MmffiflmanU aa aa oa

at Expo 67 and Man and his World

by Anthony Clegg

*SNFlqir

-",-$: -..*r*w l ..-,c.!S r'

8W

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An excellent vierr of all the attract'ions

is seen from the litt1e Minirail trains.

Mffiffiflmaflil
frou lnformatLon cou:rtesy T. Zsenaty
and D.
by Anthony Clegg

t67 Ls,' by almost all standards, an unquallfled success. thls 1s unquestlonably so, ald the 'rlilontreal Worldrs Falrrt, the flrst Class "A" Exposltlon heId. under the ausplces of the Iniernatlonal Bureau of Exposltlons 1n the Western Henlsphere, 1s attractlng j4/" more vlsltors than was orlglnally estlmated.. Thlg tremendous acceptance of Expo by Montrealers and vlsltors a11ke ls nonet,heless the cauee of one of the chlef conplalnts - the long 11ne-ups to galn adnlttance to the varlous pav111ons and attractlons. And nowhere has the waltlng been longer and the queues more extenslve then the l-1neups to rlde the MINIRAIL, the open-alr scenlc rldes around and above the Exposltlon Gnounilg. MINIF,AIL has captured the hearts of practlcally al1 lts rlders to an extent not even vaguely foreseen by the Expo planners. It was deslgned or1g1na11y not as an amugement r1de, but as a neans of translt -- not Rapld lranslt, but a secondary Local transportatlon service to acconmodate Expo_.vlsltors. The maln route, coloqulaIly known as "The Blue M1n1ra1ltrfrom the colour of 1ts cars, wag lalh out to pass close to practlcally all the lnportant polnts on the central part of f1e St,e. Helene and Ile Notre Darne. (See Exhlblt The western part of I1e Ste. Helene and the I-a Roncle Anuse"A"). ment Park are served by slnllar but somewhat snaller MINIRAIL t,ralns operatlng over lndependent loops and generally referred to as rthe Yel1ow Mlnlralls" due to the yellow canoples fltted over the d1m1nutlve open cars. (See Exhlblt "C")
Judged solely by the publlshed attendance flgures,

CE ,,.^,

(9wo

***tF
'Th1" r""ount was wrltten durlng the sunmer of L967 durlng the successful Worldrs Falr -- Expo 67. Durlng the wlnter of 1967-68, a number of changes were made on the slte to accommodate the 1968 exposltlon, ttMan and H1s Worldrt, and. these changes --- where they affect the descrlptlon of the Mlnlral1 system --- have been noted- in the footnotes. The sponsorshlp and the names of certaln pav111ons have been revlsed for 1968 and these changes also have been noted 1n the footnotes to the orLglnal artlc1e.

I
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"8" t- 7+ H.n o.q Moroa z+r- 21'9 TRAcrroN wHccLs a+6- r*"c cutDE wflrELs 6+7- EMSREENCY ROLLERS 8+E- 9UPPLEIIEHTARY QUIOE YIHEELg
IODIFFEREIITIAL OEAR ORIVE

IYPICAL

IIli

ELrrE MII\IRAIL

0n the ma'10r MTNTHATL clrcult' strateslcatly located close to-iie there are slx passenger stops The r-i;il";';""iiio;". tralns p^ass beslde. the glant-USSR._pav111on, 1n front 11ttle of Erltlsh J and French. strictures, -a.na- thr_eaa--'trleir way amongst the the large rock slabs at the ontario o exhlbli. -"it"y pr., -;;; -'unri"i'states dlrectlv throush the centre of_the ;;;iii"" of Amei r1ca, 5 whlch 1s shaped lrke'a'rr'.r!"."ry"ta1 ba11, "i although tralns do not halt at thre polni.-lna tiie crosesi'f,"*""u.g"rMln1ra1l stop 1s some r-50o feet dlstant. ei pornt, ;;;;;;; P.ovlnce of ontarlo o in. iir"i- or't,r.e provtnce tfrl "*nrurt of the "." of euebec, passenBers pass under a serles of scenlc water irrr-", whlchI,{1n1ral1 cascad.e down from the maln pav11lon:-"""r to _negaii"-rr["*irra rence Rlver be10w. At two polnts the-rrnE pass**o.rJ, the st. Law_ 1tse1f, wh1le at two other locatlons: tii;-"y"tJ. elevated rapld transli_sy"t"r' nniiorrucks ila;;- irrJ "t.na"rd.-gauge aiFREs-s-;.t "'dio"" responslble for laylng out the I'irNrRAiL line!-lan tat<e turesque way 1n whlch the ai*r""ti"u tralnsrurr maris for the p1c_ ,r"na-iir"r, way around the scenlc wonders of the p"rt. "*[itifio" .peratlne over the 4.2 m11es of track on thls maJor I,lrNrRArL 11ne, there are f2 tralns oi--ni"J-.ars aplece. sacir traln 1s feet 1n leneth and has r *"*r*rr--Japaclty of 102 passengers. 125 Genera11y spea[1ne, the t"u"ii--i!*"'"iJo"tua-above and walk-ways, but, as mentlonea-alove, dlps in5--c"o*aed. streets aown occaslonally a1nost to the 1eve1 0f the st. Lawrence. A11 the and operate sonewhat on the-1d;;-oi-"n extended tralns are.crewless trorrzontar erevator. They are palnted blue tramcars 1n Lucerne, Eerne,"rrii" Jna ,"*ina-oo"'-Jiirr" attractlve ""a -rrrm-oi-r,ri""rr-rrl"i"t{tiri,Hii"gg"r o"-n"""f . fnaeea-lf."ir , for they were deslcnec bv the swlss "irorrfd 1n Thun, Swltzerland, "htcn-"orp;;y-;i;"";uppued. and autonatlc control gou:omeni. -cairoares tir"--*r"i"s gear and the superstructure were ln canada ui *re'rruscJn Dlvlslon or-Hirr"" sld.d.etey, ln ill:il:3l:.

