Canadian Railroads > Quebec Central Dinner Train

Against all odds, the moribund Quebec Central started to see trains again around the turn of the century.  The tracks were owned by the Quebec government, but freight operations were started up by a trucking company, and a passenger excursion operation soon followed.

Part of the excursion business was a dinner train using RDCs at the southern end of the QC between East Angus and Thetford Mines.  The two RDC-1s are shown here at Coleraine on October 12, 2002.  6121 was rebuilt from a CN RDC-3, while 6125 at the other end is former CP RDC-2 9199.

Most of the Quebec Central has gone back to being overgrown with weeds, but the north end is now operated by the Sartigan Rwy.  which appears to be doing well.

GTD

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Rare catch. Beautiful RDC's.
Bob

Man, I wish I would have done this when I had the chance. As usual, a day late and a dollar short. 

Sadly, I only made one visit myself, and never did ride it.

The RDCs now operate out of Magog on the Orford Express, so you can still ride them, although the mileage isn't nearly as rare.  The train also includes a Budd dome, FL9 and sometimes an MLW M-420TR, so those are pretty special in their own right.

In doing a little more research, it appears that the Quebec Ministry of Transport didn't actually take ownership of the remaining Quebec Central trackage until 2006 or later.  Perhaps it was still owned by CP when these photos were taken.

GTD

Beautiful, classic colours, and a nice shot.
Fred