VIA News

The Northern Spirit cars that have been stored at the Winnipeg Maintenance Centre have been sold "to Mexico" and are being prepared for movement. They are up beside the WMC all coupled together. I'm told they are going by CN but I do not know when.

Also, baggage-coach car VIA 5649 was at the WMC on Wednesday. VIA 5649 is an old ex-CN car that is still painted in blue and yellow. It and two other blue and yellow cars are used on VIA trains 290/291 between The Pas, MB and Pukatawagan, MB on the Keewatin Railway. I assume it was brought to Winnipeg for servicing by VIA 692 and will return soon on VIA 693.

VIA 290/291 are odd ducks. They are listed on VIA's site but you can't book them there. You have to contact  the Keewatin Railway Company by phone.

VIA 5648 and 5649 are listed on VIA's site. They were built in 1954 by the Canadian Car and Foundry company. The third car used on the The Pas-Pukatawagan line is VIA 3248, a cafe-coach car also built in 1954. Clayton Chaloner has a nice photo of VIA 3248 on the tail end of VIA 692.

VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre Part 6

This is the conclusion of my report on VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre. See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.

VIA Rail has five cars stored at the Winnipeg Maintenance Centre. These are all labeled "Northern Spirit" and were acquired from Amtrak for use on the Hudson Bay between Winnipeg and Churchill. The cars are all sleepers. They were put into service on the Hudson Bay in 2000 (ref VIA Rail annual report) and were withdrawn from service.... in 2006, I believe. The cars were leased from Amtrak in 2000 and purchased by VIA in 2004. They have been stored at the WMC for some time and are for sale. They are moved every six months to ensure the wheels are still functional.

Each is decorated with a different northern animal.

Car	Decoration	History	Built
VIA 2448	polar bear	ex Amtrak 2448 (Oak Grove), ex Amtrak 2684, ex SP 9004	1950
VIA 2449	snowy owl	ex Amtrak 2449 (Maple Grove), ex Amtrak 2686, ex SP 9006	1950
VIA 2455	caribou	ex Amtrak 2455 (Elm Grove), ex Amtrak 2680, ex SP 9000	1950
VIA 2462	beluga whale	ex Amtrak 2462 (Silver Chasm), ex Amtrak 2657, ex CB&Q 430	1952
VIA 2463	peregrine falcon	ex Amtrak 2463 (Silver Dale), ex Amtrak 2658, ex CB&Q 431	1952

Let's look at each one in numerical order.

Here's 2448, with 2462 in the middle and 2449 at the far end.


VIA 2448 has a nice polar bear on it.


VIA 2448 was leased to Canadian Pacific for a while and was located in the West Coast Express yard in Vancouver for use by WCE crews to sleep in. Apparently their regular rooms in the CPR Vancouver station were closed for a construction project. Here's a Flickr photo showing the car in Vancouver in late 2007.

Here's VIA 2449 with what looks like a snowy owl on it. There are a number of condemned wheel sets rusting away next to the Northern Spirit cars.


This is VIA 2455 with a moose? elk? caribou on it.


Strangely I did not shoot 2462 directly. This photo shows it has a beluga whale some kind of sea creature on it.

Here's VIA 2463.

I noticed that 2463's Burlington heritage is showing through - note the B U R L I N G T O N showing through the paint. Any idea what type of bird this is? EDIT: It's an osprey. EDIT2: It's a peregrine falcon.


There's some discussion of these cars here.

That concluded my tour of the Winnipeg Maintenance Centre.

I want to thank VIA Rail for permission to roam through their facility and photograph whatever I pleased, the shop foreman for answering my questions, and especially engineer Tommy Bozyk for arranging this and being my tour guide. His knowledge of the equipment and facility is first-rate and I appreciate the time he spent arranging it and showing me around.

Thanks for reading.

EDIT: Thanks for the help identifying the various animals!

VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre Part 5

After our tour through the interior of the Winnipeg Maintenance Centre, and a detailed look at the exterior, engine compartment and cab of VIA 6429, VIA engineer Tommy Bozyk and I walked outside to see the exterior of the Winnipeg Maintenance Centre.

VIA 6443 was parked on track 3 (north), protected by blue flags. Rule 26 of the Canadian Rail Operating Rules mandates that a blue flag (and light at night) must be placed at one or both ends of any consist that is being worked on. The flags mean that nobody can move the equipment or couple up to the equipment while the flags are displayed.

I liked this "arty" shot of VIA 6443.


