Caption: Hiding behind the Orenda Engines facility in Malton are the first two "brand new" secondhand Ontario Northland TEE trainsets, shown in the evening parked in Orenda's small yard off the CN Weston Sub (elevated, at right). Both are painted in ONR colours but not yet lettered, likely sent here after being unloaded at the Toronto harbour for work modifying the European trains to Canadian standards, before being sent to ONR and entering service operating on their "Northlander" between Toronto and Northern Ontario.

The two trains were part of a group of five "Trans-Europe Express" (TEE) trainsets originally built by Werkspoor & SIG for the Dutch & Swiss railways in 1957. After the four remaining sets were retired in the 1970's, Ontario Northland purchased them and had them shipped to Canada, with the first two sets pictured having arrived in early 1977 (April?) and the other two following later (Arnold Mooney has a photo of the next one arriving in Toronto fresh off the boat). After modification, they ran around for a bit as complete trainsets (renumbered later from 1900-1903 to 1980-1983) but it was found the original Werkspoor locomotives were less than satisfactory performers, so they were retired and replaced by modified GMD F-units leading the 3-car trainsets in 1979 (the consists were renumbered again to 1984-1987). The original locomotives were cut up for scrap a few years later, and the trainsets ran on the Northlander lead by F-units until they were retired in the early 90's.

Orenda Engines, at the time a branch of Hawker Siddeley Canada, was once part of famed A.V.Roe (Avro Canada) of Avro Arrow fame, and were the ones designing, building and testing the Iroquois engines that were to be used in them. After the Diefenbaker government cancelled the Arrow, a lot of Orenda's work in the years that followed came from building jet engines under license, and contracts to repair and overhaul jet engines and industrial gas turbine engines. They had a spur off CN's Halton Sub that ran downgrade into a small yard in their property near the Malton GO station (the general area was previously known as "CN Magor" in employee timetables, an aportmanteau of Malton and Gore). Orenda was acquired by Magellan Aerospace who currently occupies much of the site, but the spur is long out of use and their small yard gone (part was paved over when nearby Mississauga Transit expanded their bus garage parking in the 2000's).

Charles "Chuck" O. Begg photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.