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GO news editor Daniel Dell’Unto: AMT news editor Jean-Francois Turcotte: amtnews@canadianrailwayobservations.com GO
GO news editor Daniel Dell’Unto: GO 563, one of the few F59's still in revenue service, leads GO train 915 westward through Oakville Ontario, after meeting eastbound GO 918. GO Locomotives are always positioned on the east end of trains, with a cab car leading westward. However, GO 563 is leading Cabcar 215, with MP40 607 shoving on the rear. (Rob Eull).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v425/cn_bayview/GO563.jpg Former GO F59PH 540, which was sold to RBRX as 18540, is now renumbered RNCX 1893 and has left Montreal. It had been in storage at the Pointe St-Charles Yard and left February 11th, arriving in Buffalo, NY February 27th via CN. It is enroute to NCDOT in North Carolina and joins three other ex-GO F59's already there: 529, 534 and 535. Action at the former Cabin D site at Bathurst Street in Toronto on March 7th, Cameron A caught GO 611 whipping up some snow as it races into the USRC passing VIA F40PH-3D 6443 (rebuilt at CADRail).
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=356531&nseq=116 GO MP40PH-3C’s 654, 655 and 656 were noted at CN's MacMillan diesel shop in late-February awaiting delivery to GO (moving under MPEX reporting marks). They were delivered on March 2nd to Mimico. In mid-March, the last three MP40's entered daily service paired on trains as: 654/630, 655/607, 656/653. New locomotives typically run with an older unit as back-up during their first weeks of in service reliability evaluation. GO F59PH 559 was also noted in service in mid-March with another F59PH unit. 559 is the first overhauled unit of roughly half a dozen GO F59's that will be kept in service. Others in the 541-557 series have been noted parked out of service, with GO numbers and markings removed, presumably for resale. However several "newer" units like 559, 563 and 564 have been noted out and about in service. On March 18th, Daniel Dell’Unto caught GO Lakeshore West 917 departing Toronto Union Station in the afternoon. Brand new GO MP40PH-3C 654 is shown being broken in with older unit 630, both pushing westbound.
At the end of March, Metrolinx (who run GO Transit) announced they have agreed to purchase CN's Kingston Subdivision between Toronto Union Station and Pickering (where it connects to GO's own line to Oshawa), at a cost of $299 million. http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2011/30/c7899.html
GO Transit announced it will spend $125 million to purchase 50 bi-level coaches from Bombardier for its inter-regional commuter service into Toronto. A total of 162 commuter coaches will expand the system's capacity by 8,000 commuters a day. Production of the coaches is scheduled to begin in June at Bombardier's facility in Thunder Bay, Ont., with deliveries beginning in the fall. The Bombardier-designed double-decker coaches have been part of GO Transit's fleet since 1978. Bombardier ‘s builds the most popular multi-level commuter rail car in North America - in use in 13 major cities, including Montreal, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Dallas. The order will include the 1,000th car manufactured in Thunder Bay. Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant is also building new subway and light rail cars for the Toronto Transit Commission and Metrolinx, the provincial government agency that runs GO Transit and [coordinates with other GTA agencies]. http://tinyurl.com/4jf3onk The new footbridge being built at the Whitby GO Station has been underway for about a year and is scheduled to be completed in a few months. The bridge will give passengers a second route from the platform to the south parking lot. Thomas Blampied submitted this photo of VIA 907 with Train 44 on March 23rd speeding through a light snow shower.
AMT From the Bombardier website, here are pictures of two of the first three ALP45DP pre-production units (AMT 1350 and NJT 4501). Reports indicate that at least one NJT ALP45DP is on American soil and is making its way to TTCI at Pueblo, for testing (cannot confirm if it is NJT 4500 or 4501).
Low-res pictures: http://www.bombardier.com/files/en/supporting_docs/image_and_media/products/BT-4723-ALP45.jpg http://www.bombardier.com/files/en/supporting_docs/image_and_media/products/BT-4724-ALP45.jpg Hi-res pictures (2MB each) http://www.bombardier.com/files/en/supporting_docs/image_and_media/products/BT-4723-ALP45-HR.jpg http://www.bombardier.com/files/en/supporting_docs/image_and_media/products/BT-4724-ALP45-HR.jpg
The following is a very detailed and impressive visual presentation of the planned new rail service and light rail line connecting the Pierre-Elliott Trudeau Montreal International Airport in Dorval to the heart of Montreal using new and CP/CN trackage.
