Subject:
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Re: Scarborough RT photo
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lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto
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Date:
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Sun, 31 Mar 2002 16:17:54 GMT
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524 times
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"Calum Tsang" <tsangc@mie.utoronto.ca> wrote in message
news:Gttt8y.8Js@lugnet.com...
> http://transit.toronto.on.ca/display.cfm?pic=subway-5107-16.jpg
>
> For those of you outside the GTA, the Scarborough RT is a quirky little
> transit system that runs for six stops in the east end of Toronto. What's
> unusual about the SRT is that it uses linear induction technology, sort of
> like a railgun or a maglev, except it doesn't shoot aluminum rounds or
> levitate. The ICTS technology is also used in the Vancouver Skytrain.
One of the most frequent questions I get, after explaining in gruesome
detail the inner workings of the Linear Induction Motor (LIM) is... "So this
train is like, floating?!" Magnetic Levitation and Linear Motors are two
different technologies - MagLev trains typically use Linear Motors for
propulsion simply because they don't require contact between the guideway
and vehicle. Which is also very attractive for wheeled vehicles, as it
completly eliminiates the necisity for there to be wheel to rail traction.
It's this very reason that allows Vancouver's SkyTrain to negotiate the very
steep grades found in that system.
(One could argue that rubber tyred systems also achieve the same result. I'm
very much in favour of rubber tyred systems, but there's a certain...
cleanliness? about knowing I'm riding a vehicle who's propulsion system has
absolutely no moving parts.)
Linear Motors made their debut in the amusement industry about 6 years ago.
Paramount Kings Island in Cincinatti installed the revolutionary "Outer
Limits: Flight of Fear". While the ride suffered numerous other problems
relating to roughness and headbanging (which have now been eliminated with
the removal of shoulder restraints, and installation of lap bars), the rides
propulsion system, a Linear Induction Motor, has performed virtually
flawlessly from day one. Now, several companies have produced launched rides
which use Linear Induction Motors or Linear Synchronous Motors.
Flight of Fear (and all subsequent rides installed by that manufacturer)
made clever use of the Linear Motor. Instead of moving heavy stator coils,
the coils are in the launch track; aluminum fins stick out of either side of
every car, and engage the coils. After a climactic musical interlude, and a
warning from the alien capturer, all the lights in the station dim. A
buildup of frightening ambient tones begins, lights pulsate, and in one
massive burst of energy, the train is gone in the blink of an eye. The
lights are restored, the music fades back in, and the next train returns to
the station. Riders endure 4 inversions in the giant dome that the train
enters, in near complete darkness, no less.
My favourite linear-motor powered ride is Linear Gale, at Korakuren Park in
Tokyo, Japan. Since I haven't riden it, I have to settle for it's slightly
larger sister ride at SixFlags Worlds of Adventure (SixFlags Ohio in 2000,
Geauga Lake before that), in Cleaveland, Ohio. Superman Ultimate Escape (or
simply UE) is one of only a very few "Spiraling Impulse Coasters" by Intamin
AG, a very prominent name in amusement technology. The layout of the
spiraling impulse is very frightening at first look. When driving down the
road near the park, it's the first ride that comes into view. As if
something from a dream, the giant, extended U-shaped track pokes 55 metres
skyward. One spike looks sane - it's straight. But the other is sometihng
completly otherworldly. The track spirals a full 360 degrees, twisting, with
no support beyond the base.
The 7-car train sits idle in the station, suspended from it's overhead
track, at the base of the rear (straight) spike, waiting for passengers. 28
brave souls board the comfortable train, and secure themselves via an Over
the Shoulder Restraint (OTSR). Their legs are free to dangle with no car
surrounding them. A clear signal is given by the operators, the light
curtains ensure that no one is in the way or intruding the ride envelope.
All the magnetic brakes on the launch track raise... and without warning,
the train screams forward. Is it the passengers screaming? Sometimes. But
the screaming is mostly from the linear motors. It's a fantastic noise - a
very deep humm overlaid with a loud, resonating frequency.
The train barely makes it above the tip of the curve up to vertical,
however. Passengers in the front start to feel a hint of weightlessness,
before the train rolls backward down onto the launch section again. All
passengers hear the screaming again from over their heads, and feel all
their limbs being pulled forward. This time, the train gets another boost
from the linear induction motors above their heads - this time backward. Now
at full speed, a startling 115 km/h, the train has enough energy to
completly reach the end of the rear spike. Passengers in the back are
treated to a phenominal 5 seconds of weightlessness. It is without a doubt
the most pure feeling I have ever felt in my life.