There are six engines assigned to Winnipeg, two for each of the three Hudson Bay VIA 693/692 trainsets. VIA 6429 and 6449 inside the shop were the two Winnipeg units left, since the other four were on the road. VIA 6443 was dropped by the Canadian, presumably needing some work.

The shot below of VIA 6443's rear end plainly shows the doors for the HEP equipment. It also shows that there is no rear platform any more, so there is no place for crew to ride on the rear. Any backup moves must be made with a crewperson hanging off the side rails or on the ground.


We walked around to the east side of the building where there are four tracks between the main building and the parking lot. The third trainset was parked there with the diner (Annapolis, 8404) plugged into shore power. The trainset had diner 8404, coaches 8125 and 8110, and baggage 8601. Coach VIA 8123 was on a separate track by itself.


We boarded the train and walked into Annapolis. VIA's diners are being refurbished but Annapolis has not received that treatment yet. It is looking a bit plain and worn.


VIA's diners have etched glass at both ends of the car. Annapolis has four birds in it, Magpie, Sandpiper, Chickadee, and King Fisher (below). I had to tweak this image some to show the pretty birds better.


I took a quick shot of the shiny kitchen. It is larger than I thought it would be. There is also a little snack bar just outside the kitchen. You can get a Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwich for $3!


We walked through the two coaches. I honestly don't know which one this is. Coaches are probably the most boring cars on a train.


Next, the baggage car VIA 8601. It's pretty bare in there with no baggage aboard. There's more natural light in there than I thought there would be.


One thing I found really interesting was this chart showing where the baggage is stored. For example, under TRAIN #1 from left to right we find "EX TRTO", "EX WNPG", "EX SASK", "EX EDMO" and "EX JASP". I had not thought of this but it makes sense. The crew need to know where baggage for each destination is located so they can quickly offload it and keep everything organized.


Oddly enough I never took an outside photo of these cars. I guess I've taken enough photos of the exteriors already!

For the last portion of the visit, we walked over to where the Northern Spirit cars are stored... next time in part 6.

VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre Part 4

Continuing on through VIA 6429 at the VIA Maintenance Centre... part 1, part 2, part 3.

The cab itself is not greatly changed in layout. There is a third folding seat mounted on the back wall of the cab, and a microwave has been added behind the "conductor's" station. I put "conductor" in quotes because there is no conductor on VIA trains. Both head end crew are qualified engineers and usually take turns in the driver's seat. The Service Manager is responsible for looking after the passengers and stays in the passenger cars.

This is the breaker panel mounted on the wall behind the right seat. I did some primitive Photoshopping to brighten the left side enough so it can be read. The big knife switch on the left is the master power for the unit.


Also on the back wall is the engine control panel (see below). The "big red switch" is the kill switch for the engine. Note the four switches fixed in one position.

On the right are the headlight controls. Each unit needs to be set up as a leading or trailing unit.


Here is the bearing monitoring system panel, made by Lanka Technologies.


Below is the panel to set up the head-end power (HEP). It includes the genset start/stop button.

There is a left and right side HEP cable that goes from the engine(s) back to the train consist. The rule of thumb is that you need one HEP unit for every 15 cars. For trains less than 15 cars long, one engine supplies both sides. The two dials at the bottom set up the left and right side HEP. In the photo I believe this engine is set up to provide HEP to both sides of the train.

Tommy did a valiant job of trying to explain HEP to me but I don't think I completely grasp it. As I said, there is a left and right hand cable going from the engine(s) to the first car in the consist. Each side powers a portion of the car (presumably one side per cable) and normally the cables cross over between cars. This means the right hand cable from the rear engine powers the right hand side of the baggage car but the left hand side of the coach behind it, and so on. There are control panels in each car that allow VIA crew to reconfigure the HEP in each car in case of failure. For example, if HEP fails on one side, they can flip sides to keep one side of the car powered, such as the kitchen in the diner car.


"Black boxes" were added to the engine during the rebuilding. These Train Trax units from Wabtec record all engine parameters. They do not record sound in the cab.


The rebuilt units have the Silent Witness video camera (V60BC5060), now owned by Honeywell Video. The video camera points out the front window and also records outside ambient noise such as the bell, horn, and crossing bells. The early rebuilds did not have them but I assume they will retrofit those.

Another major item installed during the rebuild is the Wabtec QES-III unit. This upgrade brings a host of new features to the F40, including improved performance, better adhesion control, individual traction motor cut-out, and more. There is a display in front of the engineer allowing control of many of these features.

