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VIA F40PH-2 #6408 & #6445 | Coors Light Silver Bullet Express

Unit(s) in this scheme: 6408 & 6445 Active: Yes (as of May 2011)

Probably the best promo scheme ever, the Coors Light Silver Bullet Express! While Coors Light’s fictional Silver Bullet Express has been a part of its advertising since 2004, Molson Coors Canada finally brought it to life. Contest has ended and 100 winners were aboard of the Coors Light Express that left Edmonton on April 15th 2011 for Jasper, and got back to Edmonton on April 17th. Leader design was worn by VIA 6445 and trailing design by VIA 6408. Picture by Aivo Merimets

VIA 6445 in Brantford, ON

VIA 6408 in Ingersoll, ON

VIA 6408 was the last unit wearing the Spiderman 2 wrap. Since the Coors Light scheme is probably temporary (and made of vinyl btw), we *might* see the Spiderman 2 again (not sure since the unit is scheduled to enter CAD Railway very soon). There are no VIA logo on the units. Picture by Walter Pfefferle

Deadhead on VIA #1 (April 9th, 2011) The consist of 2 engines and 15 cars was deadheaded on VIA #1 from Toronto in front of the usual consist. Here's some pictures of #1 leaving Winnipeg on April 11th 2011, courtesy of Paul Sincerny.

The Journey begins (April 15th, 2011) Ken Storey from Maple Ridge BC was determined to immortalize this train and drove 670km to establish his camp at Red pass Jct. It paid off after only 2.5 hours of interrupted sleep, awakened at 02:34am by the unmistakable roar of F40's in 8th notch.. (Link to his full story below)

I invite you to read Ken's very interesting story on Railroad forums. It's a VERY nice coverage.

The consist Coors Light Silver Bullet Express consist : 6445 F40PH-2 6408 F40PH-2 (ex-Spiderman) 8318 Craig Manor 8330 Hunter Manor 8329 Hearne Manor 8326 Franklin Manor 8340 Stuart Manor 8306 Bell Manor 8415 Princess (Diner) 8505 Skyline 1721 Panorama 8609 Baggage 8616 Baggage 8621 Baggage 8613 Baggage 8615 Baggage 8702 Assiniboine Park

The 5 baggage cars were converted to special “Party Cars” such as a night club, a gaming area, karaoke and of course, a "cold" Coors car. I'm stil looking for pictures.

The Design The incredible design of the 2 units was done by Mike Carter Studio Inc. The upper version was made for the leader and the second one for the trailing unit. Mike Carter Studio and Molsons/Coors worked together on a previous project in the past for some large truck-wraps created in 2007. Originally the idea was to adapt the look of an existing illustration but it didn't work with the squared shapes of the VIA Engines so he came up with artwork that would work when applied to the train allowing for the large features visible through the applied artwork (such as ventilation ports, engineer's windows and of course the mandatory train ID number that had to appear below the engineer's window). Another part of the design challenge was that they weren't sure which engine would be used until the day before the graphics were to be applied. Many separate numbers were created to go in the special engine identification area below the engineer's window to match the numbers above the front windows. We weren't sure if the engine would have 2 or 3 lights in the front so we had to allow for that as well. The approval process went very smoothly with only minor placement changes of the forward vents and exhaust pipes (The exhaust pipes were originally white hot glowing & then yellow-red farther down the pipe but this was changed to white and then blue make them look frosty and cold making them consistent with the Coors branding). Thank you to Mike Carter for sharing his comments and work with us. We all agree that the engines look *terrific* ! Mike Carter Studio Inc. Must see! Coors Light Silver Bullet Express "The Making of"

6408 tracking


6445 tracking

I am looking for inside pictures. If you want to share your pictures with us, please contact me using the email link below. All pictures are used with permission from their respective owners and cannot be reproduced without their autorization. Thank you to Walter Pfefferle, Aivo Merimets, Paul Sincerny, Ken Storey, Mike Carter and Steve Boyko for their precious collaboration. Updated May 2011 marc@myrailfan.com