September 2011
VIA
LOCOMOTIVE ROSTER UPDATES – AUGUST 2011.
http://www.canadianrailwayobservations.com/2011/sept11/viaindex.pdf
The third and fourth rebuilt LRC coaches have been released from
IRSI in Moncton, and one of them is now in service between
Montreal and
Quebec City. Coach #3319 entered service in early August, and joins 3315 and
3317 as the first rebuilt LRC coaches to enter service. Meanwhile,
rebuilt LRC 3328 was released from IRSI on August 12th, and moved to
Montreal.
Several Montreal-Quebec trains have been running with 3315-3317-3319
all together in the consist. As the power for these trains is often a
rebuilt F40, these trains have been missing only the club cars to be
fully rebuilt consists. It is still unclear when the first rebuilt LRC
Club car will be released.
On July 11th David Morris took
this sequence of photos showing VIA trains No 15 and No 14 (“Ocean” MTL – Halifax) meeting at Painsec Jct, in New Brunswick.
No 14 consist: F4o’s 6444, 6433,
Renaissance cars 7003, 7223, 7222, 7226, 7217, 7309, 7400, 7314,
7502, 7508, 7500, 7521, 7518, 7526, 7512, 7600 and dome/obs
“Revelstoke Park”
No 15 Consist: F40’s 6425, 6436,
Renaissance cars 7009, 7220, 7108, 7227, 7208, 7312, 7402, 7308,
7517, 7520, 7507, 7506, 7513, 7504, 7602, and dome/obs “Assiniboine
Park”.
On July 6th, Andre
St-Amant took this shot of VIA #601/603 ''Montréal-Jonquière''/''Montréal-Senneterre''
at Shawinigan, Québec
RBRX F59PH 18522
RBRX F59PH 18521 *
RBRX F59PH 18520 *
Coach 8146 *
Coach 8145 *
Baggage 8620 *
Baggage
8618
Coach 8147
to
Jonquière
On August 1, 2011, at
2133 hrs (1 minute ahead of time) VIA #48 East arrived at the VIA
station at Smiths Falls along Victoria Avenue. The accompanying
photograph of VIA 48 East with locomotive 6427 is the last photo of a
passenger train stopping to detrain and entrain passengers at this
station, putting an end to 124 years of constant service at this
location. VIA trains will still go by the Victoria Avenue station but
will not stop, choosing the new VIA station/shelter on Union St. on
the outskirts of Smiths Falls. Although the new station is little more
than a shelter, it does offer more modern amenities, and according to
VIA, it’s new location will allow for more efficient train movements
through Smiths Falls, and fewer delays. On this day, #48 was under
the care of Service Manager Joe DaSilva who was delighted to be part
of the historic milestone as he collected and signed the ticket to
Rian Manson, the last passenger of record entraining at Smiths Falls
CPR station, Victoria Avenue. Rian says the ride was flawless, and he
was treated to VIA 1 service.
As VIA is still waiting for
their new RDC-4 6251 to be completed by IRSI in Moncton, VIA have
transformed RDC-2 6205 into an all baggage Budd car to load canoes,
bicycles and camping equipment for trains on the Sudbury-White River
route. The car had its seats removed, but has not received any
external modifications. Having not been designed for baggage service,
6205 has no baggage doors. This means that baggage must be loaded
through the vestibule doors, presenting the same difficulties that
have faced the Renaissance baggage cars. Understandably, maneuvering
large baggage such as canoes and bicycles through the vestibules is
rather difficult. The fate of 6205 will be determined after RDC-4 6251
is delivered.
The release of VIA RDC 6251
(ex-CP RDC 9251) was delayed from the IRSI Shop in July, due to
additional minor modifications and adjustments that had to be made to
the car. It is expected to be completed in early August, and in
service with VIA by the middle of the month. When it enters service,
this RDC-4 will bear a VIA Rail number (in the 6200 series) for the
first time in its history.
IRSI's leased 6202 continues to
serve on the Sudbury-White River line with 6250. Reliability has been
a real concern in recent times on this run, with equipment trouble
frequently resulting in the cancellation of trains 185/186. On August
16th, Trevor Wiley caught VIA
6202 arriving in the yard in Sudbury
and passengers await to board the magnificent train, it will depart 10
minutes late and will meet a 110 at Levack
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=372246&nseq=40
VIA F40PH-2d 6408 and
6445 are still sporting their Coors Light “Silver Bullet Express”
graphics, although 6408 has recently had VIA Rail logos added. 6408
now sports two small “VIA Rail Canada” logos on each side, and two
small black “VIA” logos on either sides of its nose. 6445 is, at this
time, still devoid of any VIA logos.
