RDCs On the Chopping Block

Ex VIA 6133 in Moncton, June 2013 - saved from the scrapper!

This past week saw many of the RDCs (Rail Diesel Cars) at the former IRSI (Industrial Rail Services) facility in Moncton go on the chopping block... literally.

Since IRSI went into receivership in early 2012, the province and other creditors have been working to recover whatever they can.

IRSI had a large shop in the former diesel maintenance facility at Gordon Yard in Moncton, as well as a motley collection of former VIA RDCs, passenger cars, and a few diesel locomotives, as well as tools and other materials for the car repair work they were doing.

6221, 6114, 6130 and more at IRSI, June 2013

At the beginning of January 2016, the word went out that the shop and land had been sold, and IRSI's collection of RDCs was to be scrapped. Jason Shron, president of Rapido Trains and a well-known passenger train advocate, flew out to Moncton with locomotive mechanic/restorer Chris Fox to see if any could be saved. When they arrived on January 14th, the scrapping was already underway.

You can see a short video of the scrapping here (warning: not for the faint of heart railfan).

Jason and Chris examined the RDCs with locals Luc Doiron and Wendell Lemon, experienced railroaders both, and after negotiations, VIA 6133 was saved from the scrapper.

Yay!

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Now Rapido is asking for funding assistance to transport 6133 to Toronto and begin restoration. They estimate it will take a total of about $45,000 to move it and do an initial restoration. You can donate via PayPal by following the link at the bottom of the story of saving VIA 6133.

Ex CP 9250 at Delson, Quebec, July 2005

Railfans are notorious for saying that such-and-such unit "should be saved", and that "someone" should preserve unit X. It's easy to make those statements while sitting at home. People like Jason and the all-too-few museum volunteers and supporters around the country do the actual work of preserving our railway history.

I've put my money where my mouth is and made a donation. I'm also putting a link in my sidebar and I'll be doing my best to encourage others.

Will you help out?

Donate! (see bottom of his page)

The Canadian: Ghost Train Crossing Canada

Jeff Friesen has a very interesting project. He is taking the Canadian across Canada to photograph it in some very beautiful settings.

Of course I mean the 1955 Canadian Pacific Canadian. And he's carrying it in a Co-Op bag.

How? He is photographing the Rapido Trains Canadian model in some very beautiful locations all across this great country. Check out his gorgeous gallery. My favourites are the Canadian at Lake Louise and the train going under the waterfall. You can buy prints, too.

Photo gallery

GMD-1 Model Coming

Rapido Trains will be producing a model of the uniquely Canadian GMD-1. They produced a very entertaining video about it.


Normally I would put that on my model train blog but I mention it here for a couple of reasons.

One, I've always loved the GMD-1. As an East Coast guy the GMD-1 was foreign to me and I was fascinated by my occasional glimpses of the ugly duckling when I visited the West, or the one time I saw one in Saint John.

Two, Jason Shron used my footage of the Canadian he was riding on in his video. The first usage was from 00:40 to 01:34, featuring my pacing video of the train. The second was from 06:07 to 06:42 with a straight runby. I took that back in October when Jason put out the call for video. Jason was kind enough to send me a VIA-CN passenger car as thanks for the video and credited me very nicely in the above video.

I encourage you to watch it. It is quite entertaining. I will be waiting for the GMD-1 to come out!

In the meantime, here's CN 1412 working a pipe train in Regina, Saskatchewan back in June 2009.