Canadian Railroads > F40s on Ventures

I saw VIA's Toronto-London  (Venture) train #83 with an F-40 in the lead, i.e. ahead of the cab car.  I have since read a posting on another site saying that due to several HEP failures it is going to be a regular occurrence to have an F-40 on the Ventures, although not on all them at first.  Could it be that almost-40-year-old locos are more reliable than new-builds?  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/26 13:59 by DrawingroomA.

Well, VIA Rail needs to do whatever it takes to get the corridor trains more reliable. When I'm in the Montreal area in two months, I am going to keep my eye out for the older VIA Rail rolling stock. That would be neat seeing an F40 powering a Siemens Venture set.

Imagine a 1940's CN 4-8-4 Northern steam loco hauling an F40 train in the 1980's because they couldn't trust it..
That is the equivalent of what we have come down to today. 
Anyone at the Siemens Sacramento plant embarrassed ?  They should be.
Wait for the real fun next winter when these things are entrusted to go to North Bay and Timmins.  



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/26 06:29 by joemvcnj.

Maybe their cab cars are having shunting issues too.

portlander Wrote:
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> Maybe their cab cars are having shunting issues too.

That isn't it. This is not BNSF in California. It is HEP issues, risk freezing cold when the Chargers shut down on the 5 most cantankerous sets. The whole trainset does not meet CN axle count requirements.With these added 4 axles, they still don't and have speed restrictions at certain grade crossings.