Matt! Matt! Quit drooling – you’ll ruin your keyboard! We’ll all help you look for that “lost station”, OK?
Now calm down. It’s not going anywhere.
I’ve finished the green line in my website!
27 stations down, 38 to go.
Just a comment to dewt:
Perhaps the term you meant to use was “engineer” instead of “architect” - but being either doesn’t exclude the ability to be artistic. Bad design can be done by anyone - artists, engineers, architects, city officials. It is not exclusive. And saying that a beautiful object can not be designed by an architect is offensive.
I can tell you’ve never ridden the Washington D.C. Metro during peak hours. 
People are committed to defying the fact that two objects cannot occupy the same physical space at the same time.
Wow! This is great - all my travelmates thought I was weird for taking pictures of the métro stations in Paris this summer - but they’re SO cool!
What a good idea, matt! Can’t wait to see the final project…
I hope it’s not to late to chime in with a “me too.” I’m enchanted by good public transit. I’m live in a city that doesn’t have a dense enough population for efficient mass transit. We have a half-hearted bus system, and a subway would be completely impractical (but fun!).
I love to travel to cities with great mass transit systems, and I think they’re part of the charm of a place like San Francisco, New York, or Chicago. It’s so much fun to fly in and not have to rent a car at all. I haven’t been to L.A. in a long time, and one reason I’m wanting to go back is the new subway I’ve been hearing about. I always get a mass transit pass when I visit these cities, and I save them as souvenirs. One of the best times I had in New York was touring it via subway (and taking a bus through Manhattan at rush hour - very inefficient for commuting, I’m sure, but you really have time to see the sights).
I’m looking forward to seeing the completed project!
I’m a closet transit geek. I was on the very first train that ran in the subway portion of the Buffalo, New York Metro Rail. Still have all the souvenirs, too, including a collector’s edition of USA Today, keychains, lollypops, and other goodies. I traveled extensively through the Buffalo area, hunting down remnants of the city’s once extensive streetcar and interurban network. Many right-of-ways are still intact but empty, save for a few relics like cantenary supports and station platforms, and the streetcar rails still poke through city streets after a harsh winter.
Other rapid transit systems that I’ve been on – Toronto (complete), Chicago (complete, including all Metra lines), Atlanta (complete), Cleveland, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Denver. I won’t even get into my road geekiness, which includes a fascination with cleared but undeveloped right-of-ways, exits to nowhere …
I meant to comment on this as well. Architecture is the art of designing buildings, as sculpture is the art of sculpting.
One of my favourite stations, Radisson, has no person listed as its “artist”. It’s still a beautiful space.
(Note to non-Montrealers: you can see this station in the Bruce Willis flick The Jackal, filling in for the DC station Capitol Heights. You can also see Lionel-Groulx metro, the one where I have to change trains to go to school, filling in for Metro Center.)
Quick question on definitions: The Montreal Metro vehicles run on rubber tires on flat surfaces. Is it therefore really a “train” system, is it really articulated buses running on dedicated roads?
Not that it really matters. Having a good mass transit system, whatever the technology, is what’s important.
I’ve ridden on most of the local train systems in the US, subways and surface both, and in a number of other countries, too, Montreal’s as much as any. I’d really like to know why ours always seem to be dirty, broken down, too-infrequently operating, delay-ridden, and with many uninterested employees. It just doesn’t take all that much to care about your work. Montreal’s system is surpassed only by Hong Kong’s in my experience for quality and efficiency of service as well as cleanliness.
I too love trains. As a kid, I was the envy of the neighbourhood children because of my model train “diarama”.
It took up nearly half of our basement.
Money is tight when you’re twelve. I used to make trees out of broccoli. A wire bread bag twist tie shoved up the stalk, and a quick dip in some varnish, created a tree or shrub good enough to please almost any 12 year old.
I’ve never taken a ride on a train before.
I’m in love with the Rockie Mountaineer(sp?). It runs past work here every Tuesday.
What a beautiful peice of work.
Trains rock…and um roll.
Gosh, Matt, now you’ve got me eager to visit Montreal just to check out the Metro. I also dig riding trains and prefer it to driving to work.
The Seoul Subway system is the most extensive I’ve seen. It has 8 lines, and extends from Kimpo Airport all the way down to Suwon, about 30 km south of Seoul, or west to Inchon on the ocean. The newer train stations are really beautiful, and you can buy newspapers, coffee, and soda on the platforms to consume while you wait for your train. Trans- ferring between lines is a breeze. At most of the subway entrances are shopping arcades and there are often little old ladies on the subway steps selling roasted ears of corn or chestnuts or ddok, a local sweet rice cake. There are plenty of signs in English and Korean to help tourists find their way to their destinations.
The Tokyo Subway is equally awesome. It has eight lines and it extends out to Haneda Airport. The Yamanote line makes a circle around Tokyo, making it easy to hop onto one of the feeder lines to your destination. The Tokyo subway cars are clean and luxurious, but the individual stations lack the local color of the Seoul Subway. The Tokyo subway also connects to the Japan Rail system through Tokyo Station, so you can transfer to the shinkansen, or bullet train easily.
The Kyoto Subway only has two lines and they don’t go out to the main temple areas of Higashiyama or Arashiyama, but if you just want to hit the main shopping areas and hook up with the JR station, the subway are useful. It has a very utilitarian look, and lacks beauty.