****
2

p-av111on was turrred over to the r{ontreal lils World r'. p"rrns- igOg, -ir.J'r*i" clty of ls houslngfor an exhlblt of hlstorlc automouire-s--ana "JJtrl, role played by the motor vehlcle.rn eo"i"i-frogr""r, r*h11e the "or*"roruiu"--tiru 1s equlpped tower wlth electronlc sound equlprnent-ioi crassr""i *".rJJI concerts. oThu Ont".lo exhlblt ,,at Expo 67 contalns,.. ln 196p, a d.1sp1ay fea_ turlng wlnter 11fe, "wlntei-rr'Uy-b"""iir,.-" "" ' 5 A seml-exotlc nark and avlary 1s housed 1n the geodeslc bubble whlch was the u. s.e. i--rrp"=iie ;;";;;;;J e?.

tTh."

glant U.S.S.R. -pav11lon, one slte, was dlsnantled- auring'trf"r"fr.and Aprli fgeg- on the Expo 6T ,of lh"- lulgggt shlpped back tc the u.s.s.R. rt 1s tir"-r-"i"otlon to "rrAthe structur 1n Moscow to commemorare the soviei;" ""-"".Jrtie Expo 6f. iJ"ti"iijiili'",
The
"I'Ian and

B"1t1"h

Expo Exoress - see separate publlcatlon t'Expo Express,t for a de_ ta1led lllustrated descrlptlon of the lnter-mural systern on the Expo 67/ IIan and Hls World exposltlon rapld translt grounds.

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MINIMIL

Trackage wag construeted on the Expo slte by Domlnlon Brldge Conpany to Habe*ger speclflcatlons, wlth Herter Todd and Mygr - rt conslsti of double as iocli consult,ants. "I" beans, 2i*"

on apart,, supported on steel A-franes at 50 foot eentres stralght sectlons and at, 34 foot centres on curved sectlons. Track helght ranges from ground leve1 to a maxlmum of 40 feet above the surroundlngs. The ru11ng grade 1s 1o%, and mlnlmum track radlus 1s flfty feet. Fogles between the passenger cars rlde on t'wo 27tt pneumatlctyred- tract,lon wheels and are gulded by four horlzontal stab11f21ng wheels of 9+" dlameter. Other supplementary gulde,. wheels and 6mergency roliers are provld-ed as shown 1n Exhlblt "Br'. A gear drlve transmlts power to the tractlon wheels differentlal from a 711 Ii.P. D.C. electrlc motor, glvlng an average operatlng speed of about 7! n11es per hour. l,lax1mum speed 1s 1n the v1clnlty of ten n1les per hour.

Although the tractlon motors operate on D.C., current supply 440 volts A.C., 60 cyc1e, J phase. Thls 1s converted to Dlrect Current by a notor-generator set 1n the Leadlng urtts also contaln the leadlng unlt of each traln, automatlc traln control mechanlsn, whlch governs all the tralnsl The only manual controls operatlons except statlon startlng. on the system are the attendant-controlled buttons whlch perrnlt tralns to depart from the statlons. The four statlons on the clrcult are named after the nearest maJor pav111on or well-known landmark for whlch a b1-11ngua1 Thene; deslgnatlon can be enployed: 1.e., Metro; Agrlculture; Canad,a. The fact that the tralns stop at Agrlculture and Theme both on the Metro to Canada Ieg of thelr run and also on thelr return trlp n0akes s1x stops for a fu1l clrcult.
1n the ral1s 1s at
IHE YELLOW I'IINIRAIL

