Caption: What is this stray VIA F40PH? What is it doing here? Why, it's the morning "Drop Unit" off VIA #40-52, making its way out of the Union Station back to the Toronto Maintenance Centre in Mimico. Today, CBC Radio-Canada wrapped VIA 6403 was doing the honors, captured heading westbound at Bathurst Street bridge exiting the USRC after its morning duties were complete. One of the regular York Excavating Cat 235C's works in the background on the CityPlace condo development.

This unit was originally part of VIA "J-Train" #40-52's consist. Every day, a spare F40PH would couple up to the rear of that combined train to lead it from the TMC to Aldershot, then the train would change directions and run in service from Aldershot (6:00am) to Toronto Union Station (arriving 6:35am) with the F40 in tow, where it would make its station stop and drop this unit off the tail end before departing (6:55am) east out of Union and on to Brockville (doing the split for Ottawa/Montreal there). That train was an early morning arrival/departure into Union that I never caught arriving (and caught departing only once), but I did catch their stray F40.

Another one of those morning eccentricities to look forward to at Bathurst Street, this thing would show up sometime before the height of morning rush hour, going against all the inbound traffic to make it back upstream to the TMC in Mimico. It was on the morning "hit list", but would usually depart Union around 7:30am so the lighting wasn't the best (and it couldn't be shot well in the darker months). Not entirely sure if VIA continues with this practice today, and not entirely sure how many people actually shot this early move, but a solo F40 passing through every morning was an odd sight.