Canadian Railroads > CN S13 8512 with RDC and heavyweights

Dec 1980

(1) Pulling RDC units and heavyweight cars out of Toronto Union Station

(2) 6122 (built 1958) was one of the RDC units in the consist.

(3) Heavyweight coach ex-CN 5302 (built 1942).

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(4) 5180 was ex-CN built by CCF in 1937

(5) There were a few more heavyweight coaches in the consist. 

Gary

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Having railfanned Toronto Union Station several times, thanks for sharing these photos from a location I never used. Image four in the old paint is my favorite.
Bob

For some reason the 1937 CC&F car bodies strongly resemble the Pullmans-Standard Worcester ("American Flyer") cars.

Coach 5302 is still around.  It was purchased by the Bluewater Michigan Chapter NRHS circa 1983, and operated frequently in excursion service until 1994.  It was purchased by a private owner a few years ago.  I think the 5180 was saved as well.

Those are very interesting photos of depot switching operations.
Thanks for your post.
ALLEN

Toronto Union has and had one of the more complex track layouts, all controlled from three interlocking towers.

These images show the throat tracks at the west end of the station. I believe the switches are electro-pneumatic. I notice also the platform end shacks for switchmen/ switchtenders.

My understanding from similar interlocking plants in Montreal is that power interlocking switches are not dual control, however there were switch maintainers assigned to the interlocking plant to repair the plant including the power switches.

Toronto had multiple trackside shacks , and I am told they also had switchtenders to operate hand throw switches in the terminal.

ctjacks Wrote:
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> Coach 5302 is still around.  It was purchased by
> the Bluewater Michigan Chapter NRHS circa 1983,
> and operated frequently in excursion service until
> 1994.  It was purchased by a private owner a few
> years ago.  I think the 5180 was saved as well.

Thanks - I'm glad they were saved.
Gary

I love the modernized heavyweight stuff.  Where did VIA use the modernized heavyweights?  I don't recall seeing a lot of pictures of them in service.  Thanks for sharing the neat photos!

I think these cars were used extensively in Toronto-Windsor service.  They were retired circa 1983 and sold off.  The Detroit railfans had an affinity for them, and several of the saved ones went there.

RailThunder Wrote:
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> I love the modernized heavyweight stuff.  Where
> did VIA use the modernized heavyweights?  I don't
> recall seeing a lot of pictures of them in
> service.  Thanks for sharing the neat photos!

The CC&F “Canadian Flyer” coaches are generally thought of as lightweight cars, similar to the Osgood-Bradley pre-war “American Flyer” lightweights bought by several US railroads.  The biggest distinguishing feature between the “Flyers” is the trucks, with the Canadians having six-wheel trucks while the Americans employed four-wheel.  Many ended up on US tourist railroads after being retired by VIA.

Dave

DavidP Wrote:

> The CC&F “Canadian Flyer” coaches are
> generally thought of as lightweight cars, similar
> to the Osgood-Bradley pre-war “American Flyer”
> lightweights bought by several US railroads.  The
> biggest distinguishing feature between the
> “Flyers” is the trucks, with the Canadians
> having six-wheel trucks while the Americans
> employed four-wheel.  Many ended up on US tourist
> railroads after being retired by VIA.

But why are the CC&F and PS-Worcester car bodies so similar if coming from 2 manufactures in 2 countries ? Any corporate relationship, and if not, no patent issues ?

I don't think any of the American cars actually roll on any tourist railroad. RR Museum of LI in Riverhead has one of the ex-B&M coaches. B&M's entire fleet of 30 went to the LIRR in the late 1950's

Nice shots of interesting stuff in great light. In the closer shots, what are the two yellow structures? One is a beam on two zebra-striped posts, the other a tall yellow box. Neat details for modeling.
Fred

joemvcnj Wrote:
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>
> I don't think any of the American cars actually
> roll on any tourist railroad. RR Museum of LI in
> Riverhead has one of the ex-B&M coaches. B&M's
> entire fleet of 30 went to the LIRR in the late
> 1950's

That’s right - I meant a number of Canadian Flyers ended up on US tourist roads.  Cape Cod Central had some, but I’m not sure if they’re still around under IPH management.

Dave

I have for decades been very intrigued with these cars, their curved lines, and styling. If made of stainless steel and good for 800K buff strength, I'd like to see them reproduced. The windows seem tall enough for current FRA regs. 

The VIA Canadian Flyers were also noteworthy as they were likely the last ice-air-conditioned cars in service in North America, when retired circa 1983.  And, a few continued with ice-activated A/C in excursion service through the early 1990s.  

They are great cars - high capacity, comfortable seats, vestibules at both ends.  The only issue is what they share with all carbon-steel cars:  they rust, especially under the windows, when the window seals start to fail.

Chris.