All good things must come to an end. The train pulls out again, once again
shooting through the station and forward toward the spiraling spike. Here is
where a front seat ride is required. The train negotiates the spiral spike
with aparent effortlessness. Those in the front may not notice anything
else, for they're now just 2 metres or so from the large, hydraulic dampened
bumper at the end of the spike - but if they dare to look down, past their
toes, they'll notice that the entire world has rotated seemlingly around
them.
Ultimate Escape is far from over, however. With one more trick up it's
sleve, the train rushes down out of the spiral and heads for the rear spike
again. However, this time, things won't go so smoothly as the last. The
uninitiated may not have noticed a bank of long, white blocks on the spike,
the same as appear on the launch track.
Hmmm.
What could those be?
At the very apex of the train's motion up the spike, at the exact moment
that the train becomes perfectly stationary, something occurs. Something
wonderful. In a brilliant display of the power of linear motor technology,
the train's stay in that normally infinitely small period of wait time at
the top, is extended for almost a full second. For you see, the linear motor
on the spike has now kicked in, and is HOLDING THE ENTIRE WEIGHT OF THE
TRAIN MOTIONLESS - WITHOUT EVER TOUCHING IT. All the riders who were just
weightless drop forward into the restraints, clutching at anything they
thought they had secure in their pockets. Everyone screams, everyone cries,
everyone thinks they're going to die. And just as something feels HORRIBLY
wrong, the linear motor stops screaming (and boy, scream it does), and lets
the train go. One more trip up the front spiral, before braking via a
similar, passive technology using the same fins on the train for the linear
motor.
Ultimate Escape, Linear Gale, and it's sisters are without a doubt in my
mind the most pure amusement rides out there. The ability to take a group of
people and subject them to not only acceleration, but the complete lack
thereof in the condition of weightlessness, is completly amazing to me.
It's why I rode UE more than 100 times in its opening year.
Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, has (in my opinion) stupidly decided to do
away with the straight rear spike, and make BOTH spikes spiral. I'm a little
upset, but I'll probably get over it. They've got Intamin to extend the
spike height a bit, so they can claim it's the "World's Largest Double
Spiraling Impulse Coaster". Right. Linear Gale has the apeal to me because
it was the first, it has no spiral spikes at all, no holding LIM on the rear
spike- each pass up the spikes is completly weightless. Beautiful! Also,
Linear Gale's colour scheme is to die for! The station is stainless steel
with red accents, the launch control equipment is in yellow boxes, the track
is silver, the supports are black, train is dark grey with ORANGE OTSR's!
Ahhhh!
It seems Bombardier (who acquired the rights to manufacture the ICTS
vehicles when they purchased UTDC) is the only urban transit manufacturer
who has jumped on the wagon to use Linear Motors in transit (outside of
MagLev). I can't think of any systems that use Linear Motors outside of any
of the Bombardier installed systems - Scarborough RT, Detroit PeopleMover,
SkyTrain, JFK AirTrain, Kuala Lumpur PUTRA, um... ::thinks::
Of historical note, I beileve the first daily operating transit system
employing linear motors was the WEDWay PeopleMover at Watl Disney World's
Magic Kingdom. The WEDWay PeopleMover (now the Tomorrowland Transit
Authority) makes it's grand circle of Tomorrowland, weaving in and out of
impossibly tight spaces and around impossibly tight corners. Every few
metres, the five car trains pass over a three phase coil in the track, set
to whatever frequency the vehicles should be traveling at, at that instance.
Reaction is via an steel backed aluminum plate under the small vehicles. In
the quieter buildings, you can just barely hear (and feel!) the humm coming
from the LIM.
BTW Calum, the SRT is actually powered by rubber drive wheels. That's why
there's that plate down the centre - that's what the wheels roll on.
;)
Iain
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Scarborough RT photo
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| Hey folks, One of the photos I took of the Scarborough RT is on Transit Toronto, probably the best website about the TTC: (URL) those of you outside the GTA, the Scarborough RT is a quirky little transit system that runs for six stops in the east (...) (23 years ago, 31-Mar-02, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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