Bas1ca11y g1m11ar to the 'rB1ue I"Iln1ra1l-" system descrlbed 1n the precedlng paragraphs, the t'Ye11ow l41n1ra1i" 1s dlvlded lnto two loops -- one of 1.1 mll-es length servlnB the wester:: end of Ile Ste. Helene - the other I.3 m11es long elrcllng the Arnusement Park area of I-e. Ronde. See Exhlblt "C".- There a-re twelve tralns on each of these two 11nes, wlth a conslst of slxteen cars per fn splte of the Sreater number of passenger-carrylng unlts tra1n. per traln, the total ten[tri of the "ye1low" tralns.. ls only 105 ieet, compared to the 1>5 ft.-long tralns on the.. "BIuerr systen. Comparatlve passenger capacltles are 60 for the "Ye1lowtt tralns and 102 for tire "B1ie ". Track etructure 1s s1lghtly dlfferent 1n detall, but bas1ca1]y s1mllar on all 1lnes. MoJan Ltee were the Montreal contractors for erectlon of the snal1 mlnlrallrs trackage. Detalls are noted ln Exhlblt trD". Hlsto11ca11y, the European-bu1lt ttYellowtt tralns have a more chequered car-eer than thelr Montreal-bu1lt rrBlue'r couslns. They were constructed ln Swltzerland by the Habegger flrm at Thun 1n 1964 for the 9w1ss Natlonal Exhlbltlon held that year at l.e.uzanne. At that tlne they were manually controlled but were eonverted to automatlc operatl-on for servlce- at Expo t67. Slnce 1964 they were held 1n storage, pendlng Just such a use as they are now recelvlng 1n Canada.

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TRACTIO'T

YHEL3 MAfi culDE WHEEL3 ALTENMEIT

IYHEELS

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MINIRAIL
FARE STRUCTIIRE

?AAE 1].

Rldes on the IIe Ste. Helene and La Ronde m1n1ra11 loops are forty cents per passenger, each llne.7,. ?arlffs on the I1e Notre Dane"system -- ttre more-exienslve "Bluett 1lne --_have been rev1sed., After operatlng cents per half-c1rcu1t.z an6 noiv 1t costs flfty for a nunber of weeks durlng 1967 on a basls of "50 cents admlsslon -- rlde where you w1sh" IF you could get on, the authorltles lnaugurated a po11cy of forclng everyone off at the Metro and the canada statlons, maklng rldlng the MINIMIL conslderably more expenslve and. sonewhat less popular. Now, howeverr the queues to galn admlttance to thls popular attractlon are of reasonable proportlons and the statlons are not so completely overvhelmed by lntendlng passengers. 8 The cornplete MINIRAIL system Is owned outrlght by the Canadian Flrst lntentlons were corporatlon for I]ne l-967 world Exhlbltlon. to asslgn thls seeond-ary transportatlon fac111ty to a concesslonalre, but thls plan was later chan8ed and the MINIRAIL 1s operated as part of the Expo'67 servlces. Its popularlty seems to have 3ustlfled thls change of programme, and 1t was reported at the end or ,luty 1967 that over seven m111lon passengers had travelled on the MlnLrall 11nes durlng the flrst three months of operatlon. Prlde 1n 1ts aceonpllshnents and 1ts popularlty ls only cl-ouded by the reallzatlon that 1t 1s so temporary. ,I,ltlth the clcslng of EXPO t67 ln October, the Mlnlrall System w111 no doubt be d1smantled and 1ts rolllng stock stored for use at sone future exhlblIndeed, 1t would be so nlce to be able t1on. e It ls a plty: l!,1 to rlde the attractlve llttle cars 1n future years ---- nraybe aror:ad the enlarged" T1e Ste. Helene Park, or posslbly up the slopes of Mount Royal to the sunnlt of the Mountaln whlch overlookg the Montreal metropolls.

* ***
tFare structure for the 1968 season has not been establlshed as thls publlcatlon goes to press. sThe Mln1ra11 1s now owned by the Clty of Montreal as part of the t'Man andB*po OZ assets taken over by the Clty for the contlnulng Hls World" exposltlon. t1h" frrtlr"e 1s today,l For 1968 at 1east, the M1nlra11 wlll stayl
6 - Upper - The Blue llttnlrail shop lead and sritch, as seen fron a Passing train. Loner - Under the tent-like stmcture which forrned O:ntariors Pavilion at Eloo 6?.
? - Upper - What a lovel;r way to spend an evening! Lower - Train $ passrng over on of the novel rotary sritches.

Page

Page -

Page 9 '

Upper

Ltwer

The

Under the

Minlrail captured the hearts of lts riders' waterfalls beside Regatta Lake'

The

Iellow ltinirail,

on International Nickel Plaza.

carrylng its pas-"engers over the

crowds

Photos

courtesy:

Corporat,lon, Canadian }lational Railways, O. S. A. Lavallee. A. Clegg,

Erpo 57