MmffiflmanUaa aa oaat Expo 67 and Man and his World

by Anthony Clegg

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An excellent vierr of all the attract'ionsis seen from the litt1e Minirail trains.

Mffiffiflmaflilfrou lnformatLon cou:rtesy T. Zsenaty and D.

by Anthony Clegg

CE,,.^,(9wo t67 Ls,' by almost all standards, an unquallfled success.

Judged solely by the publlshed attendance flgures, thls 1s un-questlonably so, ald the 'rlilontreal Worldrs Falrrt, the flrst Class"A" Exposltlon heId. under the ausplces of the Iniernatlonal Bureauof Exposltlons 1n the Western Henlsphere, 1s attractlng j4/" morevlsltors than was orlglnally estlmated.. Thlg tremendous acceptanceof Expo by Montrealers and vlsltors a11ke ls nonet,heless the caueeof one of the chlef conplalnts - the long 11ne-ups to galn adnlt-tance to the varlous pav111ons and attractlons. And nowhere hasthe waltlng been longer and the queues more extenslve then the l-1ne-ups to rlde the MINIRAIL, the open-alr scenlc rldes around and abovethe Exposltlon Gnounilg.

MINIF,AIL has captured the hearts of practlcally al1 lts rldersto an extent not even vaguely foreseen by the Expo planners. Itwas deslgned or1g1na11y not as an amugement r1de, but as a neans oftranslt -- not Rapld lranslt, but a secondary Local transportatlonservice to acconmodate Expo_.vlsltors. The maln route, coloqulaIlyknown as "The Blue M1n1ra1ltrfrom the colour of 1ts cars, wag lalhout to pass close to practlcally all the lnportant polnts on thecentral part of f1e St,e. Helene and Ile Notre Darne. (See Exhlblt"A"). The western part of I1e Ste. Helene and the I-a Roncle Anuse-ment Park are served by slnllar but somewhat snaller MINIRAIL t,ralnsoperatlng over lndependent loops and generally referred to as rtheYel1ow Mlnlralls" due to the yellow canoples fltted over the d1m1nu-tlve open cars. (See Exhlblt "C")

***tF'Th1" r""ount was wrltten durlng the sunmer of L967 durlng the suc-cessful Worldrs Falr -- Expo 67. Durlng the wlnter of 1967-68,a number of changes were made on the slte to accommodate the 1968exposltlon, ttMan and H1s Worldrt, and. these changes --- where theyaffect the descrlptlon of the Mlnlral1 system --- have been noted- inthe footnotes. The sponsorshlp and the names of certaln pav111onshave been revlsed for 1968 and these changes also have been noted1n the footnotes to the orLglnal artlc1e.

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IO- DIFFEREIITIAL OEAR ORIVE

IYPICAL

IIli ELrrE MII\IRAIL

0n the ma'10r MTNTHATL clrcult' there are slx passenger stopsstrateslcatly located close to-iie r-i;il";';""iiio;". The 11ttletralns p^ass beslde. the glant-USSR._pav111on, 1n front of theErltlsh J and French. strictures, -a.na- thr_eaa--'trleir way amongst thelarge rock slabs at the ontario o exhlbli. -"it"y

pr., dlrectlvthroush the centre of_the ;;;iii"" "i -;;; -'unri"i'states

of Ameir1ca, 5 whlch 1s shaped lrke'a'rr'.r!"."ry"ta1 ba11, although Mln1ra1ltralns do not halt at thre polni.-lna tiie crosesi'f,"*""u.g"r stop 1ssome r-50o feet dlstant. ei "." pornt, ;;;;;;; tfrl "*nrurt of theP.ovlnce of ontarlo o in. iir"i- or't,r.e provtnce of euebec, I,{1n1ral1passenBers pass under a serles of scenlc water irrr-", whlch cascad.edown from the maln pav11lon:-"""r to _negaii"-rr["*irra the st. Law_rence Rlver be10w. At two polnts the-rrnE pass**o.rJ, 1tse1f, wh1leat two other locatlons: tii;-"y"tJ. rrucks ila;;- irrJ "t.na"rd.-gaugeelevated rapld transli_sy"t"r' nniio aiFREs-s-;.t "'dio"" responslblefor laylng out the I'irNrRAiL line!-lan tat<e rurr maris for the p1c_turesque way 1n whlch the ai*r""ti"u tralns ,r"na-iir"r, way aroundthe scenlc wonders of the "*[itifio" p"rt.

