Added: 4 years ago
From: rrpics
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  • You Tube has not fixed the problem after 3 days so I have uploaded (after several tries) a new version that has been image stabilized and sharpened. See the video "The last steam-heated train to leave Halifax 23 January 1993 redone"

  • I have e-mailed YouTube and asked them to fix the problem

  • 6432 was recently on the last HEP departure of the Ocean! However, this time it was trailing. And since 6432 has now been rebuilt, like in 1993, all of it's 3000 HP was going to tractive effort!

  • When it was on the last HEP departure 6432 was shut down, presumably because of problems. The lead locomotive 6456 pulled it and the nine HEP cars when it left Halifax on 28 March 2011.

  • Godamm that is a bloody great video! Jesus those 2 steam gennys just a chugin and the dining car just a smokin...5 stars dude.

  • Very interesting! I didn't even know that such an heating system have existed.

  • In the mid winter two steam generator cars were often used because of steam leaks (the rubber gaskets became hard). I believe water was replenished at Moncton, Campbellton and possibly Riviere du Loup & Quebec City (often the locomotives were refuelled too) - about every 200 miles.

    Diesel fuel was burnt to provide heat for the boiler.

    The coaches were built for haulage by steam engines and the first generatiion diesel passenger locomotives usually had steam generators inside the carbody.

  • Well done video! Thanks

    They had to pull TWO steam generation cars for that train?

    One car was not enough?

    How often did they need to replenish water?

    What heated the water?

    Why not have used electricity? Because steam was available from steam locomotives years earlier?

    Thank you.

    RWG Denver, Colorado,

  • BTW, I believe the Atlantic was already discontinued by this time quite sadly ending intercity passenger rail in the State of Maine for over 10 years until Amtrak started running the DownEaster between Boston and Portland. I believe this is acually the Ocean runing via Moncton NB, not St. Johns NB like the Atlantic used to.

  • I just checked the VIA timetable effective 25 April 1993 and the Atlantic & Ocean both operated three days per week at that time. The Atlantic is also shown in the revized timetable effective 1 January 1994. I therefore think that my notes are correct and it is the Atlantic.

  • @rrpics I heard it was Algonquin Park on that train.

  • what park car is brining up the rear

  • I have looked at the original video and the Park car appears to have three words in its name so it would be Riding Miuntain Park. This was one of the two Park cars that were not in the rebuild programme. This would make sense as other cars would already have been rebuilt to HEP heating.

  • U were correct. The Atlantic HAD been cut back in '81 by the Trudeau Govt. but was re-instated in 1984. It then actually survived the draconian cuts of 1990 but didn't make it following CP's sale of the DA line through Maine. Kind of sucks because it was a faster route to Halifax and served larger cities than the Ocean like Sherbrooke and Saint John. I took some high school kids on a field trip to Toronto in 4/95 and THAT train was steam heated although most in the corridor were LRC's by then.

  • I wasant even born when you shot this vid

  • IIRC i rode in one of those blue cars going from toronto to windsor. sometime in the late 90s.

  • It took a while for steam heat to totally disappear. I can remember reading back in '95 that the HEP conversion was complete only to be surprised to find a steam-heated train waiting for us in Windsor heading up to Toronto. Via would draw big "Phantom of the Opera" crowds from Detroit in those days and they pressed all the equipment they could into service to accomodate all the theatregoers heading up to Toronto on Fridays.

  • Very interesting David. I was on the station platform, and watched the train pull away. I didn't know you then!

    Matt Keoughan

  • I was only 3 months old when you video taped this train

  • I was negative 1 month lol

  • I was 4 years, 6 months and 14 days when you taped that.

  • I was 31 but didn't ever get to Nova Scotia for another 8 1/2 years. I did however ride several steam heated trains between Windsor and Oakville, ONT.

  • Ah! Nova Scotia - not Yorkshire.

  • I think that if you go on to the Yahoo group AtlanticRails there was one posted there some time ago.

  • Does anyone have a consist as to what cars were on the train. I know only the first locomotive and the Chateau sleeper are still in service with VIA today (and possibly the Park car.)

  • Actually, your right that the cars were CCF and NSC of Hamilton. I remember seeing them growing up, and the VIA Hudson Bay used to have a steam-heated Sleeper called "Eldorado" Brings back memories, but i miss the FPA4's the most.

  • That was a great vid thanks so much for putting that up here!!!!!!

  • Glad you enjoyed it.

  • What make are the blue coaches, and what has become of them since? Also, CP abandoned seam in the 60s, so why would the Budd cars still use steam heat and power?

  • I believe the blue coaches were built by CCF and other builders and almost all have been scrapped - see Canadian Trackside Guide for information on those preserved.

  • A lot of the blue cars (former CN ones) have found second lives on tourist RR's, dinner trains, etc.

  • CP (and CN) abandoned steam locomotives in the 60s but almost all their coaches were heated by steam until VIA took over. The passenger diesel engines contained oil fired steam boilers (usually one or two boilers) at the rear of the locomotives (F units) or in the short hood of torpedo GP9s or RS-18s. In fact the torpedo units existed because the air tanks for the braking systen etc were moved to the roof of the locomotive to allow room for a water tank beside the fuel tank below the frame.

  • Thanks for the info. I found out that the blue coaches were ex-CN equipment, and were phased out as ex CP Budd equipment was refurbished, and the budget and route cuts allowed the LRCs to be used exclusively. The Renaissance sets covered the recent increase in travel

  • It's sad to see that era ending. Yes, good memories indeed! Thanks for sharing this with us!

  • Wow that is old school. Haven't seen a VIA train like that since I was a kid. Thanks for the memories.

  • Awesome video David! Very old school!

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