Turbo Not Working

VIA's Turbos were increasingly unreliable towards the end of their career, bepatched with yellow duct tape. From 1979 to 1981, VIA replaced the Turbos with conventional consists, both morning and evening runs.

These "Turbo replacements" were notable because they were the only VIA trains operating on the Kingston Sub with one unit, usually a FP9A, but sometimes FPA4. Also of note were the consists' length - as few as four cars, as many as seven. Each comprised a Club car, a Cafe-Bar-Lounge, and two to five coaches. Often, the coaches were 5200's or 5300's!

In 1979, as CN passenger equipment was receiving the VIA scheme, these trains were often a mix of CN and VIA paint. I've come across a plethora of interesting consists in preparing this book. VIAphiles will find them of great interest. Highball!

Paint Chips

An important component of my new book will be CN to VIA paint transition data. This information will be very useful to VIAphiles and modellers of VIA alike. Rolling stock, SGU's, locomotives and RDC's will all be included. With the able and generous assistance of Jakob Mueller, we've been able to put together spreadsheets with hard data as to when all the above rolling stock received VIA colours. New data points are being added daily from 1977-1979 train information I'm currently transcribing.

Dayniters, sleepers, baggage cars (wow, a lot of them hung on to CN colours for a long time), coaches, ex-CP stainless steel cars, and some neat niche cars including lounge cars, various meal service cars and Canadian Flyer cars included.

I'll also include some locomotive paint variations like the FPA4 that had a blue VIA on the nose (the Bluenose?), CN units that had the white CN painted out (the Rednose?) and other neat stuff.

I haven't seen this depth of detailed information anywhere else. This book will have it and more: timetables, consists of transcon trips I took, and what-happened-when in VIA's relatively short history. Highball!

Long Trains Running

Fifteen car trains. Thirteen car trains. Even the shortest ones were seven cars, not including the temporary Turbo replacement consists which were still six cars. The length of these trains that I'm currently transcribing explains the long, lighted platform at Kingston and other Corridor stations. These trains were long enough for two 2500's and two baggage cars, and occasionally two club cars, plus a cornucopia of coaches.

Quite a departure from the current VIA Corridor trains that can be as short as four or five cars. Somehow one P42 is just not as interesting as two RS18's and an F9B, or three FPA4's. Horsepower! Highball!

All VIA Consists

From 1977 to 1979, the look of VIA trains was changing radically. From mixed CN and VIA consists, to VIA-painted cars and locomotives, with the latter dominating each consist. In 1979, I'm starting to come across "All VIA" trains. Sometimes, in a moment of bilingual patriotism, I had recorded "Toute VIA" along with the train information.

And the horsepower! One train notation: 5400 hp for six cars - that's three smoking MLW's. Two are shown above in 1984.

How about five RDC's on the Ontarian, running between Kingston and Toronto, with a nice mix of RDC types? It was an interesting period in VIA's history. I have transition data for the RDC's too, including when each received VIA stripes and yellow ends. Highball!

Business Cars

Company varnish was a regular sight on the end of VIA trains. Back in 1977, CN cars, both black&white and aluminum, plus GTW business cars could be seen tagging along. I was surprised how often this occurred, based on the trains I recorded. A couple of decades later, here's CN 94 in 1993, at the end of an LRC consist.

Nowadays, it's the CN corporate jet. Costs, adding the cars to trains, and compatibility with today's VIA consists probably contributed to end the practice.

Then there was a 6-car joint CN-N&W business car train in April 1977 on the Kingston Sub. Wonder what was being discussed on that train?

1970's at the Station

VIA's early years. Late 1970's. The VIA/CN era, before the CN "wet-noodle" was officially no longer part of the VIA logomark. In this photo taken in March 1977, 6765 is arriving at Kingston station proudly displaying "CN" for all to see. Not for long.

I'm currently working through this time period for my new book. The paint shops were busy, with VIA paint appearing on more and more rolling stock. The trains were long, each with a full baggage car and a club car and heavyweight lounge cars, snack service and coaches, with the end of each train sometimes including the 5100-5300 series coaches with six-wheel trucks. By May 1977, many trains had two baggage cars. Any ideas as to why?

Work Blocks

Work on my book is progressing well. How about a six-hour "work block" transcribing consists, which covered the end of F-units up to the advent of Renaissance equipment? Fuelled by Pepsi and leftover fruitcake, my fingers were flying and my neck swivelling by 0215 hours. I settled my brains for a long winter's nap.

With 1981-2008 covered, all that remains is 1976 to 1981, and 2008 to present. These two remaining blocks of time will tie together the alpha and omega of VIA's existence, linking a CN/CP castoff with tired equipment to a modern intercity network with (relatively) new equipment.

I'm starting to work on bonus features, to round out the book and make it more useful to the VIAphile and modeler alike. Happy New Year and highball!