Railpictures.ca - Stephen C. Host Photo: At Salford Ontario on Halloween 2024, the Via Rail Historical Association (VHA) unveiled the fully painted 6539. The VHA has put years into their efforts to build a train to celebrate VIA’s upcoming 50′th anniversary and now they have a fully operating locomotive – at present the only operating VIA painted F unit in this paint according to the VHA folks. 6539 is shown purring like a kitten alongside OSR 1401 that was also purring in a stiff but unusually warm autumn wind. What’s great about th efforts of the VHA team is all of this was done without public money, fairly quickly, and successfully. More to come – visit their website linked above for more information and how you can help. | Railpictures.ca – Canadian Railway Photography

At Salford Ontario on Halloween 2024, the Via Rail Historical Association (VHA) unveiled the fully painted 6539. The VHA has put years into their efforts to build a train to celebrate VIA's upcoming 50'th anniversary and now they have a fully operating locomotive - at present the only operating VIA painted F unit in this paint according to the VHA folks. 6539 is shown purring like a kitten alongside OSR 1401 that was also purring in a stiff but unusually warm autumn wind. What's great about th efforts of the VHA team is all of this was done without public money, fairly quickly, and successfully. More to come - visit their website linked above for more information and how you can help.

Caption: At Salford Ontario on Halloween 2024, the Via Rail Historical Association (VHA) unveiled the fully painted 6539. The VHA has put years into their efforts to build a train to celebrate VIA's upcoming 50'th anniversary and now they have a fully operating locomotive - at present the only operating VIA painted F unit in this paint according to the VHA folks. 6539 is shown purring like a kitten alongside OSR 1401 that was also purring in a stiff but unusually warm autumn wind. What's great about th efforts of the VHA team is all of this was done without public money, fairly quickly, and successfully. More to come - visit their website linked above for more information and how you can help.

Photographer:	Stephen C. Host [1535] (more) (contact)
Date:	10/31/2024 (search)
Railway:	VIA Rail (search)
Reporting Marks:	VHA 6539, OSR 1401 (search)
Train Symbol:	Reveal (search)
Subdivision/SNS:	Salford (search)
City/Town:	Salford (search)
Province:	Ontario (search)
Share Link:	http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=55352

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7 Comments

Kevin Flood

November 1, 2024 at 2:46 am

They did a fantastic job. Will it be used for freight operations or more like an excursion/museum piece? Is 6508 the one behind the 1401?
Todd Steinman

November 1, 2024 at 7:04 am

Unbelievable. Seeing this old paint scheme makes me feel like a kid again, before I got into rail photography. Kudis to the VHA! Just the presence of these old F units is enjoyable no matter where or what scheme they’re in. However, i would still like to see the old CN zebra stripes (not the passenger scheme of mid to late 60s)…in operation…or the classic CP red on an F unit lol
Stephen C. Host

November 1, 2024 at 11:11 am

Kevin this locomotive is owned by VHA now. It’s intended to be sent to their current home at TMC in Toronto at some point. And yes 6508 was behind 1401.
Noe

November 1, 2024 at 12:39 pm

Excellent line-up photo Steve.

As someone who just missed seeing the blue and yellow VIA era when I younger this is awesome to see restored.
CN9317

November 1, 2024 at 4:36 pm

Todd, you can see CN 6520 in zebra stripes at the Railway Museum of British Columbia in Squamish…sorry about the CP Rail —would you settle for a CP maroon and grey one, instead? They also have FP7 4069.

And while not a lot of trains in Squamish, the museum is definitely worth a visit and the drive over to “the Canyon” for lots of CN and CP directional running action.
jknott86

November 2, 2024 at 11:36 pm

Adding a note for those of us who don’t pay attention or remember things (me, anyone else?) this was indeed 1400.
mile27

November 3, 2024 at 7:34 pm

Wonderful scene. VIA’s best scheme by far. Kudos to all who contributed.

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