by Ken V
VIA Rail Canada F-Units
Martin Niklas on Thu, Apr 26, 01 at 14:47 wrote: Hello everyone!
With VIA RAIL's F-Unit era rapidly coming to a close, one question remains: what will happen to this railway's final F-Units?
Will the last of them become part of a museum collection?
I've been told that the final F's will be used in regular service for the last time in the year 2001.
Thank you very much.
Best regards, Martin
Eric on Thu, Apr 26, 01 at 15:17 wrote: I'll bet my bottom dollar that a tourist operation in the US would like to get a few F's. Maybe the Canadian Railway Museum in St-Constant (a Montreal suburb) will acquire one as well but it's a long shot. Remember, F-units have been in high demand the past few years. Tourist lines simply crave that classic look.
matthew on Fri, Apr 27, 01 at 16:09 wrote: I think it would be a mistake to get rid of them. With all the new cars in such VIA will eventually have to buy new locos again. Maybe VIA could use them seasonally or for commuter service around the GTA. Or maybe they could use them on a ski train to colingwood via barrie.i still think getting rid of them would be a mistake.
Eric on Sun, Apr 29, 01 at 8:57 wrote: I believe the F's are on barrowed time. Remember that VIA has a bunch of new GE's coming in and that will release F40's for service elsewhere. The LRC's and F's are surely on the hit list because of this.
Stanley Wesley on Mon, Apr 30, 01 at 0:43 wrote: I heard that the F59s were to high to travel Manitoba's ever shifting tundra landscape and that the f-units have a lower center of gravity and are will suited for the shifting rails caused by the permafrost. One year we had two F59s operating "The Hudson Bay" but only went to The Pas. The passenger cars were then conected to a freight for the rest of the journey to Hudson Bay and then VIA brought back the F-units. This goes for certain kinds of freight cars that can't travel to Hudson bay because they are too high. So maybe the F-units will stay for awhile longer until they can find a suitable solution to nature.
Ron Hovorka on Tue, May 8, 01 at 22:05 wrote: The F-Units are nice to look at but are very frustrating to work on. As a railway employee, I remember maintaining some of these locomotives which had very low head room in the engineroom and very little room to perform critical maintenance procedures.
I am not sorry to see them go!!
Kevin on Sat, May 26, 01 at 9:52 wrote: Which F units are still working? Are there any Alco FPA4s or ared the ones mentioned F9s or F7s? Anyone know what happened to VIA's FPA4s or the RS-18s used on the Tempo trains?
