GO Transit Question

This was my best guess for a GO question forum; Ken, if this isn't appropriate, apologies in advance.

I was looking at this pic
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 984&nseq=5
of the original GO power, the GP40TC.

I'm not much educated on the beginnings of GO. Was it mostly CP and CN legacy commuter operations? The Wikipedia article makes it sound like a complete new-start, but I can't imagine that CN and CP didn't have a some locals or commuter trains into Toronto. Also, the pic mentions that the GP40's were originally blue - anybody have pics of that? Also, any other discussion of the GO beginnings are welcome, I'd like to learn. Thanks for any input in advance.


It seems like most GO equipment is still around.
GP40's to Amtrak
Hawker coaches to MUCTC
F40's to Amtrak and MUCTC
I've seen F's in GO livery used similar to LIRR's powerpack FA's. No idea what happened to these.

GO train service started as a single line commuter service on CN trackage between Burlington and Pickering. While it displaced a single daily CN commuter round-trip on each segment (one each, west and east of Toronto Union Station) it offered several trips a day so in that sense was a net new service. The train service was expanded to add additional routes, displacing other CN and CP commuter runs, and extend further east and west I'm not too familiar with the early days of GO Transit, so I hope others can answer the rest of your questions.

P.S. It seems the photo linked in the original post is of the blue colour scheme although it looks black.

Hawker cars are still in use at Ontario Northland (Northlander and Polar Bear Express).

Thanks for the updates. I think the new MP40 look great in GO paint. Tied with Metrolink for the best look, and much better than Metra's look.

briann wrote:Hawker cars are still in use at Ontario Northland (Northlander and Polar Bear Express).

I thought AMT had some of these cars as well.

Yes, AMT does have some former the GO Hawker-Siddeley single level cars in service. MUCTC, mentioned in Tadman's original post, was the predecessor operator to AMT in the greater Montreal area.

Ah, did not see that. I did not get the chance to ride the Hawker cars in Montreal on my recent trip only the MU's a Bombardier bilevel set and a I'll call them Comet II's since thats what I'm familiar with.

One more Q: I notice GO retired at least (9) F59PH locomotives - are these going somewhere else or to the scrap pile? It's hard to believe the F59 is that old...

Tadman wrote:One more Q: I notice GO retired at least (9) F59PH locomotives - are these going somewhere else or to the scrap pile? It's hard to believe the F59 is that old...

Rumor has it MBTA might get 7. But thats a rumor.

It appears that Rail World Inc. (owner of the Montreal Maine & Atlantic) have purchased at least three of the F59PHs. Reports have 526, 530, and 532 wearing CDAC reporting marks. Rail World had previously purchased a number of F40s from Amtrak.

4 of the ex-GO engines are sitting outside of CAD in Montreal. I posted a pic here. http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=121&p=666982