Did you ever get to ride on this?

First, you'd have to be old enough to remember one of Canada's once famous trains. 

This said, I guess I qualify because I'd just become a teenager and rode these trains over their short route several times during 1967.

The Expo Express was a rapid transit system consisting of five stations and a 3.5 mile route, running from Cité du Havre to La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Built for the 1967 World's Fair Expo 67 at a cost of around $18 million (CAD), these trains carried 1,000 passengers each and ran approximately every five minutes.

In 1968 the cars were sold to the City of Montreal for $1.8 million and operated by the Montreal Transit Commission. The train remained in service for five more years for Man and His World (summer only); however, from 1969 onward, they ran on a shortened route when the terminus was cut back to Saint Helen's Island. After the 1972 season the service was withdrawn.

Interior of Expo Express train looking toward front

Interior of Expo Express train looking toward rear of car

The Expo Express used standard railway technology, with two running rails and a third electrified rail identical to those of the Toronto subway. In fact, the trains used were a modified version of the Hawker Siddeley H-series used by the Toronto Transit Commission, except with one less door on each side, and streamlined ends. Consequently, unlike Montreal's Metro with rubber tires, the Expo Express used traditional steel-wheeled trains. The Expo Express also featured fully air conditioned passenger cars, whereas Montreal's Metro does not.

The Expo Express was the first fully automated rapid transit system in North America, utilizing an Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system based on audio frequency track circuits furnished by the Union Switch & Signal division of Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

This fact, however, was not widely publicized during the fair, as it was felt the public would not readily board a train controlled entirely by a computer. Operators from Montreal's transit union were placed in cabs at the front and given mundane tasks such as opening and closing the doors of the train to reduce boredom. 

 

July 1967

 

In 1973, the trains were stored on the Concorde Bridge between Saint Helen's and Notre Dame Islands. The north end of the line was demolished in 1974. In summer 1979 the trains were moved to the Port of Montreal via a temporary track, and stored at the nearby CN Point St-Charles Shops.

After several unrealized schemes including a reported sale to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the cars were moved from Point St-Charles to an outdoor field storage facility in Les Cèdres in the mid/late 1980s, and were scrapped in 1995.

 

(Most of this material was taken from Wikipedia)

 

 

 The Oddblock Station Agent

 

 

Back From the Dead?

August 11, 2020

CP: “We’re Back” on the Atlantic Ocean

Written by Andrew Corselli, Managing Editor, Railway Age

Canadian Pacific (CP) officially launched its international intermodal service through the Port of Saint John, N.B. the morning of Aug. 11. The inaugural train carried containers from the Hapag-Lloyd vessel Detroit Express bound for intermodal terminals on the CP network in Canada and the U.S.

CP originated westbound train 251-11 for the Montreal region at Brownville Junction, Maine, with the first Port of Saint John containers on connection from the New Brunswick Southern (NBSR) and Eastern Maine (EMRY) railways. From Montreal, CP will move containers from the vessel Detroit Express on connecting trains to destinations that include Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Chicago and Minneapolis.

The first eastbound intermodal train to the Port of Saint John departed Montreal on Friday, Aug. 7.

CP gained access to the Port of Saint John via its purchase of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CMQ), completed in June. CP “has committed to investing $90 million over three years into the CMQ property to enhance safety and efficiency over the corridor. Complementing that investment is the port’s $205 million West Side Modernization project, which includes a new wharf, a terminal upgrade and a deeper shipping channel.”

CP said it anticipates that by year’s end it will be able to offer 24-hour service between Saint John and Montreal.

“The new Port of Saint John service offers shippers a compelling value: a congestion-free port with a world-class operator, matched with CP’s Precision Scheduled Railroading model,” said Keith Creel, CP President and CEO. “CP has been without access to a deep-water Atlantic Ocean port for a quarter-century, and today I’m pleased to deliver a simple message: We’re back.”

“The Port of Saint John connection gives us the rare opportunity to offer shippers a truly new and extremely compelling service to reach North American markets,” said Jonathan Wahba, CP VP Sales and Marketing Intermodal and Automotive. “With a world-class terminal operator in DP World and CP’s investment in the CMQ, our customers will enjoy an unmatched value proposition that will benefit beneficial cargo owners for years to come.”

Footnote:

No caption was provided with the photograph at the top of this post, however the location is undoubtedly the renown railway bridge at Onawa, Maine.

This following image recorded some twenty-six or more years earlier should remove all doubt as to the location.