The Type 1 MAX Cars are Retiring

This is a video I knew I'd one day be making. After 37 years, the original high floor MAX Type 1s are officially being retired. 2 of them have already been decommissioned (102 and 108), one has been used as a part harvest for multiple years (106), and another one might be next for the chopping block (116). These trains have held up incredibly well over the three (almost four) decades in service. But, it's very exciting that we're getting them replaced with the type 6 trains. We just got a preview of the type 6's two Sundays ago, so we can see what Portland's future holds.

[@onhiatus526]

Goodbye Type 1s. I've never ridden on you nor am I from Portland. I'll miss these!

[@OddsandEnds]

RIP types 1s you will be missed

[@rosecitybusman129]

The Type 1s are my all time favorite Max Trains, I always go on them when possible. But here’s what I would’ve done if I were Trimet. During overhaul instead of just replacing the seats and putting a new livery on them. I would’ve also did was add reader board signs like they did with the Type 2s and 3s while also add bike racks where the wheelchair spots are. I would automate the roll signs during overhaul before the Type 1s got led destination signs. The seats would be swapped out for Type 2/3/4/ and 5 seats depending on when it’s was overhauled For retirement, 103 would be donated to Oregon Electric Railway Museum and keep 102 until it can be donated to Oregon Rail Heritage Center. Max car 120 would be kept in Trimet but it would be overhauled to be converted to as much as it original state as possible and would be a Heritage Max train running occasionally. The rest would be on sale.

[@joshuateicher4254]

That buzzing sound from the Type 1’s are the generators. Sad to see these go - rest in peace, Type 1’s. Fortunately I got to ride all 26 of them in the past five years.

[@psychonautO8743]

I have only rode three Type 1 cars: 107, 112, and 114

[@siaa9992]

i have similar early childhood memories of the old crown-ikarus articulated buses. super cool history but im sure glad transit design has improved since the last 1900s xD

[@ezekiel5500]

Right before the red line opened up, they were testing a type 6 between Mt. hood ave and the Airport.

[@BlueCometEntertainment347]

You went to The Wiggles Show in 2004? I went to that show too! That was my very first Wiggles show and it was exciting! I think I road the MAX there too! Even though I don't know you, we were probably there at the same time!

[@BalooUriza]

