News   Nov 04, 2024
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GO Transit Fleet Equipment and other

So this is doing the rounds on Facebook this AM. Evidently GO has purchased some F59s from California and will have them rebuilt in North Bay. Take with a grain of salt.

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Another example of the post on this theme is here:

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The only reason that jumps out for me why this might work is that if GO Transit can create additional slots to operate shorter consists (Stouffville double tracking, LSE restored to full throughput?) this would allow some MP40s to start coming off the line for ETCS install and proving work. The F59s are a known quantity to GO and there are the cabs recently back from refurb to pair with them, and they won’t need to last forever, just long enough for deployment at which point they can be resold again or scrapped.
 
'Transit agency directed to sabotage the resale value of sellable assets for environmental reasons' sounds juicy, but quite sus to me.
Metrolink sold some F59s back in 2023, link to site here. It confirms that the locomotives had their engines disabled, and if any purchaser brings them back to life, they must be Tier 4 compliant. NCDOT did exactly this.

The rule comes from the State of California, and logic here is that they funded new T4 locomotives for Metrolink to reduce emissions, and don’t want older more polluting locos sold and existing on other railways.

So according to these rules, the F59s GO allegedly bought will have to be made Tier 4 complaint. Lots of work ahead for Ontario Northland’s shops.
 
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It's interesting how they sold some of their original F59's to EXO, only now to be buying some more back from Caltrain.
GO didn’t need dozens of extra old engines back then, weren’t they mostly retired by 2010?
Not only is there likely no space in the yards for that, but it would have been a money pit to sideline and maintain the old F59’s for 10-15 years until more engines were needed.

Keep in mind GO Expansion and what equipment will be needed for it is only being finalised now, and is a lot more ambitious than it was planned to be 10 to 15 years ago. The future was also supposed to be EMU’s back then so most existing equipment was expected to be on its way out by the time electrification came, why save old stuff when what was planned at the time was a entirely new fleet?
 
So much for all those folks who keep telling everyone/themselves electrification of the GO network is only a few years away.
 

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