This is the QES-III control unit.


This is the unit, opened. I had to resist the temptation to poke around, again because this is the kind of stuff I enjoy working with.You can read more detail here.


What else, what else... I mentioned the new microwave. The hot plate is still there on the left side console. In the short hood, accessible from the cab by a couple of steps down, is some storage space and of course the toilet.


That's the end of VIA 6429.

After that, we went outside the building to take a quick glance at VIA 6443 and then walk through the train ready to become the next VIA 693. We'll do that in part 5, and then wrap things up in part 6 with a few photos of the Northern Spirit cars.

Next - part 5

VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre Part 3

After viewing the interior of the VIA Rail Winnipeg Maintenance Centre, and looking at the changes to the exterior of VIA 6429, we went inside the unit to see its interior. I've been in a few cabs but I had never been in the engine compartment of an F40PH-2 before.

The big blue diesel engine aka "prime mover" dominates the compartment. That baby is a General Motors 16 cylinder 645E3C, delivering 3,000 horsepower to the traction motors. Most people know that the vast majority of "diesel engines" are actually diesel-electric engines, with a diesel engine driving an alternator or generator to produce electricity for the electric traction motors that drive the wheels. The F40PH-2 is no different. The 645 engine drives a generator that produces DC current to supply the traction motors powering all eight wheels.

The engine also drives a smaller alternator to provide 500 kW of Head End Power (HEP) at 480V for use by the passenger cars it is pulling. This is how the original VIA F40PH-2 engines provided power for the cars.

The rebuilds have included a separate diesel engine that provides HEP independent of the prime mover. Canadian Allied Diesel (CAD) is the prime contractor for the F40 rebuilds, and they subcontracted the HEP engine to Hewitt Equipment Ltd. Hewitt supplied a Caterpillar "genset" on a skid, basically a diesel engine combined with an alternator.  I'm told the genset is a Caterpillar C18 with a 6 cylinder engine running at 1800 RPM delivering 831 horsepower, and the genset delivers 500 kW of power.

With the Cat HEP unit, the main diesel engine can use all of its 3000 HP to move the train forward. As well, when the train is stopped, the Cat HEP can continue to run while the main engine idles, saving fuel. Previously the main engine had to be in "run 8" (full power) to provide head end power.

The HEP unit is mounted on a skid and is designed to be easily replaceable. There are doors at the rear of the engine that open, and after disconnecting a few cables and hoses, the entire unit can be slid out and replaced.

The cabinet below contains the "brains" of the genset and has local controls for the HEP power unit.



Every engine has some kind of cooling system, and the F40 is no different. It is water cooled and below are some instructions on the cooling system. As well, there is a manual sight glass showing the level of water in the system.

Another major part of the F40 refurbishment was the addition of a Hotstart unit. These are made by HOTSTART, Inc. formerly known as Kim Hotstart. In some sense a Hotstart unit serves the same purpose as the block heater in your car. The Hotstart unit keeps the engine coolant and lubricating oil warm and has its own pump and heaters to warm the fluids and keep them circulating. This allows the main engine to shut down during extended stops without any worry of the engine freezing up. If the Hotstart unit draws the batteries down too much, or it can't maintain the proper temperature, the main engine will be restarted.

This is a model DV3300-0904-X01 operating at 480V and 51A. It has a local Siemens TD200 control panel. This kind of stuff really interests me because this is the kind of work that my company does.


After admiring all of this new equipment we moved into the cab... part 4.

VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre Part 2

First off, welcome to the new followers that joined in the past week! Also, thank you for the nice comments on part 1 of this series.

In this part I will talk about VIA 6429. As I said in part 1, I had the opportunity to tour VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre. After walking around the inside of the building, we went inside VIA 6429 to take a look inside at the improvements made in its recent refurbishment.

VIA Rail's F40PH-2 engines are all being rebuilt to extend their life and make them more fuel-efficient. You can read VIA's statement on the rebuilds here. Their new model number is GPA-30H, replacing the three series GPA-30A through C. The engines are totally stripped and rebuilt, so there are a lot of changes and improvements. The major changes include:

• a Head-End-Power (HEP) generator
• Kim Hotstart engine heating system
• Wabtec QES-III engine controls

We started with the outside. The most obvious change, of course, is the new paint scheme. I've featured that enough on my blog already!

The new units all have a third Xenon headlight mounted under the original two. This headlight was tested on VIA 6420 among others. Tommy told me that it really cuts through fog and mist, and also improves the train's visibility to motorists.


