EDMONTON TRANSIT SYSTEM
This page is going to be a collection of smaller "stuff". Primarily it was for
the speeder and it's cars, but, I'm going to include the hi-rail Gator "Track
Utility Vehicle", and Balco mining battery locomotives, as well as the speeder that seems to have been purchased as a
parts source for #3679.
(Sources: Personal observations, Edmonton's Electric
Transit, Various Editions of the Canadian Trackside Guide)
This page last updated on June 13, 2021
LRT Specialty Equipment
1976 Fairmont Speeder #3679, Cars for Speeder,
the hi-rail Gator #3680
#2012 and a unnumbered counterpart are 1980 Balco Battery Mine Locomotives- These two
oddballs are listed in the CTG as numbers 1 and 2 (which to me doesn't make a
lot of sense), and are listed under type as "Tugger". I've only ever found limited information
about Balco on the internet. I call these mine locomotives as that appears to be
their general style. I would hazard a guess that this pair were used during
construction on the Corona extension in particular, but possibly others. Most
mine locomotives are narrow gauge and these are standard gauge, so I suspect
they were built new for Edmonton Transit. Their use today? I'm not sure! I can't
see one of these things rocketing along the mainline when something like the
speeder is available, or even 3264 below. However, the one in the June 12th pic
appears to have been rebuilt and has some massive batteries. It could be they
are just used as an emissions free vehicle to move stuff around the shops, and
one is probably a parts source. The one in that is stored indoors is fitted with
a primitive knuckle coupler one on end, and the other end has a device that
looks like the same devise used to attach a Scharfenberg coupler to 2010 and
3850 to move LRV's around. 2012 is a duplicate number with the Geismar KGT
tronic.
#3679 is a 1976 Fairmont speeder. This is one of the original
pieces of equipment used during construction of the NE LRT line. Very little is
known about the 4 wheel cars usually seen with the speeder. It is likely
the these date to the original construction as well, as Edmonton's Electric
Transit notes that there are 4 hand cars with 5000 lbs capacity. In addition to
the hand cars, a tool car and platform lift car rounded out the fleet of cars
used with the speeder.
#3679 received a new body built by Edmonton Truck Body in 1992. This unit is the
last active (non historic collection) unit to be in the yellow/ blue stripes
with the "Flying E" livery, although ballast car #2401 does stop a "Flying E"
logo.
Despite the increasing fleet of specialized equipment being purchased for LRT,
it seems that this equipment still fills a specific niche in that the hand cars
are quite low to the ground which makes them useful around worksites, rather
than equipment with higher mounted flat decks. The speeder and hand cars
recently have seen a lot of use on tie replacement projects.
2112 is currently sitting in the weeds at DLM.
3855 is off of the rails, but still at DLM not in use.
Additional, and perhaps more interesting photos, can be found in the "Projects"
section under "trains" which will be overall shots of the Speeder hauling cars
around.
February 19, 2003
ETS #3679 with 2112 with a crane mounted is seen heading
south over the grade crossing at 129 Ave. 3679 was heading down to the Grandin crossover to pick up some welding
equipment.