.peratlne over the 4.2 m11es of track on thls maJor I,lrNrRArL11ne, there are f2 tralns oi--ni"J-.ars aplece. sacir traln 1s 125feet 1n leneth and has r *"*r*rr--Japaclty of 102 passengers. Gen-era11y spea[1ne, the t"u"ii--i!*"'"iJo"tua-above in5--c"o*aed. streetsand walk-ways, but, as mentlonea-alove, dlps aown occaslonally a1-nost to the 1eve1 0f the st. Lawrence. A11 the tralns are.crewlessand operate sonewhat on the-1d;;-oi-"n extended trorrzontar erevator.They are palnted blue ""a "rrii" Jna ,"*ina-oo"'-Jiirr" attractlvetramcars 1n Lucerne, Eerne, o"-n"""f . fnaeea-lf."ir "irorrfd , for theywere deslcnec bv the swlss

-rrrm-oi-r,ri""rr-rrl"i"t{tiri,Hii"gg"r 1n Thun,Swltzerland,

"htcn-"orp;;y-;i;"";uppued. tir"--*r"i"s gear and theautonatlc control gou:omeni. -cairoares and superstructure were

ill:il:3l:. ln canada ui *re'rruscJn Dlvlslon or-Hirr"" sld.d.etey, ln

****2 The glant U.S.S.R. -pav11lon, one ,of lh"- lulgggt on the Expo 6Tslte, was dlsnantled- auring'trf"r"fr.and Aprli fgeg-

"rrA shlpped backtc the u.s.s.R. rt 1s tir"-r-"i"otlon to ""-"".Jrtie the structur€1n Moscow to commemorare the soviei;" iJ"ti"iijiili'", Expo 6f.tTh." B"1t1"h p-av111on was turrred over to the clty of r{ontreal for"I'Ian and lils World r'. p"rrns- igOg, -ir.J'r*i" "JJtrl, ls houslng anexhlblt of hlstorlc automouire-s--ana

"or*"roruiu"--tiru role playedby the motor vehlcle.rn eo"i"i-frogr""r, r*h11e the tower 1s equlppedwlth 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 bubblewhlch was the u. s.e. i--rrp"=iie ;;";;;;;J "t"dirJ e?.6Expo Exoress - seeta1led lllustratedsystern on the Expo

separate publlcatlondescrlptlon of the67/ IIan and Hls World

t'Expo Express,t for a de_lnter-mural rapld transltexposltlon grounds.

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Paee B MINIMIL

Trackage wag construeted on the Expo slte by Domlnlon BrldgeConpany to Habe*ger speclflcatlons, wlth Herter Todd and Mygras iocli consult,ants. - rt conslsti of double "I" beans, 2i*"apart,, supported on steel A-franes at 50 foot eentres onstralght sectlons and at, 34 foot centres on curved sectlons.Track helght ranges from ground leve1 to a maxlmum of 40 feetabove the surroundlngs. The ru11ng grade 1s 1o%, and mlnlmumtrack radlus 1s flfty feet.

Fogles between the passenger cars rlde on t'wo 27tt pneumatlc-tyred- tract,lon wheels and are gulded by four horlzontal stab11-f21ng wheels of 9+" dlameter. Other supplementary gulde,. wheelsand 6mergency roliers are provld-ed as shown 1n Exhlblt "Br'. Adifferentlal gear drlve transmlts power to the tractlon wheelsfrom a 711 Ii.P. D.C. electrlc motor, glvlng an average operatlngspeed of about 7! n11es per hour. l,lax1mum speed 1s 1n the v1-clnlty of ten n1les per hour.

Although the tractlon motors operate on D.C., current supply1n the ral1s 1s at 440 volts A.C., 60 cyc1e, J phase. Thls 1sconverted to Dlrect Current by a notor-generator set 1n theleadlng unlt of each traln, Leadlng urtts also contaln theautomatlc traln control mechanlsn, whlch governs all the tralnsloperatlons except statlon startlng. The only manual controlson the system are the attendant-controlled buttons whlch perrnlttralns to depart from the statlons.

The four statlons on the clrcult are named after the nearestmaJor pav111on or well-known landmark for whlch a b1-11ngua1deslgnatlon can be enployed: 1.e., Metro; Agrlculture; Thene;Canad,a. The fact that the tralns stop at Agrlculture and Themeboth on the Metro to Canada Ieg of thelr run and also on thelrreturn trlp n0akes s1x stops for a fu1l clrcult.

