Caption: Looking west from Bathurst Street, the consist for VIA Rapido 62, led by LRC 6920 and GMD B-unit 6867 is pulled out of VIA's Spadina coach Yard by a CN switcher (in distance), and will shortly be backed down to Union station in preparation for its 1030h departure for Montreal. Next to this, the 0812h GO train from Burlington, due to arrive at Union at 0903h, is running with extra cars, hence the presence of passenger-geared CN 9317 ahead of power car 801.

This was the day Pope John Paul II celebrated an outdoor mass in Downsview Park before an estimated 400,000 people. A special shuttle train was made up of two borrowed CPR units, SD40's I believe, one on each end of a set of GO bilevel coaches between Rutherford Rd GO Station on CN's Newmarket Sub and a makeshift platform built at the De Havilland air craft plant on the east side of the track to shuttle people who parked their cars at Rutherford GO. No car parking was allowed for the general public on or near Downsview Park, everyone attending was encouraged to take the TTC subway to Downsview and use shuttle bus/walk to the site of the mass. In addition to the above, GO ran a large number of extra trains on the Lakeshore Corridor to bring the Downsview Mass attendees to the Union Station where they would transfer to the University Line subway to Downsview, TTC running a rush hour schedule.

John Freyseng Photo, Jacob Patterson Collection Slide.