[Long Island Mike]

Everyone:

On May 23, 1967 - 50 years ago today - GO Transit began service on the Lakeshore line through
Toronto Union Station.

As many of us are aware GO Rail began as an experiment that became an overwhelming success
and over time evolved into the multi line system that we know today which now is one of the
busiest commuter rail systems in all of North America.

Original GO employee and public timetables from 1967:
www.trainweb.org/railwayop/GOetts.htm

GO's own timeline beginning in the 1960s:
http://goingstrong.gotransit.com/en/1960.html

I noticed mention of the preservation of cab car #104 and I will ask:
Does anyone plan on preserving any of GO Transit's original GP40TC(H) locomotives or any other
of the original single level Hawker-Siddeley car fleet? I remember that the GP40TCs became the
GP40H in Amtrak service and that some of the original GO car fleet is now owned by ONR.
A GO historic train of some type would be a nice addition to a rail museum fleet or perhaps
kept by GO itself to help promote this year's anniversary.

This is a significant milestone in the history of GO Transit and if anyone has media coverage from
today's anniversary - especially from Toronto or Hamilton - please post them here...

I will thank all in advance for any contributions to this topic...Long Island Mike

 

[crs1026]

Not that anyone cares, but I actually rode the first day, as a very young boy. Here's my Instamatic photo of the 18:30 Oakville to Pickering Train 930 at Long Branch, fifty years ago today. I'm going to repeat that trip for posterity.

- Paul

PS - for those who care, that inaugural schedule is online at http://www.trainweb.org/railwayop/GOetts.htm

If you look at how GO has grown from that point (and note that the initial hourly service was phased in over 1967, it didn't all happen on opening day) it's a pretty amazing story. We complain because we can't have more GO fast enough, but it's still a phenomenal system.

 

[smallspy]

I noticed mention of the preservation of cab car #104 and I will ask:
Does anyone plan on preserving any of GO Transit's original GP40TC(H) locomotives or any other
of the original single level Hawker-Siddeley car fleet? I remember that the GP40TCs became the
GP40H in Amtrak service and that some of the original GO car fleet is now owned by ONR.
A GO historic train of some type would be a nice addition to a rail museum fleet or perhaps
kept by GO itself to help promote this year's anniversary.

Every single one of the GP40TCs is still in service for Amtrak, and considering that they saw a considerable amount of work done on them a couple of years ago, I'm going to go on a limb here and say that they won't be going anywhere soon.

There are still a fair number of the Hawker-Siddeley cars floating around in various places - Harsco, ONR, AMT still has a bunch of them - so finding more cars, at least for the foreseeable future, wouldn't be too much of a problem.

But a GO historic train? For this year? Not happening.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[smallspy]

I forgot to add...

For anyone looking for an interesting take on the behind-the-scenes machinations of the launch of service, a gentleman by the name of Wilfred Sergent wrote a book and had it published: http://historicaltextarchive.com/books.php?action=nextpre&bid=63

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[crs1026]

A little more trivia on GO's inception - it was discussed way back in the 1950's when the Halton-York bypass was being planned. These are from 1958-59.

Then, as now, it was all about the public subsidies.

- Paul

 

[flyinggoats]

It's interesting that the GO history is selectively edited. The history highlights the off-peak service added to the Milton line in the 1990's, but the cancellation of that service was not mentioned. There is still no off-peak service on Milton

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Looks like from today's event at the roundhouse, that GO intends to keep donating old equipment. According to COO Greg Percy, one of their old F59 locomotives may find its way to the roundhouse in "five plus years". Video.

Also, here are some pictures I took of GO's restored cab car for its 50th anniversary (pictures from last weekend).

 

[M II A II R II K]

And it was probably faster and more reliable back then.