CN 6765 in August 1975

Here's a slide I've been meaning to scan for a while. It shows CN 6765 and CN 6633 in Toronto at Union Station at an unknown location on August 9, 1975. The photographer is unknown to me.


I've been trying to nail down when CN 6765 was repainted into VIA colours, and also when it lost the CN on the nose and gained the VIA. I'm slowly narrowing it down.

1. 1972/06/13 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
2. 1976/07/24 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
3. 1977/01/26 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
4. 1979/11/20 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
5. 1980/04/27 - VIA blue and yellow with red VIA on yellow nose
6. 1981/07 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
7. 1988/10/16 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
8. 2001/08/30 - CN green and gold
9. 2005 - CN green and gold

EDIT: Thanks for the location information!

EDIT2: I found a reference to VIA 6765 on Railpictures.ca where it says 6765 had a yellow pilot in November 1976. See the comment to this photo. There's also a reference here that says 6765 was the last FPA4 in green and gold, in 1965.

Another Brockville Slide of VIA 6765

Here's another eBay slide of VIA 6765, in Brockville Ontario. This was taken in July 1981 but the photographer was not indicated on the slide. Quite honestly I am questioning if it is the same train as this slide I posted a while ago.


What do you think?

Yet More on 6765

Continuing my fascination with CN/VIA 6765, here are two more slides I purchased recently.

First, CN 6765 in May 1974. This slide was taken by Jean Patenaude and was probably taken in the Montreal area.


Next, VIA 6765 and 6860 at Brockville, Ontario in July 1981. There is no photographer credited on the slide.


Here are the various paint schemes I've seen for CN/VIA 6765 so far:

1. 1974/02/21 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
2. 1976/07/24 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
3. 1977/03/24 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
4. 1979/10/19 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
5. 1980/04/27 - VIA blue and yellow with red VIA on yellow nose
6. 1981/07 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
7. 1988/10/16 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
8. 2005 - CN green and gold

I've never seen a photo of it in CN green and gold but I have to assume that it wore that sometime between 1958 when it was built and 1974 when I first have proof it was in the sergeant stripes. If Exporail repainted it in green and gold, it must be true!

I have omitted some dates from the above list, where the paint scheme did not change between the dates listed. I'm trying to nail down when it changed liveries.

This Day, 32 Years Ago

Continuing my fascination with CN 6765, later known as VIA 6765, here's another slide I bought on eBay. VIA 6765 was shot in Halifax by Glenn Courtney on November 5, 1978.

EDIT: Yes, it was *32* years ago, not 22. I'd like to say math wasn't my strongest subject in school... but it was.

More on CN 6765

I have written before about CN/VIA 6765, because I have a number board from her. Eric Gagnon of the fantastic blog Trackside Treasure sent along the times he saw that unit, as well as two pictures he kindly shared with me (and now you).

Eric first saw the unit on July 18, 1976 on an eastbound passenger train. At that time it was in red and white CN colours. Here's one of Eric's shots from July 24, 1976 just east of Napanee, Ontario on train 44.

He saw it a few more times, the last on September 11, 1976. At that point it must have been repainted to the blue and gold VIA colours, because the next time he saw it on December 19, 1976 it was in the VIA livery.


He saw it in and around Kingston, Ontario many times in the next few years. Here's a shot at the Kingston station with CN 6618 and CN 6530 (all in VIA colours) on March 24, 1977.


It was on the Canadian several times in 1982, 1983 and 1984. The last time Eric saw it was on August 29, 1986 on an evening eastbound train.

Thanks for the information and photos, Eric. Make sure you go read his blog - it is my favourite train blog.

CN 6765 Again

Here's another eBay slide, this time showing CN 6765 leading a short passenger train near Dorval, Quebec on February 21, 1974. She had about 2 1/2 years to go before being repainted in CN-VIA blue and yellow.

I bought this slide because I have one of her number boards. 6765 is currently resident at the Canadian Railway Museum in Delson, Quebec. I wrote about her before.

VIA 6765

In my very limited number board collection, I have a board from VIA 6765. 6765 was built in 1958 by the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) for CN as one of 6 in class MPA-18, with serial number 82274. It was transferred to VIA when CN's passenger business became VIA Rail.

I asked my good friend David Morris if he had any photos of 6765. David is a great resource for passenger train information. He found that 6765 was never on the Atlantic but did lead the Scotian at least once, as well as train 18.

Here is 6765 at the head of train 12, the Scotian, at Sackville NB on May 12, 1977. Note the CN logo on the nose, an indication that this was the transition era where VIA was a unit of CN, before CP transferred its passenger equipment to VIA. Also note the CN RS18 as the third unit.

The complete consist was VIA 6765, VIA 6625, CN 3119, 9640, 5419, 5444, 5505, 5722, SOIREE, 1366, and GREENRIDGE.

David also found a photo of 6765 leading train 18 in "Cape" (wherever that is) on April 27, 1980. Here the VIA logo has replaced the CN logo on the nose. This is a shorter train, but notice the dome car.

The consist was VIA 6765, 15410, 9616, 5440, 515, and 5489.

VIA 6765 was retired between 1987 and 1989. As it happens, she survives today at the Canadian Railway Museum in Delson, Quebec. Here is a photo I took of it in 2005 in its original CN livery.

CN number boards

I picked up my locomotive number boards from Ron Leblanc yesterday. Here they are:



1763 - RSC-14 rebuilt from CN 3861
3665 - RS-18
6765 - FPA-4, preserved at the Canadian Railway Museum

I plan on mounting at least 3665's number board in some kind of light box so I can backlight it, like a real locomotive.

Here's how to get your own locomotive number boards.