On
August 12th, VIA Rail closed its station in Victoria, BC. The city is
preparing to replace the current Johnson St Bridge, which provides the
only rail access to the station, with a new bridge that will not
include a rail component. Although there are hopes that the remaining
funding needed to restore VIA Rail service on the Victoria-Courtenay
line will be secured in the near future, any future passenger rail
services in Victoria will require the construction of a new station,
at a new location.
On
August 15th, VIA Train #60 was stopped at Cobourg, ON, for
approximately 40 minutes after a passenger on board the train
allegedly claimed to have a bomb in his luggage. The train was met by
police and emergency crews, and the luggage was removed from the train
and searched. Finding no explosives, the man was remanded to police
custody, and the train departed.
In
mid-August, VIA began a new strategy for marking the end of trains.
According to current Transport Canada regulations, marker lights are
no longer required on the end of a train. For this reason, VIA has
begun removing the markers from its LRC coaches as they are rebuilt,
and unlike the prototype F40 rebuild 6400, new F40 rebuilds do not
have red markers. VIA had begun replacing these with a single
reflective red dot on the ends of coaches. However, they have now
started using a new system. A small reflective red “paddle” is
inserted into the coupler of the last car on the train, to serve as
the marker. VIA editor Tim Hayman took this photo of one of the new
markers on the rear of Train 85 as it departed Kitchener, ON, on
August 12th.
Two of
VIA Rail’s newly refurbished Park Cars are in service at the moment on
trains 14/15 The Ocean. Tremblant Park and Revelstoke Park now
feature new interiors, with black and orange leather seat upholstery
(in lounges and the dome), new carpets, and the ceilings of the bullet
lounge and dome have now been painted black. The extent of the
refurbishment has been almost entirely inside, as the only exterior
modification has been the addition of the newer “VIA Rail Canada”
logos. Revelstoke Park still features it’s bizarrely capitalized name
lettering, spelled out as “ReveLstoKe ParK”. Perhaps someone at VIA
thought it was amusing enough to leave it that way!
Last month, CRO
reported on the July 29th collision between VIA Train 71 (led by P42
915) and a pickup truck at a crossing near Glencoe, ON
(http://www.canadianrailwayobservations.com/2011/aug11/aug11via.htm),
which derailed the locomotive and all of the LRC passenger cars. There
were only minor injuries to passengers and crew, but the driver of the
truck later died of his injuries. [insert name of photog] submitted
these excellent photos of VIA 71 following the collision, showing the
damage to the locomotive and tracks.
Amtrak
“Maple Leaf”
Since 1981, Amtrak and VIA Rail have
been jointly running the Maple Leaf service between New York and
Toronto. Although the train has most recently operated with Amtrak
equipment, it is operated by a VIA Rail crew on the Canadian side of
the border, and an Amtrak crew on the American side. This train marks
the only rail connection with the US through Toronto, with the only
other Canadian rail connections to the US being the Adirondack out of
Montreal, and the Cascades out of Vancouver (both are Amtrak trains).
The Maple Leaf crosses the border at Niagara Falls on the Whirpool
Bridge, which is owned by the Niagara Bridge Commission. There is a
single track crossing this bridge, which is part of the CN line. Some
time ago, CN ceased operating freight trains across the bridge, and in
May of 2011, issued a formal notice that they would discontinue all
service on the Whirpool Bridge. As a result, the track on the bridge
is to be abandoned by CN. In order for passenger service to continue
across this bridge, passenger operators (namely Amtrak) will have to
pay fees to the Niagara Bridge Commission. Sources have reported that
these fees are very high, and Amtrak is not enthusiastic about the
costs involved. Neither VIA Rail nor the Canadian Government (federal
or provincial) have addressed the issue in any formal way, with
regards to negotiating better prices or attempting to otherwise entice
Amtrak to continue operating this service.
At this time, the future of the
Maple Leaf is beginning to be called into question. Although they have
made substantial investments in the American portion of the line,
Amtrak is concerned about the rising costs of operating the train
across the border. If there is no major action taken by VIA Rail or
the Canadian Government to address this issue, it is entirely possible
that the days of the Maple Leaf may be numbered. CRO will continue to
monitor this situation, and report to our readers on any further
developments as they happen.
VIA
Vignette
Showing clearly why so many of us
love MLW’s, Ron Visockis took these two great shots. VIA FPA4 6780
with VIA and CN cars passes a Westbound freight with a CN Pointe
St-Charles Caboose at Coteau, QC on July 21st,1978. VIA FPA4 6775
blasts up a smoke plume as it roars through Coteau, QC August
18th,1983. For some cab breeze, crews often left the nose door open on
humid summer days!