102 and 108 were decommissioned because of traffic collisions, both with PFB fire apparatus, IIRC; and the reason it's now city code that MAX trains may proceed as signaled in the autoblocks and fire equipment must yield to trains, but outside block territory (where they're effectively operating in "dark" territory that "happens to have" transit priority signals because they're running on-street, like in downtown Portland, Hillsboro and on East Burnside and North Interstate) the trains must yield to emergency vehicles the same as buses, within the reasonable expectation that they're confined to the course of the tracks. One of these two vehicles ended up having it's body cut off its chassis and mounted on the frame of a 1982 Ikarus 286 18m-long articulated bus (which, given the Cold War, the fact Portland had a GIGANTIC fleet of Soviet Union buses purchased during the Ronald Reagan administration is just baffling, since I can recall at least the 57 Forest Grove, 91X Forest Grove Express, 58X Sunset Highway Express, and 12 Crosstown/King City/Portland Airport and 12X Crosstown Express all ran these things with as low as 3 minute frequency on routes longer than most American cities are wide, and there were no doubt even more northside and eastside lines that used these buses just as much, a whole different story) and used for the MAX rooftop fight scene in the Harrison Ford movie The Hunted (I appear in that briefly on a red 1998 Gary Fisher Wahoo mountain bike I rebuilt into the closest thing to a city bike that America has, with halogen headlights, wearing a red wool Scout coat, swerving into the adjacent bicycle lane at the surprise of getting passed by a MAX train at a high rate of speed, since the bridge they filmed on was the Hawthorne Bridge, which car and bus traffic runs down the median of a huge divided cycleway that i was driving my bicycle on the day they filmed the take that made the final cut, since the cycleway was not closed during the shoot and it's the main crosstown route owing to being the flattest bridge to cross on a bicycle). Last I heard, Trimet already has plans to refurbish those cars every decade until the mid-2090s, keeping them in service as rush-hour and relief-train cars, since they're still the most universal cars in the fleet in terms of what they can couple to, since Trimet still uses them as their universal baseline vehicle on the MAX network. The only reason the Type II and likely all versions newer were low floor is because of the the completely idiot choices to go with low platforms with the original Bombardier equipment (which was designed for high platforms, the stairwells are a Portland-specific feature, all other cities that used that LRV had high platforms with level boarding on those cars with the same floorplan!) and that Trimet got swiftly and quite correctly sued for the lack of stepfree access as one of the first ADA of 1988 cases (which would have been avoided if Portland went with normal, high level platforms, and the reason why the only time you see single car type 1 train is because the destination signs say "NOT IN SERVICE" and don't open doors even if they're stuck at a signal at a platform now; Whenever you see this, it's invariably because a more modern single-car double-cab unit got cut out on a pocket track because it won't drive, in which it will probably return to revenue service as an unscheduled train, which is how you sometimes get the weird Blue line train to Elmonica or Ruby Junction on a branch normally only served by Yellow (Orange on the south side for racially discriminatory reasons), Red, Blue or Green trains). This further screws Portland because the low floor LRVs are _terrible_ in tunnels; I'm pretty sure only the type 1 cars with the windows closed pass OSHA-acceptable sound levels inside in tunnels. And they're burying the downtown MAX lines to uncomplicate running for the Portland Streetcar and enable trains longer than two cars on MAX. Or for that matter, enable the use of the Type 4 cars really at all since stopping the front end of the train at the signal stop bar meant the back of a two car type 4 train blocked the entire crosswalk and part of a lane of traffic, and the last door would often open into a guardrail past the end of the platform, with that year's Siemans LRVs being a completely inappropriately long, low capacity (lowest passenger capacity of any LRV in the Portland system) and inflexible (only one cab per car, so all Type 4 trains operate as a 2-car married set due to the lack of balloon tracks at the end of all mainlines, despite the fact that they stick out into traffic and block pedestrian access at most on-street platforms).

[@oregonpaul3752]

In places like San Diego that runs 3 car sets, it was nice that the old high floor cars would go in the middle, so wheelchairs would know where not to wait for the train

[@oregonpaul3752]

Well, we will aways be able to visit the one in Brooks 😂. I wonder how many Type 6s have been delivered? We could be over a year away from the final goodbye if they are being delivered slowly

[@BrodieJohnson-zq1bs]

Hi

[@ferris-fam]

0:52 Monday reviews??? lol

[@hotswap6894]

This video felt like it had multiple endings, lmao. I really like the type 1s and will miss them dearly. The way they were integrated into current operations gave me an idea about how rail transit systems around the world could better accomodate all users, and that would be to couple different types of train cars together with different configurations. For example a 4 car train could have 2 high floor cars on the ends of the consist that have more room for those that want to sit down for longer distances while the 2 middle cars would be low floor with an open floor plan with longitudinal seating where people that are mobility impared or have bikes or just want to stand can use those, instead of each individual car trying to accomodate all users you could specialize them. I wouldnt have ever thought of something like this if Trimet.et hadn't used the type ones the way they do

[@artsyheartsy361]

I agree. I like the high floor cars because I find they can be less crowded, especially with houseless people that bring on their shopping carts and other bulky items onto the more accessible trains. I wish they'd keep those higher floor ones for riders that are able to just climb up and sit down

[@MrJeep75]

Brooks electric train museum getting one the rest is getting scrap

[@BrodieJohnson-zq1bs]

R u a trimet driver

[@trimet101]

No I don't work for Trimet (at least not yet), but I know a few people who do, including operators

[@BrodieJohnson-zq1bs]

Hi