Caption: Here's a nice GO Transit locomotive on the head end of its GO train at GO's Willowbrook Yard: Ontario Northland FP7 1517! Back when GO first launched, they planned to expand to full service in September 1967 using some of their ordered-but-not-yet-delivered self-powered Hawker Siddeley cars (D100-D108, later 9825-9833) to cover those runs. Unfortunately, those cars were late to be delivered, and since they were a new design of unknown reliability, had to be tested and troubleshot before being put into service (and according to the old "Building GO Transit" article there were problems, notably with the English-made Rolls-Royce engines constantly shutting down). So as an interim measure, the Ontario government borrowed two sets of conventional trains from Ontario Northland, composed of an FP7 at each end of 5 or so older coaches.

GO experimented with various configurations, including both FP7's at one end, and one FP7 per end but only one powering the train in each direction, and determined both units had to be online and providing power to maintain the tight commuter schedules. The solution reached was an FP7 at both ends connected with long MU cables running along the coaches, enabling both units to be online and respond as one. The two Ontario Northland consists operated in GO service during 1967-1968. Two "Progressive" paint scheme units (1517 and 1521) were among the ONR FP7's that did time on these trains. The self-powered cars coming online and a follow-up order for 14 more unpowered coaches in 1968 seemed to alleviate the equipment shortage, and the ONR consists were returned.

The self-powered cars proved to be more troublesome than they were worth, and GO neutered them by depowering all nine and converting them into regular cab cars. Some of those Ontario Northland F's would come back in the 70's as unpowered control cab/generator cars (APCU's), rebuilt for GO by Ontario Northland.

This photo spot is around the northeast end of the old Willowbrook Yard shop buildings (the former CN Mimico Yard car repair shop that GO originally took over) just east of present-day Islington Avenue, where the UPX servicing shop is today. The blue pickup truck in the background sits by a CN service track that ran along the north end of the yard, formerly CN's Oakville Sub mainline right-of-way until it was relocated to the middle of the yards concurrent with GO establishing facilities here. In the far distance are the old Ontario Ministry of Transport buildings that were used for ambulance upfitting for sale to municipalities across the province for many decades.

Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide (duplicate).