Hong Kong’s MTR is clean, efficient, and is an easy way to get around without having to drive. It has four lines, and you can ride the MTR up to the Guangdong border. It doesn’t extend as far as I would like around the island of Hong Kong itself, or up to the New Territories, but if you just want to get around Kowloonside, it’s a dream to use.
The Taipei Metro is brand new, and it is still being built, but the lines that are open make it a great alternative to cabs and buses in an unbelievably crowded and filthy city. Taipei easily has the worst pollution of any city I’ve been to in Asia. I particularly liked the station next to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. It’s built to resemble a Chinese temple, complete with a blue-tiled roof. The ticket dispensers have signs in English and Chinese, so they’re not as intimidating as Japanese ticket machines.
I’ve heard the metro trains called “bus-type trains” before, but I’ve never heard anyone suggest that they are not trains.
BTW, any Doper who happens to come to Mtl has a standing invitation to a guided tour of the metro by yours truly. This means you, Goboy.
I have thought of doing the same in Lego.
Anyone know where you can buy bulk Lego?
We are getting choo-choos in Ottawa this year, after a fifty-year absence. It’s a dinky “pilot project” for now, but it might end up replacing the rinky-dinker “transitway” in due course. One can only hope.
Great thread, matt_mcl! Another fan of Decent Public Transport checking in, from a city whose system is Terribly Underfunded.
Last time I was in Montréal, I loved the Metro. At the time (1992) I was terrified of trying to speak French and failing, and barely said a word during the time I was in the city, but I had no trouble getting around on the Metro. 
And the stations are much more beautiful than the ones in Toronto. I like Toronto, but sometimes we can be sooo dense when it comes to civic beauty.
[sub]It’s all Mike Harris’ fault, of course[/sub]
If you ever do a walking tour of the Metro, I may just come to Montréal for the occaision. Besides, I owe the friends who helped me move dinner in The Restaurant Of Their Choice, and that restaurant just happens to be in Montréal. Maybe we can coordinate.
let me know when your Metro pages are up!
Trust me, Phil, Washington Metro riders got nothing on the people in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Metro or bus.
While we’re on the subject, the Washington Metro finally completed its last line earlier this year - the Green Line; several stations smack in the middle were awaiting completion. Literally the day after they were finished a man got on board at a terminal station and rode the entire damn system. They had an article about him the next day - turns out to be someone I know and work with on occasion.
Unfortunately, he’s the kind of guy I’d back away from slowly if he started talking about much of anything.
*Originally posted by ElvisL1ves *
I was in Montreal in early July (I saw Canada Day, that was fun) and got a good look at the subway. It’s definitely not a bus, since the wheels are mounted on trucks, just like any train. The trucks are guided between these vertical things and keep everything in line.
Still, we couldn’t precisely figure out the purpose of the system on the subway cars. There are also regular train rails and regular train wheels w/ flanges hidden behind the tires. The rails are worn and so are the tires and where the tires travel. ie, it looks like both are used at the same time. We just couldn’t figure out why they had that odd, apparantly redunant system.
I wonder how many miles those tires go before they need to replace them…
FWIW, the Metro didn’t look as clean as I remember it when I visited a little more than a decade ago. Though it’s still wayyy better than NYC, for example!
matt_mcl, you say the Metro project is on your website. I followed your link but couldn’t find it…
I love Boston’s Green Line subway. Oldest subway in the Americas, woo hoo!
Hmm, after reading this thread, I understand your fascination with the Metro a little bit better. Sorry, I don’t share it to the same extent. You see, I remember when it was built (if you think that Berri/de Maisonneuve is bad for traffic, you should have seen it when it was dug up ! And the Olympic extension, I was living two corners away from the stadium at that time) and I remember the annoyances that it caused. However, I do see the good points of this system. It made the island smaller. Areas that were hard too reach previously, are now easily accessible. And you’re right, it should be extended (I personally favor extension in the West Island and to RDP and Pointe-aux-Trembles).
Here is a little bit of Metro humor. When the Olympic extension was being built (c. 1974-75), a radio talk show host (IIRC it was Yvan Ducharme) asked his listeners the following question : “During the digging of the Metro tunnels, they have discovered a cheese mine. Should they exploit it or should they forge ahead and continue digging ?” Most people where in favor of exploiting it ! :eek:
Oh, BTW, two more movies for your list. The first one David Cronenberg’s Rabid and a Québec movie, Jean-Claude Lord’s Bingo. Both from the early seventies.
Without going into great detail about history, theory and psychoanalysis…
Ever since humankind created powered locomotion, there have always been those who are particulatly passionate about it.
Racecars, motorcycles, balloons, planes, helicopters, trains, boats, hovercraft, etc. You name it and I’ll bet that there’s some segment of the population that’s all googly over it.
Sounds like quite a work of art to me. Art takes many forms. I applaud yours.
I’ve ridden the subway/metro/underground in several cities, and I think that Montreal has one of the nicest.
Good luck on your project!
Here’s a clarifier: the metro’s tires run on concrete pads. The steel rails serve as emergency rails in case of tire deflation, for certain support vehicles that use more conventional steel wheels, and to guide the train while changing tracks. An explanation of the principle of tire-using trains can be found at http://www.emdx.org/rail/metro/principe.html (but in French).
It’s not on my personal website. It’s also not entirely up yet, so I’ll post the link when it’s finished.