VIA RAIL CANADA'S HEP - August 12, 2002

Mechanical Liaison Officer's reports by Paul L. DeVerter II

Here are some thoughts and hints from John Godfrey, garnered from some recent private car activities on VIA Rail Canada.

When you take your car to Canada, the HEP used by Via Rail Canada is different from that used by Amtrak, so you will need an adaptor to work on VIA's system and to plug into ground power, in most instances.

• If car owners expect to have their cars work on Via shore power at most locations where available, they should insure that the #2 and #3 pins on the control circuitry is in working order. #2 is the pin Via uses for their shore set-up; #3 is a ground on both set-ups. No TLC will light-up with the cross-over adapters unless these pins work.

• Via's Renaissance Fleet HEP is wired the same as AMTK's for some reason, making the cars odd-ball up here in Canada.

• Via's P-42s do not have a AMTK/Via switch to change the output mode.

In addition, you may want to review Eric Wilde's article on this subject which was published in Private Varnish.