Comments on: A nice early evening shot of the Niagara Budds at around 1800hrs heading eastward, next stop, Burlington West. The light is strong on the reflective strip along the roofline; this CN has yet to be painted into the VIA colours as have been the other two. We used to tire of seeing these sets 4 or 5 times a day. Personally I think they are gone because they make too much economical sense.

By: awmooney

awmooney — Sat, 08 Feb 2020 14:43:17 +0000

Thanks. No doubt you have seen a “Flexliner” photo on here, as I have posted a couple. To this day I still think there was some odd “politics” into why VIA did not further explore the option of such a trainset on the lines. And used in the manner you mentioned regarding GO.
Having never lived in Toronto (I’m happy about that!) I had heard of this manner of utilizing the commuter cars, but not actually witnessed it.
Now, they send a big hulking trainset down to Niagara so they can justify later that it was not a money maker. Of course not.

By: First954

First954 — Sat, 08 Feb 2020 13:07:03 +0000

Interesting discussion. Do you guys remember the early days of GO Transit? Full 8-10 single level car trains would pull into their Mimico yards, cut of 5-6 cars, and continue west with an engine and 3-4 cars. At the start of the evening rush, the trains would pull into the yard, couple to the cars previously set off, and continue east with full 8-10 cars trains again for the rush hour. The self-propelled cars handled the late evening trains. Made sense back and still should today as you suggest!!!!

By: awmooney

awmooney — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 19:15:57 +0000

Imagine a one-man single Cab car running from Niagara to Aldershot and then, under the watchful eye of the Commute Mgr, linked up with the regular GO train scheduled into Toronto, and off they go.
No more 8 car double deckers wasting all that fuel to ferry two dozen people from the peninsula.
Or some scenario like that.
Is there not enough of a train to trip the signal mechanisms?

By: Cdntrainphotog

Cdntrainphotog — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 14:21:57 +0000

This, in an updated form, should be what GO uses to service lines like Niagara. Like you say – it makes too much sense to ever get adopted by the bureaucrats who run Metrolinx.