AMT is expected to take over Canadian Pacific's M&O subdivision between Dorion (mile 0.0 - jct with the Vaudreuil sub) and Rigaud (mile 16.5 - EOT) on April 15th 2011. It is also expected that CTC will be installed up to Hudson in 2012 to allow an increase in service. For now, only one train pair (#111/112) serves Hudson each weekday. Beyond Hudson, the line up to Rigaud has been out-of-service since June 30th 2010 and will remain dormant for now. CP will likely retain running rights on the M&O to serve a lone customer in Vaudreuil. VIA owns the remainder of the M&O's abandonned roadbed between Rigaud and Ottawa, which last saw a train in 1986. http://www.myrailfan.com/News/1034/index.htm
Montreal Commuter Vignette: In the 1980’s when Kevin Dunk lived in Montreal, Quebec he would often visit Dorion on a weekend to view the CP’s commuter pool of FP7A’s, and be entertained with the parade of SD40-2 and MLW M series flying by on the CP Winchester Sub. Kevin noted this is especially pertinent because March 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of when this photo was taken. This image was taken early on in Kevin’s photographic days using a used Minolta ‘something’ camera with K64 film, there’s another bit of history. These locomotives have been gone for a while now, the camera died shortly after this photo was taken, and even Kodak K64 film passed away last year.
CP Rail’s (F-Unit) Montreal Locomotive Commuter Pool:
4040**GMDA24410/1951FP7aCoe Rail 1306 (Walled Lake, Michigan) ex-AMT 1306, 4/2003; exx-STCUM 1306, 1997; exxx-CTCUM 1306, 1985 exxxx-CTCUM 4040, 1983; exxxxx-CP 4040, 1982; exxxxxx-CP 1433, 5/1960 nee CP 4040 4070"A3719/1952"Quebec Central Railway 1300 (2008) ex-AMT 1300, 4/2003; exx-STCUM 1300, 1997; exxx-CTCUM 1300, 1985 exxxx-CTCUM 4070, 1983; exxxxx-CP 4070, 1982; exxxxxx-CP 1426, 1/1966 nee CP 4070 4071**"A3729/1952"Sold to Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad in 2007 ex-Trains Touristiques de Chaudičre-Appalaches 1301 exx-AMT 1301, 4/2003; exxx-STCUM 1301, 1997; exxxx-CTCUM 1301, 1985 exxxxx-CTCUM 4071, 1983; exxxxxx-CP 4071, 1982; exxxxxxx-CP 1427, 2/1966 nee CP 4071 4072"A37310/1952"Quebec Central Railway 1302 (2008) ex-AMT 1302, 4/2003; exx-STCUM 1302, 1997; exxx-CTCUM 1302, 1985 exxxx-CTCUM 4072, 1983; exxxxx-CP 4072, 1982; exxxxxx-CP 1428, 1/1966 nee CP 4072 4073**"A37410/1952"Scrapped in 2006 ex-Trains Touristiques de Chaudičre-Appalaches 1303 ex-AMT 1303, 4/2003; exx-STCUM 1303, 1997; exxx-CTCUM 1303, 1985 exxxx-CTCUM 4073, 1983; exxxxx-CP 4073, 1982; exxxxxx-CP 1429, 10/1965 nee CP 4073 4074**"A37510/1952"Coe Rail 1304 (Walled Lake, Michigan) ex-AMT 1304, 4/2003; exx-STCUM 1304, 1997; exxx-CTCUM 1304, 1985 exxxx-CTCUM 4074, 1983; exxxxx-CP 4074, 1982; exxxxxx-CP 1430, 12/1965 nee CP 4074 4075"A37610/1952"Quebec Central Railway 1305 (2008) ex-AMT 1305, 4/2003; exx-STCUM 1305, 1997; exxx-CTCUM 1305, 1985 exxxx-CTCUM 4075, 1983; exxxxx-CP 4075, 1982; exxxxxx-CP 1431, 1/1966
© CRO April 2011 |
