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That is what I was guessing as well. If that is the case though, I wonder why they would be allowed to keep imperial measurements when the change to metric happened while the rapidly growing (at the time) truck freight system had to switch. Trucks move as much if not more freight than trains, and buses move more passengers, so why give trains an exemption and not roads? Not trying to defend trucks and buses over trains, which make much more sense - and I am not trying to argue imperial vs metric. Just seems odd to me.
 
drum118 said:
11232378286_02d41d2e2f_b.jpg
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What is going on with the wood into the window frames?
 
someMidTowner said:
That is what I was guessing as well. If that is the case though, I wonder why they would be allowed to keep imperial measurements when the change to metric happened while the rapidly growing (at the time) truck freight system had to switch. Trucks move as much if not more freight than trains, and buses move more passengers, so why give trains an exemption and not roads? Not trying to defend trucks and buses over trains, which make much more sense - and I am not trying to argue imperial vs metric. Just seems odd to me.
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Perhaps because the railways had been long established and had the political clout to fight a conversion of their, rather large, network of rail lines over to Metric. Meanwhile, as you stated, roadways, truck, and bus service was really just beginning to emerge when we converted over to Metric and thus this 'new' venture was required to use Metric as it was the current standard.
 
WH:

Maybe because there is more engineering and calculations involved with operating a railway than a truck? Slopes, stopping distances, etc.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
sMT:

Guessing - interoperability with the US?'

AoD
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That's exactly it. They were able to argue - successfully - that due to the requirement for interchangeability with the US network (for all intents and purposes, the freight rail networks of Canada and the US are considered one large network) they needed to maintain (largely) the same standards as those used in the US. Since there was no likelihood of the US network switching to metric, the decision was made to keep the Canadian network imperial.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
4 steel columns to go on the glass roof structure. I expect them to be erected this week.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
WH:

Maybe because there is more engineering and calculations involved with operating a railway than a truck? Slopes, stopping distances, etc.

AoD
Click to expand...

I find it a lot easier working with metric than imperial doing engineering drawings as well shop drawing with slopes and distance. Even in the field it is a lot better.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
drum:

I agree - but the last thing you want is confusing the two systems and end up with an erroneous calculation - a la http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

AoD
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Its a pain that one day you bid on a project in metric and the next day its imperial.

There is no reason why construction can't be metric 100%. Downsides to that there are items that come from the US come in imperial and you need to allow for this.

By having the 2 systems means you need 2 sets of equipment and add cost to the bottom line that shouldn't be there at all.
 
4 steel columns to go on the glass roof structure. I expect them to be erected this week.
Click to expand...

Ooh! Great. Thanks for that info.

So we are getting closer to seeing the roof finished. I don't use VIA or GO Trains, so I never get up into the train shed to see the real thing. Good to see anything related to this subject.
The Union Station Revitalization team haven't updated any official shots from the dig down or the refinishing of the interior that I know of - it'd be great to see more of that as well.
 
I for one am glad the railways got their way. Why fix something that isn't broken? The imperial system works just fine for the systems users.

In fact its superior to the metric system for the railway's purposes.
Road users use intersections with other roads to determine their location in the city, the railway equivalent is mile posts which are used to determine ones location on a subdivision. Furthermore it's extremely important to know where the location of every mile post is along the route as that is what foreman use to designate their limits and also what we refer to in order to help us ascertain the location of track restrictions. Going metric would mean using km's which would mean we'd be required to know 1.6 times as much information. Trust me, when your constantly traveling along at highways speed and considering a multitude of other issues, complicating matters by requiring one to retain more information is just asking for trouble.
 
vegeta_skyline said:
I for one am glad the railways got their way. Why fix something that isn't broken? The imperial system works just fine for the systems users.

In fact its superior to the metric system for the railway's purposes.
Road users use intersections with other roads to determine their location in the city, the railway equivalent is mile posts which are used to determine ones location on a subdivision. Furthermore it's extremely important to know where the location of every mile post is along the route as that is what foreman use to designate their limits and also what we refer to in order to help us ascertain the location of track restrictions. Going metric would mean using km's which would mean we'd be required to know 1.6 times as much information. Trust me, when your constantly traveling along at highways speed and considering a multitude of other issues, complicating matters by requiring one to retain more information is just asking for trouble.
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And then you go and measure your train's length in feet, and base your weighting standards on pounds....

At the end of the day there is no benefit to one or the other system in the railroad's eyes. And as long as it is standardized across the continent, it will continue not to matter.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
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