Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
With the farewell ceremony on Saturday, 4/18/2026, the Type 1s have entered the history books as one of the longest-serving modern U.S. light rail vehicles.
The Type Is entered service on the opening day of MAX, September 5, 1986 (between downtown Portland and Gresham/Cleveland Ave). These 26 cars, numbered 101 to 126, were built by Bombardier (model PM6-26, known as the Type 1), under license to BN of Brussels, Belgium, and based off the Rio pre-metro cars.
As per the manufacturer’s data, the cars were built 87 feet long, 8’ 8” wide, and 11’ 3” tall, with an empty of weight of 87,090 lb. They had 76 seats and room for 135 passengers, for a total of 211 passengers reaching a gross weight of 119,790 lbs. The cars used the overhead 750 V system and rolled on inboard bearing trucks, two powered and one unpowered, using BBC Brown, Boveri Canada propulsion equipment (switched resistor control with 54 steps, DC motors – as built). Door control of the bi-parting swing plug side doors was electromechanical, automatic Scharfenberg couplers by Dellner-Schaku, and the cars were equipped with magnetic train stop. Interestingly, the cars were not designed with Air Conditioning (added a few years later), but had two 12 kW forced air convention overhead headers.
Portland was the first system to have low floor LRVs, and as such in later years the Type 1s were coupled into two car trains with newer Type 2s, for purposes of accessibility.
The first car was delivered in April 1984 and as we know, the cars lasted just short of 40 years of revenue service, being replaced by the Type 6 cars.
Having a trip on the Cascades in February this year, I also spent a little bit of type hunting out the remaining Type 1s left in service. Here they are, on Superbowl Sunday and the Monday after. I caught 109, 113, 115, and 124. Car 124 had the honors at the farewell event yesterday.
0:00 109 at Beaverton
0:25 113 departing
0:36 115 departing Providence Park
1:00 115 departing Washington Park
1:23 109 departing Millikan Way
1:40 115 departing Washington Park
2:01 113 at PSU Urban Center
2:41 Riding 113
11:13 Riding 115
With the farewell ceremony on Saturday, 4/18/2026, the Type 1s have entered the history books as one of the longest-serving modern U.S. light rail vehicles.
The Type Is entered service on the opening day of MAX, September 5, 1986 (between downtown Portland and Gresham/Cleveland Ave). These 26 cars, numbered 101 to 126, were built by Bombardier (model PM6-26, known as the Type 1), under license to BN of Brussels, Belgium, and based off the Rio pre-metro cars.
As per the manufacturer’s data, the cars were built 87 feet long, 8’ 8” wide, and 11’ 3” tall, with an empty of weight of 87,090 lb. They had 76 seats and room for 135 passengers, for a total of 211 passengers reaching a gross weight of 119,790 lbs. The cars used the overhead 750 V system and rolled on inboard bearing trucks, two powered and one unpowered, using BBC Brown, Boveri Canada propulsion equipment (switched resistor control with 54 steps, DC motors – as built). Door control of the bi-parting swing plug side doors was electromechanical, automatic Scharfenberg couplers by Dellner-Schaku, and the cars were equipped with magnetic train stop. Interestingly, the cars were not designed with Air Conditioning (added a few years later), but had two 12 kW forced air convention overhead headers.
Portland was the first system to have low floor LRVs, and as such in later years the Type 1s were coupled into two car trains with newer Type 2s, for purposes of accessibility.
The first car was delivered in April 1984 and as we know, the cars lasted just short of 40 years of revenue service, being replaced by the Type 6 cars.
Having a trip on the Cascades in February this year, I also spent a little bit of type hunting out the remaining Type 1s left in service. Here they are, on Superbowl Sunday and the Monday after. I caught 109, 113, 115, and 124. Car 124 had the honors at the farewell event yesterday.
0:00 109 at Beaverton
0:25 113 departing
0:36 115 departing Providence Park
1:00 115 departing Washington Park
1:23 109 departing Millikan Way
1:40 115 departing Washington Park
2:01 113 at PSU Urban Center
2:41 Riding 113
11:13 Riding 115