You might notice some extra stuff on the roof too. Here's a closeup of VIA 6449's roof.


Emergency horns have been added on both sides of the roof. These are in addition to the regular horn, which is still well back of the cab on the roof. The emergency horns are considerably louder than the regular horns and are intended to be used for... well, emergencies. I can imagine they are quite loud to the engineers sitting right underneath them.

There's a light on the roof between the two emergency horns. On many locomotives this indicates that the engine is a remote control unit, but that is not the case here. When flashing, it indicates that the engine has been manually shut down and the Hotstart unit will not monitor the unit. It is intended to warn crews and maintenance people that the Hotstart microprocessor is not going to keep the unit warm and charged.

Now let's look at the rear of the engine.


The HEP generator is in the very back of the engine, so there is a little "hump" at the back of the hood, with its own cooling fans. The dynamic brake grids are on the side of the engine, in the bottom right of the photo above.


The original F40PH-2 engines had one rear headlight in the top centre, but the refurbished engines have one off to the side.

The speedometer used to be mounted on the lead axle of the unit, but it was found that this was the most common wheel to slip. As part of the rebuild, the sensor has been moved to the second axle. It's a small change but it shows the level of thought put into the rebuild project.

In part 3 we will go inside the engine and have a look at the new HEP generator, Hotstart unit, QES-III unit and other cab improvements.

EDIT: Corrected the meaning of the light on the roof - thanks Tommy!

VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre Part 1

I was recently offered the chance to tour VIA Rail's Winnipeg Maintenance Centre. VIA Rail engineer Tommy Bozyk, who is also active with Operation Lifesaver, made the offer and I gladly accepted. We eventually settled on Friday, October 14th, as it is least busy there during the day with no Canadian (VIA 1/2) or Hudson Bay Winnipeg-Churchill train (VIA 693/692) departing Winnipeg.

The maintenance centre is at the end of Brandon Avenue, off Osborne Street behind the bus depot. I arrived there at 10 sharp and met Tommy at the entrance. After signing a waiver and the visitor log, I met the shop foreman and began the tour. I was given the run of the place and the only restriction was that I could not take pictures of any VIA Rail employees. Tommy had already cleared my presence with VIA management so everything was on the "up and up".

The shop building has four tracks numbered 1-4 with 4 being closest to the CN main line in Fort Rouge. Sleeper cars Chateau Brule (8203) and Chateau Viger (8229) were both on track 1. Brule is the one on the right in the photo below.

Inside the VIA Rail Winnipeg Maintenance Centre

VIA 6449 (left) and 6429 (right) were also in the building, on track 1.

VIA 6449 and 6429 in the Winnipeg VIA Rail Maintenance Centre

Track 2 has a drop table and track 3 has a selection of traction motors parked on it.

The WMC does all the servicing for the Winnipeg-Churchill train, as well as any incidental work that needs to be done on the Canadian as it passes through Winnipeg. The WMC is capable of doing any repairs and maintenance short of a rebuild.

We went to look at the passenger cars first. This is Chateau Brule (VIA 8203).

VIA 8203 - Chateau Brule

As you can see from the photo above, there was some work going on underneath. Chateau Brule was undergoing a wheel changeout. In the photo below, you can see that one end of the truck is jacked up and the supporting rails were removed to allow access to the wheels.

Chateau Brule wheel changeout

Since the cars were being worked on, we did not go inside the ones inside the building.

Here's a shot from the south end of track 4, showing VIA's Trackmobile attached to the end of Chateau Viger. The Trackmobile is used to move cars around.

Trackmobile in the VIA Rail Maintenance Centre

When the trains are brought to the centre, the VIA engineers deliver the train to one of the tracks on the east side of the building. Employees at the centre then break up the train and move cars and/or engines around on the grounds.

VIA 692 returns from Churchill and goes to Union Station in downtown Winnipeg. When they are done unloading passengers, it continues east to Beach Junction just north of CN's Symington Yard, turns on the wye there, and comes to the Winnipeg Maintenance Centre pointing "railway west". Once or twice it has been spotted turning at Portage Junction instead.

Two engines were inside the facility, VIA 6449 and 6429. As you can see from the photo below, they are pointing "railway west" or south as the rest of us call it.

VIA 6429 in the Winnipeg VIA Rail Maintenance Centre

Tommy took me into VIA 6429 and went into great detail on the locomotive systems. That'll be part 2!