Long may they run: the F59s stage a comeback in Toronto

In June in Toronto, I was thrilled to see an old warhorse F59 commuter engine continuing to pull GO Train consists in and out of Union Station. These old engines, which were built for GO Transit at the old GM Diesel plant in London, Ont. from 1990 to 1994, had been disappearing from the GO Transit roster for years, replaced by newer, sleeker MP40s and MP54s. This shot below was taken behind the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

 

I mentioned in a post last summer that I would miss the F59s, which seemed to be dwindling down to a last precious few on the roster. I was lucky enough last June to catch an old F59 pulling a consist out of Kitchener for its daily morning run east to Union Station. It was after that post when I received this message from a reader.

 

GO bought F59s from Los Angeles Metrolink and they are sitting in North Bay for rebuild so, by the looks of things, the last days in green of that loco type is some time away. I suspect the idea is to add to the power pool as newer engines get fitted with ECTS signalling, and also possibly 2MW battery packs to replace one Cummins on the MP54s.

 

I should mention that, shortly after seeing that GO Train leave Kitchener, a friend of mine told me that the train had stalled out near Guelph, as the old engine developed some sort of mechanical issue. Despite that incident, these engines have proven to be remarkably reliable in service for decades. That is why it was no surprise to me that Metrolinx, the company that operates the GO Trains, would buy some second-hand units from Metrolink, the Los Angeles commuter authority.

 

What was surprising was seeing these units in transition this summer in Sarnia.

 

This was the scene in June when I saw two Metrolink units, one still clad in its original livery (although faded), taking up space outside the Lambton Diesel Specialists facility in the CN yard. Clearly, LDS was in the midst of rehabbing these units for use in the GTA. You can see that one of the units has already seen primer applied to its outer shell. Each of the diesels are also wrapped in plastic.

 

This is what I love about visiting Sarnia. You never know what you are going to see outside the old CN roundhouse. At the every least, this shot confirms what one of my fellow railfans was telling me about GO bringing back some F59s for revenue service in and around the GTA.

 

There's something about these old boxy beasts that I like. They do bear some resemblance to Via Rail's F40PH-2 fleet, although the GO units are bigger with a platform in front of the cab, among other differences. It's interesting to think that these engines were the successor in many cases to the original F units that GO used when it first launched its services.

 

While these engines have been making a comeback, I have yet to see any of these refurbished units in action with the new, lighter green Metrolinx GO paint scheme. I suppose that will be something I will have to look out for the next time my family travels through Toronto.