Comments on: In order to capture this image I had to skedaddle out of the house early in order to be trackside in Richmond Hill at 0700 so I wouldn’t miss this train. Sometimes it was CN power, sometimes ONR. I was lucky this day. Not only was the weather decent, so of course was the train with its eclectic variety of coaches behind ONT 1509 and 1520. The way Toronto traffic is these days, I’d not attempt anything around the GTA any more. :o) Not even on a Sunday, which was the case here.

By: awmooney

awmooney — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:28:14 +0000

I wish I had had more time for “fun times”.

By: sdfourty

sdfourty — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 04:15:10 +0000

More electic Northland:
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=7278
And note this Kodachrome taken the same week as Arnold’s!
sdfourty

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 20:27:09 +0000

This is lovely – not only the effort to get this, beauty morning “sweet” light and of course everytjhing going on.

One of my regrets was going to Toronto early enough or late enough to shoot the Northlander in Toronto on a nice day – I saw it many times, not with a camera nearby, and only shot it once in Toronto after getting off a VIA train at Union.

And We’ll be able to try again in a few months or less. I’ll be there early this time

By: Ian Malenfant-Picard

Ian Malenfant-Picard — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 05:45:14 +0000

Thanks for the insight!

By: Jakob Mueller

Jakob Mueller — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 02:56:15 +0000

So there were two daily trains ONR trains at this time – this one, which ran overnight, as noted a joint operation with CN/VIA, was the “Northland”, and the other, the all-ONR day train, was the “Northlander”. They were so incredibly creative with the names.

The joint Northland lasted until the January 1990 VIA cuts. Some of the final trains were pulled by LRC locomotives hauling SGUs. The Northlander lasted until 2012 and is set to be revived sometime soon.

The joint train was fascinating in part because the equipment mix was so eclectic. The power could be from either partner, and so could the baggage car and coaches. ONR didn’t have sleeping cars, so those were always CN/VIA… but to make it more weird, some of the oddball sleepers in the fleet were often used here. Those could be the ex-FEC “Windigo” or “Manitou” with stainless-steel sheathing, or one of the ex-B&M “Green” sleepers, also with stainless sheathing. One of these 8 is on the train here.

Shots of this train are never not interesting. Thanks for posting, Arnold!

By: awmooney

awmooney — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:45:54 +0000

Ian, this is old enough an image that VIA was in its infancy Apr. 1977. The last car is an ONR paint, and second last VIA. Yes, it was a joint operation. I shot it once with CN power and enjoyed seeing ONR this time.

By: Ian Malenfant-Picard

Ian Malenfant-Picard — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 19:45:00 +0000

Nice shot arnold! What was the reason behind the variety of passenger cars behind the locomotives? Was it a joint VIA-ONR operation?

By: Aitch

Aitch — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 21:53:20 +0000

Spectacular image ! That mid-70’s creampuff really adds to the scene. Looks like it might’ve been a Pontiac Parisienne.