The secret Mark II SkyTrain cars
The secret Mark II SkyTrain cars
When TransLink took over transit in 1999, the Millennium Line was announced by the provincial government and about to break ground. Construction began in October 1999 and the new line opened in 2002.
As part of the project, SkyTrain added 60 Mark II cars to the fleet to the new line and to meet booming ridership. The Mark II cars were the next generation that followed the original Mark I cars that arrived when the Expo Line opened in 1985.
But did you know – the first bit of work designing the next generation of SkyTrain cars began about a decade earlier?
A mock-up of what a Mark II could look like was developed by BC Transit in 1991. It was displayed at the PNE and Scott Road Station to gauge the public’s reaction and test seating configurations.
Built from wood by a movie production company – oddly at Celtic Shipyards in south Vancouver, it was only half a car and had mirrors at the end to make the interior look larger.
An actual engineering test car, nicknamed White Ghost by BCRTC, was also developed to test a new steerable truck design. The truck is the structure underneath the train where the wheels are and it’s what the cabin rests on, like an axle on a car.
Aside from testing a new truck, engineers wanted to see how far the dimensions of a Mark I train could be widened and lengthened to create a higher capacity car that could still fit on the SkyTrain network.
The car didn’t have any propulsion, braking or any systems onboard as it was never intended to carry customers. During testing, it was pushed by a Mark I train in manual mode to test the design and clearances of the prototype.
It was moved into storage at a BC Hydro facility in the mid-1990s before being donated to the West Coast Railway Association in Squamish in 2007. The association plans to one day have it as part of a new Museum of Railway Technology exhibit, showcasing railway technology development from 1880s to today.
The Prototype MARK II Skytrain test-car, nicknamed "Fat Albert" ? ? from vancouver
Over in Kingston, Ontario, the Urban Transportation Development Corporation – the Mark I car’s builder – tested braking and propulsion on a prototype Mark II car, called Test Vehicle 06 (TV06).
Most noticeably, TV06 had three doors instead of two. It was fabricated in the 1990s by “Siamesing” two Mark I test cars together to make one 16.7m car from the two 12.7m Mark I chassis.
FUN FACT: The Mark I cars used to create TV06 was originally a pre-build car from the SkyTrain demonstration on Terminal Avenue during summer 1983.
TV06 was intended to test out a new floating frame steerable truck as well as a new propulsion system from General Dynamics, which used central cooling ducts for the linear motors.
The White Ghost had the next iteration of the floating frame steerable truck after TV06.
TV06 was tested for four months in Vancouver, after revenue hours, before returning to Kingston where – as of 2015 – is still occasionally used on their test track.
Bombardier Transportation, which bought the Urban Transportation Development Corporation, delivered the first Mark II cars in 1997 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the Klang Valley Integrated Transit System’s Kelana Jaya Line.
Following the Millennium Line’s opening, TransLink added 48 Mark II cars to the SkyTrain network in 2009. This allowed us to boost capacity on the Expo and Millennium Lines by 30 per cent in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Then in 2016, a new generation of 28 SkyTrain cars — the Mark III — arrived for the Evergreen Extension’s opening. An additional 56 cars, funded through the 10-Year Vision, are on their way! The first train, which we nicknamed Marky, is now in revenue service. Once they’re all delivered, we’ll have 84 Mark III cars in our fleet.
Looking ahead, we’ll be ordering more than 200 new SkyTrain cars in the coming years to replace the Mark I trains and for new service like the Broadway Subway extension of the Millennium Line.
Writer’s Note: Special thanks to John Wollenzin from BCRTC for his research for this article. Chris Morris, Sun Fang and Jonathan Huggett also contributed.
I find it strange that there are two batches of Mk2 trains, that look nothing alike. I always thought of the second batch as Mk3 until the REAL Mk3’s were introduced.
So is it true that the 1991 Mark 1 cars (121 thru 136) were purchased off UTDC/Bombardier for a discount after the original buyer (Milan Metro)?
Also, can you also give a brief summary of the different types of mk1s?
And are there plans to at least wrap the remaining red mk1s to streamline all the paint schemes?
Hi Juan,
Here’s what I was able to find out: it was indeed originally meant to Milan, but BCRTC assumed the order after it was cancelled. Not sure about the discount.
There are three batches of Mark Is. The original fleet is broken up into two batches, cars 001-056 and cars 061-118. These make up the original 114 cars. The next batch is the 1991 order which is 121-136. The final batch was built in 1995 and is 137-156.
We’re undergoing a condition assessment to assess the current level of wear and expected remaining life on cars 121-156. Paint condition is one of the factors assessed.
Please keep the mark 1 trains In service they are not that bad just install a/c
I agree these trains should be kept in service I’m sure there are some others who feel the same it should be considered
Did you know the mark one were supposed to come with AC but they opted out of it. If it had come with AC they would be so much quieter because no windows have to be open. The mark one is a good train and in most ways are better than then newer trains.
Thanks so much for this blog post.
I do ask one of the trains be named BadAssBowinn and painted black with an orange stripe.
You should also name another train JadaTheMapmaker and wrap it in Jada’s maps ;-).
Finally, love to see the classic Mk I retro paint on a Mk III. ;-).
Great piece of Vancouver transit history! I remember back in the day I had paper models of both the Mark I and the original Mark II cars. And going by the Edmonds OMC I’d see the original Mark II parked in the back.
When it was originally announced that the Millennium Line would be using Mark IIs, I thought it’d be the original style. Definitely pleasantly surprised it turned out to be what it is today!
I remember during the PNE, there was talk of a Mark II connecting car or “c-car” as it was called, that was a middle car to expand the length of the train without having things like headlights, windshields, etc. Like we have now on the Mark III’s. Too bad they never made those cars to expand the current Mark II’s to make larger 3 or 4 car trains on the Evergreen Line.
Wow. I remember the mockup of the mk ii at the pne. But I was so young it seemed like a hazy dream and I wasn’t even sure if it was real until this article.
This sounds like interesting
The Mark 2 Bombardier is in Millenium line in 2002
The mockup looks quite different from the actual Mark II cars that were delivered. I miss the old red and blue BC Transit livery, which I think would have looked great on the Mark II. The Translink livery is good though (it’s slick, modern and not unpleasant at all). like the different front end of the pre-build units with the black panels (looks gorgeous). TV06 looks cool too (I wonder what the interior looked like). It would’ve been nice to see a longer version of the Mark I, which in my opinion has the coolest startup / stopping sound of any train in the world! Being a rail fan, I must admit, I was extremely fascinated and excited when I first heard it in the 1990s. I know some people think Mark I cars are noisy but it’s music to my ears (maybe it’s because I don’t live near the tracks or station?). Anyway great photos as usual.
Hey, I have been wondering if there are any more images, videos, or documents surrounding “White Ghost” and TV06 that I’d be able to see. I’ve looked all over the internet, and have found nothing. If you could email me about this, that would be great. I am a local transit enthusiast with a passion for SkyTrain, SkyTrain’s history, and I love technical stuff. Thanks in advance!