Today, summer staff member Mitchell talks about passenger rail in Canada.
Many people who come to the museum love to see our exhibit on the Canadian. Often, many of the visitors to the museum are on their way to, or coming back from, a trip on VIA Rail. Today we discuss what it’s like to travel by train and the history of VIA Rail, and modern passenger rail in Canada.
VIA Rail offers several train trips across Canada. VIA Rail was founded in 1977 by the Government of Canada to take over all Canadian passenger trains.
On October 29th 1978, VIA began running its first Trans-Continental Train from Montreal to Vancouver. Originally known as the Super Continental, this train is now called the Canadian. It still operates to this day.
Growth
Over the years, VIA Rail has purchased a number of older train cars from various railways. They include rare RDC (Rail Diesel Car) cars and Budd sleeping cars, which they use on their trains across Canada.
Beginning in 1977, VIA Rail started to combine Canadian Pacific and Canadian National’s passenger rail services into one major passenger rail network.
In April of 1983, VIA opened its Montreal repair shop in Ville Saint Pierre. This was their first purpose-built repair facilities, specifically built to specialize in the care of their LRC (Light, Rapid, Comfortable) locomotives. Two years later, they would open their Toronto maintenance centre, hiring 1,000 former CN workers to work in the shops.
We are very lucky to have a large amount of artifacts from VIA Rail in our collection. These are smaller items such as timetables and napkins. We are also very lucky to have one of the last LRC locomotives, No. 6917. 6917 was built by Bombardier (MLW), Alcan and Dofasco in partnership with CN and later VIA Rail Canada. They were built as a higher speed rail option for the busy Quebec City – Windsor Corridor.
The LRC is currently not at the museum but is being stored elsewhere. Be sure to keep an eye on our website and our social media channels for updates on the restoration progress.
Travelling on VIA
What is it like to travel on a VIA train? A trip onboard VIA Rail is always exciting. On top of the ever-changing scenes out your window, VIA also offers lots of activities to keep you entertained on board including lectures, wine tasting, concerts and movie nights to name a few.
There are many different seating options to choose from including Economy Class, Business Class, and Sleeper Class. Many of these classes include meals in VIA’s famous dining cars as well as access to their signature Observation and Park Cars.
No matter which class or train you choose, you can rest assured that you will be very well looked after the next time you take a VIA Train, one of the world’s last great railway journeys. Be sure to visit the museum to learn more about the history of VIA Rail.
