Comments on: After my story in Part 1 of this photo, Mr. Drew Jolliffe pulled this unit outside to our delight to see sunlight for what I believe was the first time in this paint scheme. Incomplete for this unit though, as the Red VIA RAIL Decal had yet to arrive and that would be the final piece to add to it before it was completed, posed for photos in a private event on Halloween, and wrapped and shipped to Toronto (which is currently underway as I type this). But who wore it better? Many of these similar units didn’t get the red VIA logo on the nose. Steve Young’s photo shows it well near Calgary in 1986!. Steve Danko asked the question on where the VIA yellow came from and you can see a logo-less MLW in this photo.. Here’s a Gary Zuters photo posted by John Reay very early in our site’s history in the east with similar no logo nose. But Dan Dell’unto would answer the question definitively Here in this A. Mooney photo with one of the earliest VIA paint schemes under CN. So, who wore it better? what do you prefer? What I didn’t realize at the time is despite this unit being incomplete, I captured both schemes. I’m not a VIA historian by any means, but it’s neat to learn. Kudos of course to the the VHA and OSR for pulling this off!.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 12:30:18 +0000

I seem to recall October being a mostly cloudy month, with a few daily exceptions.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 04:48:54 +0000

Glad they dragged it outside. Light was too nice not to

By: cp5756

cp5756 — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 04:01:39 +0000

This is the preservation we have been desperately lacking for years. Everyone seems to fixate on transition era and as-delivered schemes, and yet neglects the years following despite them being just as historically important and influential to today’s railroading!! I absolutely love 6539 and i’m very glad OSR & VHA pulled it off flawlessly

By: L. Parks

L. Parks — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:21:11 +0000

For me, the big yellow nose looks like something needs to be added. Red letters at the front, either CN or VIA, contributed (contrasted) nicley to the yellow and blue.

By: MrDan

MrDan — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 13:50:10 +0000

The unit looks nice in fresh VIA paint!

The initial VIA paint scheme under CN was a red “CN” logo on the nose and VIA on the sides (and yellow pilot, and angled yellow/blue separation line) . The red CN logo then became red VIA on the nose when VIA became VIA, but was dropped after a few years (early 80′s?) on the cab units. Never did find out exactly why.

There was also a blue VIA logo version that showed up in the mid-late 80′s that only a few units got, possibly just 6758 & 6775.

VIA 6539 would have always had the red nose lettering with that number, as it lost it after being rebuilt as an FP9ARM and renumbered 6303 in 1983.