Canadian Railroads > Coors F40 Goes East

After much anticipation, one of the two VIA F40s wrapped for a Coors promotion, finally made it down east this summer. At first, 6408 made a few trips as the trailing unit on the Ocean into Halifax, but eventually things got swapped around, with the wrapped locomotive leading the train.

The first shot is the combined Chaleur/Ocean (17/15) nearing the end of the Drummondville Sub at Ste-Rosalie on the morning of June 24.

The next morning the same train (although with an added coach for the Chaleur) was eastbound as 14/16 in the Matapédia Valley near Routhierville at 04:32. If it hadn't been so rainy and foggy, we might have had a chance at a sunlit shot here. We were at the very eastern end of the Eastern Time Zone, and at one time this subdivision (Mont-Joli) operated on Atlantic time east of Mont-Joli.

A few miles farther east at 04:56, the light had improved considerably as the train slowed for the station stop at Matapédia, where the Chaleur would be split off from the Ocean.

We're still waiting for the other one (6445) to show up.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/11 13:32 by cn6218.

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Great photos - as always from you.

Rick

Great photos! And nice to see the Chaleur (train to Gaspe) with three Chateau sleepers.

The Skyline Dome/Lounge appears to continue its role as both a dome, lounge, and dining car for this train.

Nonetheless, glad the summer demand has allowed three Chateau sleepers to be added to the Chaleur's consist. Whenever I've been on this train, it certainly has its following of local passengers (who certainly book sleeper space that is for the most part reasonably priced on this train), let alone tourists.

If this were an Amtrak train, one would likely see just the opposite - three coaches and one sleeper, with a "Diner-Lite" taking the place of VIA's Skyline Dome/Lounge car.

Too bad that past attempt to operate the Ocean and Chaleur as two seperate trains has never sucessfully materialized. The last time VIA geared up to do this, as I recall (in 2009 or so), it lasted for a brief time, as a washout ocurred on the route of the Chaleur (between Matapedia and Gaspe), relegating it to a truncated if not canceled service for most of the peak summer period.

At this point, however, I guess we should just be happy that the Chaleur and Ocean are operating as part of VIA's long distance passenger rail system!

There are some other developments on the Gaspé in the passenger department. The consortium of communities that owns and maintains the line has purchased some surplus AMT cars (former GO Hawker-Sidley, I think) and has plans for excursion service out of Gaspé to Chandler and back. They don't actually have the cars in hand yet, so it won't happen this season, but they are definitely serious about it.

GTD

cn6218 Wrote:
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> There are some other developments on the Gaspé in
> the passenger department. The consortium of
> communities that owns and maintains the line has
> purchased some surplus AMT cars (former GO
> Hawker-Sidley, I think) and has plans for
> excursion service out of Gaspé to Chandler and
> back. They don't actually have the cars in hand
> yet, so it won't happen this season, but they are
> definitely serious about it.
>
> GTD

If memory serves me correctly, some consortium leased a trainset of Budd Stainless Steel HEP-II cars from VIA a few summers ago for tourist travel? This was to coincide with a cruise line that was calling at Gaspe. I can't recall if a Skyline Dome or Park Car was part of the lease or not - since VIA was in a better position then to lease out one of these cars than it is at present. I believe the schedule was to go out of "Gaspe" and return the same day. There are (or were) two traks at the Gaspe station that could be used to "store" a train if needed (i.e. when the Chaleur showed up alongside the tourist train).

I sure hope the deal comes to be, as this will further help to keep this rail line in service!

Nice shots CN6218. Its good to see some different stuff and info, instead of the SAME stuff we hear on here all the time.

BTW..... Get Via to send those Coors wraps on Via 1 & 2. Those of us who havent shot them yet want to before they get rebuilt.

BNSF3450.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/11 19:25 by BNSF3450.

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> If memory serves me correctly, some consortium
> leased a trainset of Budd Stainless Steel HEP-II
> cars from VIA a few summers ago for tourist
> travel? This was to coincide with a cruise line
> that was calling at Gaspe. I can't recall if a
> Skyline Dome or Park Car was part of the lease or
> not - since VIA was in a better position then to
> lease out one of these cars than it is at present.
> I believe the schedule was to go out of "Gaspe"
> and return the same day. There are (or were) two
> traks at the Gaspe station that could be used to
> "store" a train if needed (i.e. when the Chaleur
> showed up alongside the tourist train).
>
> I sure hope the deal comes to be, as this will
> further help to keep this rail line in service!

If this is the one I'm thinking of, there was a train of HEP-2 equipment leased for school trips and possibly other excursions. I think it only made one trip before a washout closed the line for an extended period. The washout was compounded by another washout/bridge failure in Causapscal that was a higher priority and diverted workers there instead. This was back before CN took over the ICR line from NBEC/CFMG.

There are two tracks at Gaspé, and probably a third that is slightly removed from the station. It looks like they were equipped with HEP connections at one time too, but I don't think it is serviceable right now.

GTD

One of the Coors Light Silver Bullet engines was on VIA #83 from Toronto to London on Monday afternoon. I was so surprised by it, I didn't get its number, but I believe I later heard the crew identify its loco as VIA 6445.

I don't know if this qualifies as "East" for Geoff's purposes, but Ingersoll, Ont., was certainly far enough East for me!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/11 13:25 by toledopatch.

Yes, it must have been 6445. 6408 is still on the Ocean. It's shown here turning the train on the Halterm loop this afternoon.

GTD

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