The VIA Historical Association’s ex VIA Rail locomotive, #6539, was released from the paint shop in time for Halloween – no trick!
This FP9A locomotive was repainted into the traditional VIA blue and yellow. This beautiful paint work was generously provided by the Ontario Southland Railway (OSR), a Canadian short-line railway based in Salford, Ontario. The VHA purchased the locomotive from the OSR with generous contributions from our donors and from the OSR itself. It was numbered 1400 at the time and was wearing the livery of a previous short line railway.
Several VHA members were on hand to admire the new look and take the locomotive for a short trip down the OSR’s main line. Below we see Terry Johnson taking a turn at the controls under the watchful eye of Matthew Boucher.
6539 is fully operational and will join the rest of our fleet in Toronto in due course.
Thank you again to the Ontario Southland Railway for their generous support.
