MISC VIA photos

December 9, 2021 - From the vault of Ray Farand we get to see VIA 6433 and 6457 pulling several ballast cars for track maintenance in Ottawa back in November 2012.

June 29, 2014 - New Prestige cars prepared to be shipped east, train 693 turned around at Dauphin

Last month I posted a series of photos (scroll to the bottom of this page), showing a deadheading LRC car plus two grey-banded "Prestige Class" cars on train #1 through Winnipeg. After reaching the west coast and spending some time in Vancouver, the cars returned and were shunted to the Winnipeg Maintenance Center (WMC). I lost track of the LRC car in the shuffle. You can see what the other sides of the Prestige cars look like plus the few changes VIA made to them since my first batch of photos. Here the two Prestige cars are leaving WMC on a deadhead movement of outbound train 693. The cars were being ferried from WMC to the station and did not leave the city on #693. Instead, later that night they were added to #2's consist and transferred to Toronto for a July 1 arrival. The #693 trainset shown here (less the two Prestige cars) left Winnipeg on time but ended up turning back at Dauphin the next day and returned to Winnipeg as #692. This was due to flash floods on the northern Togo and Assiniboine subdivisions. Thanks to CanadianPassengerRail group for providing some of this info.

June 22, 2014 - back to back F40s

The rail line south of Churchill has been closed to service by Omnitrax, due to reported permafrost issues that caused 13 grain cars to derail from a freight train. As a result, VIA trains will only go as far north as Gillam until such time as the line is reopened and deemed safe by VIA Rail. The units are coupled back to back so when the train reaches the end of the line, the power can run-around, couple to the rear of the train and travel back south. This uncommon power configuration became the norm on Churchill trains for a while.

May 19, 2014 - LRC in Manitoba, Prestige car deadheads

Here is a set of photos I captured today (Victoria Day Monday) while waiting for 6408 to show up in the pouring rain. I believe this was the only time an LRC car has ever been here in the west. This was also the first time I saw the grey-banded "Prestige Class" cars that later became a feature of every 'Canadian' trainset.