Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Blue and Yellow Crewe

This week a copy of Trackside with VIA: The First 35 Years winged its way to Crewe in the United Kingdom. Terry Wynne, a fan of Canadian railways and British railroader for 40 years resides in Crewe, home of the Grand Junction Railway Crewe Works, which date from 1840 and are now operated by Canada's Bombardier Inc. Don't you think DRS 37038, shown here at Crewe, bears a resemblance to VIA's blue and yellow scheme?

Terry rode VIA from Vancouver to Toronto in 1990, including cab-rides from Blue River to Valemount BC and Melville, Saskatchewan to Brandon North, Manitoba. Sadly, the trip was interrupted by native blockades and was completed by air east of Winnipeg. Terry has travelled other VIA routes, and still wants to travel east of Montreal on VIA's Ocean. Firmly anchored in the VIA F40PH era, Terry also models Canadian railways and works on a club layout located in the signal box at the Crewe Heritage Centre.

I trust you'll enjoy the book, as much as you have your very varied VIA experiences, Terry!
Highball!


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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 23, 2011 at 11:51 AM

    Perhaps I'm just wallowing in nostalgia, but I miss the bold blue and yellow colours that VIA used to have. Even the logo was perfect in its modernist simplicity... then they had to clutter it with words and symbols! Bring back the B&Y!

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  2. EricAugust 23, 2011 at 3:35 PM

    I totally agree, A. Maybe VIA will do a retro unit like Amtrak has been doing? The flag and lettering are unnecessary with VIA's logo, which is on track (no pun intended) to have the longevity of CN's:

    http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2011/01/cn-logo-turns-50.html

    Thanks for your comment,
    Eric

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