|
Caption: VIA to Owen Sound? Close: in a rare occurrence, one of CP's leased VIA F40PH-2 units found its way onto The Moonlight, and made a trip up the Owen Sound Sub north to Owen Sound! CP GP38-2 3041 leads VIA F40PH-2D 6449, six Indusmin cylindrical covered hoppers, and van 434731 as they enter the Owen Sound city limits at the north end of town just after 11am (around the area of East Bayshore Rd & 3rd Ave).
CP leased a handful of VIA F40 units in 1994-1995 to help with their ongoing power shortage, and they typically operated around the southern Ontario area and on Windsor-Toronto-Montreal freights, usually with other CP units and leasers due to their higher-speed passenger gearing not being optimal for freight service.
Icing on the cake at this time was CP's operations over the Owen Sound Sub between Orangeville to Owen Sound were on borrowed time, and only had a few more months of operation left before the line was abandoned (the final train departed Owen Sound in October 1995).
Peter Jobe photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.
|
Rare catch indeed. I saw these a couple times on intermodals, which seemed like a sensible use for passenger power, and all of the photos I’ve seen previously are mainline assignments.
Probably going to the PPG plant just down the line!
This is quite awesome.
John Hardy notes the run with the leased VIA Rail power in his book Rusty Rails as well. It’s an excellent book for 90′s Ontario Branchline coverage.