IHE YELLOW I'IINIRAIL

Bas1ca11y g1m11ar to the 'rB1ue I"Iln1ra1l-" system descrlbed 1nthe precedlng paragraphs, the t'Ye11ow l41n1ra1i" 1s dlvlded lntotwo loops -- one of 1.1 mll-es length servlnB the wester:: end ofIle Ste. Helene - the other I.3 m11es long elrcllng the ArnusementPark area of I-e. Ronde. See Exhlblt "C".- There a-re twelve tralnson each of these two 11nes, wlth a conslst of slxteen cars pertra1n. fn splte of the Sreater number of passenger-carrylng unltsper traln, the total ten[tri of the "ye1low" tralns.. ls only 105ieet, compared to the 1>5 ft.-long tralns on the.. "BIuerr systen.Comparatlve passenger capacltles are 60 for the "Ye1lowtt tralnsand 102 for tire "B1ie ".

Track etructure 1s s1lghtly dlfferent 1n detall, but bas1ca1]ys1mllar on all 1lnes. MoJan Ltee were the Montreal contractorsfor erectlon of the snal1 mlnlrallrs trackage. Detalls are notedln Exhlblt trD".

Hlsto11ca11y, the European-bu1lt ttYellowtt tralns have a morechequered car-eer than thelr Montreal-bu1lt rrBlue'r couslns. Theywere constructed ln Swltzerland by the Habegger flrm at Thun 1n1964 for the 9w1ss Natlonal Exhlbltlon held that year at l.e.uzanne.At that tlne they were manually controlled but were eonverted toautomatlc operatl-on for servlce- at Expo t67. Slnce 1964 they wereheld 1n storage, pendlng Just such a use as they are now recelvlng1n Canada.

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MINIRAIL ?AAE 1].

FARE STRUCTIIRE

Rldes on the IIe Ste. Helene and La Ronde m1n1ra11 loops areforty cents per passenger, each llne.7,. ?arlffs on the I1e NotreDane"system -- ttre more-exienslve "Bluett 1lne --_have been rev1sed.,an6 noiv 1t costs flfty cents per half-c1rcu1t.z After operatlngfor a nunber of weeks durlng 1967 on a basls of "50 cents admls-slon -- rlde where you w1sh" IF you could get on, the authorltleslnaugurated a po11cy of forclng everyone off at the Metro and thecanada statlons, maklng rldlng the MINIMIL conslderably more ex-penslve and. sonewhat less popular. Now, howeverr the queues togaln admlttance to thls popular attractlon are of reasonable pro-portlons and the statlons are not so completely overvhelmed bylntendlng passengers.

The cornplete MINIRAIL system Is owned 8 outrlght by the Canadian

corporatlon for I]ne l-967 world Exhlbltlon. Flrst lntentlons wereto asslgn thls seeond-ary transportatlon fac111ty to a concesslon-alre, but thls plan was later chan8ed and the MINIRAIL 1s operatedas part of the Expo'67 servlces. Its popularlty seems to have3ustlfled thls change of programme, and 1t was reported at the endor ,luty 1967 that over seven m111lon passengers had travelled onthe MlnLrall 11nes durlng the flrst three months of operatlon.

Prlde 1n 1ts aceonpllshnents and 1ts popularlty ls only cl-oudedby the reallzatlon that 1t 1s so temporary. ,I,ltlth the clcslng ofEXPO t67 ln October, the Mlnlrall System w111 no doubt be d1s-mantled and 1ts rolllng stock stored for use at sone future exhlbl-t1on. e It ls a plty: l!,1 Indeed, 1t would be so nlce to be ableto rlde the attractlve llttle cars 1n future years ---- nraybe aror:adthe enlarged" T1e Ste. Helene Park, or posslbly up the slopes ofMount Royal to the sunnlt of the Mountaln whlch overlookg theMontreal metropolls.

* ***tFare structure for the 1968 season has not been establlshed as thlspubllcatlon goes to press.

sThe Mln1ra11 1s now owned by the Clty of Montreal as part of theB*po OZ assets taken over by the Clty for the contlnulng t'Man and-

Hls World" exposltlon.t1h" frrtlr"e 1s today,l For 1968 at 1east, the M1nlra11 wlll stayl

Page 6 - Upper - The Blue llttnlrail shop lead and sritch, as seenfron a Passing train.

Loner - Under the tent-like stmcture which forrned O:nt-ariors Pavilion at Eloo 6?.

Page ? - Upper - What a lovel;r way to spend an evening!- Lower - Train $ passrng over on€ of the novel rotary

sritches.

Page 9 - Upper - The Minlrail captured the hearts of lts riders'' Ltwer - Under the waterfalls beside Regatta Lake'

The Iellow ltinirail, carrylng its pas-"engers over the crowdson International Nickel Plaza.

Photos courtesy: Erpo 57 Corporat,lon, Canadian }lational Railways,A. Clegg, O. S. A. Lavallee.