Here we see VIA 85 with VIA 6453 coming off the Guelph Sub and onto the Dundas Sub at London Junction London Ontario Sept 1, 2016 (Walter Pfefferle photo)

Also VIA 73 not far behind with VIA 6407 London Ontario Sept 1, 2016 (Walter Pfefferle photo)

 

 On Sept. 5, VIA 85 with VIA 6453 heads west from the Kitchener Station. (Walter Pfefferle photo)

 

It was a dark and cloudy day, but Walter caught VIA 73 with 6428 blowing through Beachville Ontario on Sept 8, 2016.

 

 VIA 72 on Sept 11th showed up with VIA 6414 and VIA 6418, with both units apparently running. Here we see then leaving Woodstock Ontario. That is the tail end of CN 148 as it just passed. (Walter Pfefferle photo)

 

On Sept 12th 72 showed up with VIA 909 in Woodstock Ontario passing the mural (Walter Pfefferle photo)

 

London Junction is the connection between the CN Dundas sub and the CN Guelph sub. It has just recently been converted to CTC. Here we see VIA 73 with 6428 then VIA 85 running 30 minutes late with VIA 6401. London Ontario Sept 22, 2016 (Walter Pfefferle photos)

Back on August 20, Ron Visockis photographed several VIA trains through Smiths Falls, featuring P42s and F40s, and even one of VIA's recently more common "push pull" consists (with P42s on both ends - note the red paddle and lit marker lights on VIA 911 bringing up the rear)

 

 

Michael Berry was away from home this month, and took the opportunity to photograph VIA's flagship train #1, The Canadian, as it sped west across the prairies on its transcontinental journey. Led by 6452 and 6410 on September 3, the train consisted of 23 cars, with the tail end brought up by two Prestige Class sleepers (rebuilt Chateaus) and a newly refurbished Prestige Park car. Note the grey stripes and lack of Canada wordmarks or flags on these cars. Here the train approaches the CN Diamond at MP 14.3 of CN's Rivers Sub with Glacier Park on the tail end. (Michael Berry photos)

 

 (by Andy Cassidy)

Continuing on from the August CRO, we rejoin Andy Cassidy for a tour of VIA's Vancouver Maintenance Centre. Andy visited the site in 2012, and took a plethora of photos throughout his tour. More to come next month!

 Andy writes: Continuing on with our tour of the VIA Vancouver Maintenance Centre. In this set I'm down on the shop floor primarily in the area where they work on the Locomotive traction motor/wheelset combos and trucks.

 In this photo you are looking down Track M1E in the shop. Here they have stored two trucks from West Coast Express BiLevel Coaches and a number of locomotive wheel/traction motor combos and loose wheels for the fleet of rebuilt F40PH-2D units VIA employ.

 This photo shows a somewhat off kilter shot looking down the whole area from the West end of track M2E. This is the track the Drop Table is on, and you get a view of their big 25 Tonne Bridge Crane above.

 In the next photo we see a young fellow working on a traction motor suspension bearing in a small room North of track M1E they have partitioned off from the rest of the shop for stripping and building combos. It's an open top room to allow access by the overhead crane. Here they have all the tools needed for this work. This is the cleanest traction motor/combo work area I ever saw.

In these shots you are getting a closer look at trucks used underneath the WCE Bombardier built BiLevel Coaches. These are completely foreign to me and are completely different from any standard passenger car truck I've ever seen up close. Air suspension, a combination of disc and conventional friction shoe brakes, & inside suspension bearings, plus many other differences make for the smooth ride of these coaches. (*Editor's note: these are very similar in design to the trucks used under VIA's LRC cars, which makes sense as both the WCE bilevels and the LRCs were built by Bombardier)

Finally a couple of overview shots from the East end of the building from track M3E. Note the WCE Control Cab BiLevel Coach 109 sitting in the service area on track M1E where they normally do the locomotive servicing. Also note the rebuilt combos sitting upright on the floor in wait for their next application. In the last shot if you look down the track a ways, you'll see the Wheel Truing Machine.

 I just took three photos of the underfloor Simmonds Stanray Wheel Truing Machine on track M3E here so you can see it, but the following link from Simmonds Machine Tool Corp shows the machine in operation and is worth the three minute watch. The short video answers many questions you May have on how this machine runs. They are Very useful to have in a shop, believe me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlyumHyAiYs

Simmonds Machine Tool Corp has been supplying these machines in various configurations to repair/maintenance facilities across the continent and beyond for years now. Sometime in the early 90's I went back to Albany NY with others to view the Simmonds plant, get the sales pitch, etc. as we were interested in getting one for the CP Coquitlam Diesel Shop. At the time we had nothing. The original Stanray Machines have been rebuilt and upgraded by Simmonds many times over in some cases. The machine at VIA is a manually controlled unit. The operator basically makes all the adjustments by hand. The upgraded machines like that in the video are all computer controlled, and have larger "Quick Release" cutter heads. These are Milling Machines, not Lathes.

At Coquitlam we ended up purchasing a used and rebuilt Hegenscheidt UnderFloor Wheel Lathe from the Toronto Transit Commission. It got us in the door so to speak, but we finally got our Simmons Stanray machine after proving our worth to the system some years later. The Simmonds machine was an easy Million bucks at the time, and the Heg only cost a Hundred grand or so. It did the job but had issues. It was a true lathe, and peeled of great long strings of hot steel that some of the operators still bear the scars from! Our friendly neighbourhood Southern Railway here still has one of these machines at their shop, and it works quite well for their limited needs.

In any event, the Simmonds machines use a Milling Head with many thumbnail size Carbide Inserts attached to it in the profile of a new wheel. As seen in the video, the heads spin and cut small chunks of steel of the wheel face as the wheel turns. It all works very well.

 Tune in next month for the next part of Andy's tour!