Click on each picture for a closer look!
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It has been 42 years since Go Transit was launched after years of study and planning. The pictures above capture one of the trains on the first day of service. In today’s Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group posting Derek Boles, TRHA Historian, writes:

“May 23, 1967:
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GO Transit begins operations between Oakville and Pickering, with Toronto Union Station as a hub of operations. The Government of Ontario (GO) spent $8 million on 8 diesel locomotives, 40 coaches and 9 self-propelled cars. Another $16 million was spent upgrading track, signals, stations and other facilities. GO owned the trains but operating crews were supplied by CN under contract with GO. The new GO Willowbrook maintenance facility was established in an old CN freight car maintenance depot at Mimico, five miles west of Union Station. The first GO Transit train left Oakville at 5:50 am with Ontario Premier John Robarts on board to welcome passengers. Two rush hour GO trains a day also operated as far as the CN James St. station in Hamilton to replace the two cancelled CN commuter trains. Within three months, GO was carrying 15,000 passengers a day, 50% higher than projected.
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May 23, 1967:
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The new GO commuter service also resulted in several significant alterations to Union Station.
Tracks 2 and 3 were reserved exclusively for GO trains and the old intercity arrivals area under the Great Hall was converted to a commuter concourse. The circular marble information counter with the clock at the center of the Great Hall was torn out to accommodate a four-sided bulletin board showing train arrivals and departures. The baths on the south side of the waiting room were removed to permit construction of a corridor leading to Track One and the waiting room itself was converted to a departure lounge for CN’s Rapido trains to Montreal.”
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I have a soft spot in my heart for this service. In 1962, as a young engineering student, I worked on preparing detailed analysis of the freight traffic on the Lakeshore line in order to provide the engineering firm I worked for as a summer student with the information needed to convince the railways that a commuter service could be scheduled in between their “high priority” freight trains! It took five years to complete the planning and development of the service for 1967 startup!
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Tp get daily postings of items of historic interest from Derek, join the Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group by clicking here.
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In the pictures below taken in March of 1967, we see a closeup of one of the coaches and the coach’s interior.
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Posting by Russ Miland; Pictures by John Vincent with permission
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