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CTrain - U2 cars Retirement Watch


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  • 3 months later...
18 hours ago, transit-history said:

Does anyone know how much the City of Calgary paid for a U2 when they were first introduced?

 

13 hours ago, CTrainDude said:

I want to say around $800,000 each, but I'll have to see if I can find a firm number.

Here's a cool quote from Calgary Transit then and now.

"In July 1977 Calgary city council ordered 27 U2s to be added on to the end of the Edmonton order. City council obtained the LRT cars at a negotiated price of $954,000 per unit from Duewag of West Germany rather than requesting tenders because there were no suitable North American built cars. Subsequently the cars which were then being designed in North America gave their owners considerable grief (MUNI's Boeing's cars) when they entered service. Calgary's U2's, on the other hand came into Service as planned and have operated most satisfactory ever since"

Here's another fun fact! Cars 2028, 2029, 2030 were actually originally ordered to replace the damaged cars (Cars 2002, 2009 and 2027 I think...) that were involved in a derailment on 7th Avenue on opening weekend.... however those three damaged cars were later were repaired.

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On 16/10/2017 at 6:11 PM, BCT-3122-D800-10240 said:

Nice to see the second oldest car still in service today!  Car 2002 !!

Another fun fact! Apparently car 2002 is the oldest C-train car in the U2 fleet by 5 days according to the Calgary LRT Fleet roster in the Calgary Transit then and now book.?

Car 01 was accepted 25-06-1980

Car 02 was accepted 20-06-1980

 

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2 hours ago, LRT said:

Another fun fact! Apparently car 2002 is the oldest C-train car in the U2 fleet by 5 days according to the Calgary LRT Fleet roster in the Calgary Transit then and now book.?

Car 01 was accepted 25-06-1980

Car 02 was accepted 20-06-1980

Remember though that after that accident u mentioned earlier, 2009A got 2002B and 2009B and 2002A were repaired/rebuilt and eventually married together

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18 minutes ago, transit-history said:

So if I have my facts straight, U2's were purchaced for $954.000 each and the S200s are $3,200,000 each?  So after, roughly 38 years, LRV's cost $2,246,000 more. 

If you take in account for inflation from 1977 to 2018 the S200 actually cost less. ?

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On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 2:56 PM, Gsgeek540 said:

Remember though that after that accident u mentioned earlier, 2009A got 2002B and 2009B and 2002A were repaired/rebuilt and eventually married together

Which numbers were used on the mated units - that of the A  or the B? The A end is where the pantograph is mounted.

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40 minutes ago, Mark Walton said:

Which numbers were used on the mated units - that of the A  or the B? The A end is where the pantograph is mounted.

Good question. 

I would think the "A" ends are the "master end" which would retain the repaired cars unit number. That's just my guess...

I'd love to check the car serial number but It wasn't until the series 2s and 3s had the vehicles serial number in the right upper corner in the cab. The original cars don't have the serial numbers in that location.

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Today is one of those days when I really wish these U2s were gone (minus one saved for posterity).  There’s some things they’re good for, but between blown motors, plugged filters and fan faults, and slow orders, there wasn’t any good things today. 

Can’t wait to drive full speed on a snowy winter day!

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21 minutes ago, Nick B said:

Don't the resistor fans also facilitate interior heat? Or are those entirely separate fans that don't freeze up?

Yes I believe they do. The heated air is diverted by "diverter doors" you can hear the doors slamming under the floor. Sometimes those the same doors do not seal very well in the summertime ending up with heat leaking into the coach of the train in the resulting in very hot cars.

When those resistors short out they sure stink like hell.

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11 hours ago, Nick B said:

Will slow orders be a thing of the past once the U2's are all retired? If so, what is it about the U2's that warrants slow orders?

They should be. Most of the equipment located down low on the U2 that gets plugged with snow is moved to the roof on all other vehicle types - so for the most part, the slow orders should go away. 

For a brief time when U2s weren’t being allowed on the West line, the slow order was applied only for the Red Line, since the Blue was all SD160s.  

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On 2/8/2018 at 4:11 PM, Mark Walton said:

Which numbers were used on the mated units - that of the A  or the B? The A end is where the pantograph is mounted.

2009a and 2002b were the 2 undamaged cars in the accident. They became 2009.

 

2009b and 2002a, the 2 ends that were directly involved in the accident, were completely rebuilt and became 2002.

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On ‎2‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 5:28 AM, Gsgeek540 said:

2009a and 2002b were the 2 undamaged cars in the accident. They became 2009.

 

2009b and 2002a, the 2 ends that were directly involved in the accident, were completely rebuilt and became 2002.

So the usual protocol in a case like that is the rebuilt unit inherits the A end's number? That didn't happen with 2090. Is that one still in service BTW?

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1 hour ago, Mark Walton said:

So the usual protocol in a case like that is the rebuilt unit inherits the A end's number? That didn't happen with 2090. Is that one still in service BTW?

To be honest there's not really a usual protocol. Every situation is unique.

Car 2090 was made up with car 2027 and 2019... Both those cars were written off so the good ends and other spare parts were used to "build" car 2090

Car 2050 was also brought back to life around that time with spare parts... that car was officially not written off but was in storage for a few years....It was involved in a collision with a car at 50th Avenue damaging some major electronic components.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well!

Looks like cars 2042, 2043, 2052 & 2077 are the next ones to be scrapped. They're all coupled up together and they're taking apart car 2077 right now.

This will probably be the final image of these cars in one piece. Car 2077 has already had some of its doors and door motors removed on the other side.

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I'm surprised that they can handle retiring 4 at once right now considering they still don't quite have all 4-car trains on the red line. Then again, maybe these ones have just reached the point where they can't go any further.

I think 2083 will be one of the next ones. I saw it go by yesterday with a bunch of rust holes and duct tape near the middle joint.

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