Caption: Love the F

Absolute and forever a Classic

Unbelievable that in 2014, sixty years after the first rolled out of GMD, an F is operating daily in Ontario!

To celebrate, and how appropriate, with an unidentified trio... a generic celebration.... a classic GMD built A – B – B lashup leads Via's version of the Toronto section of the Canadian, the daily VIA #10, southbound across the iconic Seguin River Viaduct.

Certainly this location is one of the top ten iconic Canadian Railway Sites.

Three miles south of this location, at CP Rail Reynolds, Parry Sound Subdivision, #10 will use the interchange track to CN Boyne on the CN Bala Subdivision then to the Newmarket Subdivision at Washago.

What's interesting:

The last F's to operate on trains 1, 2, 9 and 10 were steam generator equipped B units providing heat to the un-rebuilt conventional equipment (primarily CC&F, PS and Budd built) while the then new ( 1989 GMD built ) F40PH2 units provided primary motive power.

Reportedly Via placed the Dining Room Car at the rear of trains 9 and 10 (immediately in front of the Park Observation car) to discourage coach passengers from overwhelming the dining room facilities.

And on this train #10 an ex CP Rail Dining Room Car is dead-heading at the front of the consist.

An ex CN coach – cafe was the regular substitute for the ex CP Rail Skyline Dome ( from Vancouver) that was assigned to the Montreal section, train #2.

And enough Sudbury – Toronto passengers to fill the three coaches ! ( and where is Via today on this route ? )

Today the freight rail traffic at this site is now primarily northbound ?

On a hot, humid and very hazy August 10, 1985, Kodachrome by S.Danko

Love the F

sdfourty