead can be pretty impactful, and not at all friendly to expensive and fragile loads like light rail transit cars.
Continuing our tour, Ed showed me two areas of the facility that demonstrated the advance of technology over the time that C-Trains have been in service, now nearing 35 years. Jerry Burns supervises a unique room full of equipment representing the complete suite of the electrical components found on older cars. Through his control panel, he can simulate “running” a car and can detect and analyze any faults found in the equipment of operating cars. Included was a devise called “the cam” that continuously alters the DC voltage of the overhead wire to make the car accelerate, brake and to provide electricity for other components. This machine looked like something from a science fiction movie set and was fascinating to watch as Jerry simulated a car in operation. Ed explained that some of the older electrical components are no longer manufactured or are difficult and expensive to source. In the Anderson Garage, such components are overhauled as much as possible to help keep the older fleets of cars in service.
Next door, I met Andy Stratton. Andy’s work is similar to Jerry’s, that is, to keep the electrical components of the newer cars in operational condition. But Andy’s shop and the components he works on is at least a couple of generations newer that those found in Jerry’s shop. Metal cabinets full of printed circuit boards come directly from cars to be diagnosed and repaired but because of the complex and integrated nature of such modern technology, problem components can be difficult to separate out.
The final leg of my tour took us into an area of the shop where earlier series SD160 cars were undergoing renovation and upgrading. Ed told me that while some cars are sent back to California for renewal, the Anderson shop is capable of completing similar work. As evidence, I examined one car that had completed bodywork and primer paint and was awaiting the final application of Calgary Transit’s unique paint pattern in the new and quite gigantic paint booth. “A great facility for painting LRVs and articulated busses,” Ed commented.
I spent a most enjoyable day with some of Calgary Transit’s most valuable assets. My thanks and appreciation to all of them. And seeing the arrival of new light rail vehicle 2442 was a rewarding experience as well that satisfied my curiosity.