In the early 1990s, VIA Rail
acquired a number of second-hand Budd coaches from the United States,
to be rebuilt for VIA’s HEP-2 program. These cars would allow VIA to
retire their ex-CN CC&F blue and yellow cars that were in corridor
service at that time. The cars were of various origins, and many were
heavily modified from their original configurations into their new
HEP-2 set-up.
In 1991, Jon Archibald took this
photo in Halifax, NS, of a Budd Coach-Buffet-Lounge car, originally
built for the Southern Railway. It's original Southern number was 951. It was inherited by Amtrak, and
although never repainted, it was renumbered Amtrak #3851. This
particular car would soon be rebuilt into VIA HEP-2 coach #4111.
Here is a link to a photo of 4111,
a number of years after its rebuild:
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1640663
“My
LRC Memories”
(Thanks to Carlos Oliviera, Andy
Cassidy, and Bruce Chapman)
Some have said the LRC was born on
a dare at a coming out party of the Turbo train (built by United
Aircraft) between UA and MLW. MLW/ALCO/GE had never had a competitor
to the EMD passenger unit because the 4 cycle engine is that much
heavier than the 2 cycle. To meet the axle load, MLW came up with the
idea of a streamlined aluminum monocoque body. A 12 cylinder engine
with a 300 KW alternator in a short body would be needed. Dofasco
developed and supplied HS trucks, Alcan the aluminum body and Wabco
the brake system, which blended brakes and the fancy Cineston
controller. The low profile also reduced the weight. The very low
center of gravity helped go around curves and bad track at relatively
high speeds (sometimes unintentionally)
The prototype “LRC” (Light Rapid
Confortable) numbered “JV-1” was constructed by MLW in the mid-7o’s
(with Bombardier getting involved after 1976). The engine underwent
intense testing for three years (The prototype at test track at
Pueblo, which broke the speed record, and on demonstration runs. The
primary customer for the LRC was of course VIA Rail, which in those
days was more political than practical. VIA set up the specs and
insisted on a 16 cylinder engine. A Canadian General Electric 785
traction motor was used (a shortstack 752). VIA wanted to run a
1-10-1 consist, with HEP from either end, and 30 KW per coach wasn’t
enough in their opinion, so 500 KW was specified: A larger alternator
would mean a longer unit and they couldn’t make the weight in that
configuration, that with the low profile made these locomotives looked
longer than most. Two off-the-shelf 250 KW Stanford generators running
off the same ring gear saved that space, but they never did
synchronize properly, so mostly ran with only one on line. No money
was invested to the prototype for a new configuration, and by this
time Bombardier was in the picture nobody was going to delay an order
for 21 LRC-1 locomotives (6900-6920)and 50 coaches. Into production
they went, 21 prototypes. The following LRC-2 locomotives (9621-6930)
order in 1982-83 did have mods. In early prototype tests, the 16
cylinder engine took so much air that it sucked the carbody filters
out of their frames, allowing snow to pile up in the engine
compartment. The air brake piping was too close to the very thin
(light) aluminum sides and in rare times tended to freeze in windchill
at high speeds. During the early years the Canadian market could not
support redesigning the LRC to correct its problems, and the Americans
had the “Buy America” act. Even then, it wasn’t a bad effort. The
LRC-1 production units managed to outlive the turbo trains which saw
only two Canadian winters before they were removed from service, and
they’d been designed by aerospace engineers. We weren’t that bad at
MLW - Dickson St! The production units did help modernize VIA
(coaches till running) oh shoot, remind me to tell you about the train
size battery we invented when I see you guys. As well, Bombardier
became the world’s leading supplier of rail passenger equipment.
Bob Heathorn submitted these LRC
photos:
VIA LRC 6908 with LRC coaches,
Nepean ON, 17 June 1982.
The Amtrak LRC test train at
Brockville ON, June 1st, 1980. Note the train is on the CP tracks that
went behind the current station and a VIA F unit on the far left.
End of the line for the LRC power
units (coaches are still in service) Ville St Pierre, PQ, 1 August
1990
VIA LRC 6920, Nepean ON, February
1987
Arnold
Mooney caught
CN 6542, VIA 6627, CN 3107 departing eastbound out of Toronto Union
Station back on April 10th, 1977. The Royal York hotel in the
background is already being dwarfed by the Bay St. business boom of
the era.
© CRO
Sept
2011 |
