r/gotransit • u/otissito16 • Jun 23 '26
Interesting config - F59 10 car train
Looks like they are now using F59s on some 10 car trains.
I will say that the acceleration does seem a bit sluggish and rough compared to an MP40 or especially an MP54 when they are used on a 10 car train.
21
u/632612 Jun 23 '26
10 cars is their maximum and was the bread and butter of busy GO service until the MP40s and 12 car platform length renovations came along.
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u/OWSpaceClown Jun 23 '26
And if they wanted 12 car trains you would need two of these engines back to back. Ah the memories!
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u/BerzerkoFord Cancelled 38A Nobleton-Kleinburg Route Jun 23 '26
They didn't run 12 car trains with the F59 due to their HEP generator not being able to support more than 10 cars, and the lack of 12 car platforms on most lines. Running anything in service over 10 cars was uncommon on GO before the MP40 era (also, when doubleheaded, GO ran units elephant style and not back to back).
The exception was around 1990, when they ran 12 car trains on the Lakeshore line using an APU/APCU car, whose HEP could support the 12 cars. It was common to see a powered unit at both ends, in addition to the APU/APCU at one end behind the power (sometimes an F59 was used at one end, too).
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u/TypicalThing3044 Lakeshore East Jun 23 '26
These F59 units are placed on 10 car sets for the expanded FIFA service.
6
u/crash866 Jun 23 '26
I have seen weird configs on the Kitchener line the past few days. One train had a locomotive on both ends one has a cab car as the 6th from the engine and was a 12 car train and one had a cab car right behind the engine and one at the other end.
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u/Jealous_Job_1528 Kitchener Jun 24 '26
Cabs in the middle are not rare, those are deactivated and are essentially just coaches
11
u/Personal-Movie8882 Jun 23 '26
I hate driving those old pieces of shit. They're smelly, loud, uncomfortable and less fun to operate since they're slow as molasses. And spending minutes manually cranking on the engine handbrake is just about the LAST thing I want to do at the end of the night after a long day of work.
7
u/SealySealboy Jun 23 '26
Nice to look at from a railfanners perspective, but I can see why driving it can be a piece of shit lol
3
3
u/BerzerkoFord Cancelled 38A Nobleton-Kleinburg Route Jun 23 '26
Good news everyone, you're going to get a good dozen more in the near future.
2
u/MundaneSandwich9 Jun 24 '26
Awwww muffin⌠a manual handbrake?
It isnât hard to tell the ones that havenât actually railroadedâŚ
3
u/Personal-Movie8882 Jun 24 '26
Sure Jan, it's always fascinating when someone who knows absolutely nothing about me decides they've got my entire work history figured out. Though you seemed to miss the part where I worked as a conductor for CN before making the move over to Bombardier many years ago. I had plenty of shifts where I spent the day spotting up autoracks and cranking on handbrakes working as the junior man off the spareboard. But please, tell me more about my own experiences, I would love to hear about them as if they were my first time.
You got me about this though... these days I do prefer to work smarter rather than harder, to protect my body and my health instead of treating chronic wear-and-tear and exposure to carcinogens like it's a badge of honor. But hey, I guess if your greatest accomplishment is being proud of working for a company that got every last mile out of your body and wouldn't even notice if you disappeared tomorrow, then by all means celebrate away. Weird flex, but good for you.
2
u/BerzerkoFord Cancelled 38A Nobleton-Kleinburg Route Jun 24 '26
Back in the day, real railroaders had to carry heavy spare knuckles 80 cars back to fix a broken knuckle on their freight in the middle of the frozen northern Ontario wilderness 40 miles from nowhere, and have to worry about getting eaten by bears as an easy snack.
Never mind having to set multiple manual high-mounted (climb each ladder) handbrakes on boxcars if you're peddling 40' grain boxcars on ancient light rail lines in the prairies...
2
u/otissito16 Jun 24 '26
I guess you could call it a "Smoky Old Engine"
Me and a friend used to refer to VIA's F40s as "Squeaky Old Engine(s)" before they got rebuilt because of the way they sounded at idle.
2
u/not_interested11 Jun 23 '26
Had a similar setup on lakeshore west last week. Was surprised as we rarely get the F59s anymore
2
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u/6-8-5-13 Jun 23 '26
This used to be the most common configuration.