VIA's LRC in Decline

 

It's a funny feeling to be trackside with VIA over the last 40 years, spanning not only the genesis of VIA but also the implementation of the LRC fleet, but now its replacement. I was trackside at the dawn of VIA's LRC era, photographing them in their first decade in service. The LRC locomotive fleet began to be withdrawn from service after ten years, with the last few operating into 2001. Initially announced in 2008 with a Request for Proposals for refurbishing of all 98 cars. 

Discussion of the success and challenges of the refurbishing program, by Industrial Rail Services Inc. (IRSI) in Moncton, are beyond the scope of this post, although structural problems with some of the fleet's floors were found by engineers at IRSI in 2012 and some work was completed by CAD in Lachine after IRSI entered receivership. Spanning 2011 to 2014, the LRC refurbishment program involved only a portion of the Economy Class fleet, extending some of the cars' lives. Business Class cars received a "short-cut" rebuilding in 2014.

LRC FLEET OUT, VENTURE FLEET IN

Today, the remaining LRC cars risk being sidetracked as the fleet is replaced by VIA's new Siemens Venture trainsets. LRC deadline view at VIA's Montreal Maintenance Centre, with VIA 3330 closest and the very VIAewable REM raised right-of-way in background (top photo - Trackside Treasure collection).

There are efforts being made via various social media to document the decline and sidetracking of the remaining LRC cars, and calls to preserve at least one are already being heard! Such calls were also made in 2001, with VIA LRC locomotives 6917 and 6921 saved from scrapping. This post comprises my efforts to document this decline.

NOW FOUR VIA POSTS - STAYIN' ALIVE!

When I published my first Trackside Treasure post back in 2008, I envisioned a lot of retro railfan reports showing trains of yore. I've since published some hallmark posts dealing with somewhat diverse topics like VIA reversing its Skylines, though publishing a lot of hallmark posts was never my intention for this blog. 

Regardless, I've been keeping several long-running VIAcentric posts alive, adding information as it becomes available, all with updates within the last month! This information would probably be best chronicled in a book, or other more permanent format, but I don't know when any of these topics will be "complete" and therefore print-worthy. For reference, here are links to these still-living posts:

• VIA Ventures in Service alive since January, 2024 profiles VIA's ongoing implementation.
• VIA's New Trainsets Through Kingston alive since September, 2021 profiles delivery dates of the 32 sets ordered.
  
• Testing VIA's HEP Fleet alive since November, 2022 began the buffer car era.

And now this additional live one on the decline of VIA's LRC fleet! VIA 3460-3361F-3324R-3323R earn their keep on March 30, 2024 at Kingston (below). 

VIA LRC CAR FLEET SERVICE STATUS

In this post, I'm publishing a simple list (no spreadsheets, please!) of the remaining LRC cars. I intend to update the list, keeping this post "alive" as the cars' status changes and they enter storage or worse! Ten LRC cars were pulled from service in and stored unserviceable at the end of January, 2024 as the Ventures come online. A March video view aboard Montreal's REM of the MMC shows six sidelined LRC cars visible, up from two visible in November, 2023. LRC cars have already been switched to various other tracks at MMC when space is needed. 

The listings in this post "begin" in late-March, 2024 when I first became aware of a growing list of cars being sidetracked as the Venture fleet was nearly 50% delivered, with 10 Venture trainsets being tested or in use.

Just for the record, the bullet points below represent my initial tally of cars no longer in regular use, as of March 23, 2024. I have since incorporated this list into the main list below.

• Retired - likely for scrapping: 3315, 3317, 3319, 3321, 3328, 3339, 3344, 3346, 3348.
• Stored unserviceable - possibly for scrapping: 3303, 3327, 3330, 3331, 3332, 3345, 3347.
• Stored serviceable: 3322.

Cars are listed by class (Economy/Business) and consecutively by number within each class. Not all cars are shown. Some are missing due to previous incidents: 3457 and 3349 at the 1994 Brighton fire; 3454 damaged in the 2012 Aldershot derailment; 3453 on shop trucks at CAD in 2021 after being damaged at the 2019 side-swipe at Ernestown. 

Latest update: October 27, 2024 

Economy Class: 54 active, 19 not

Business Class: 24 active, 4 not

(v = active, any remarks follow):

_______________________________________________________________

ECONOMY CLASS CARS

3300 - v

3301 - v

3302 - v

3303 - stored unserviceable

3304 - v

3305 - v

3306 - v

3307 - v

3308 - v

3309 - v, in northern Quebec service late June

3310 - v

3311 - v

3312 - v

3313 - v

3314 - v

3315 - retired

3316 - v

3317 - retired

3318 - v

3319 - retired

3320 - v

3321 - retired at TMC chocked with no handbrakes

3322 - stored serviceable

3323 - v

3324 - v

3325 - v

3326 - v

3327 - stored unserviceable

3328 - retired

3329 - v, at MMC July 10

3330 - stored unserviceable

3331 - stored unserviceable

3332 - stored unserviceable

3333 - v

3334 - v

3335 - v

3336 - v

3337 - v

3338 - v

3339 - retired

3340 - v

3341 - v, standby since June 22

3342 - v

3343 - v

3344 - retired

3345 - stored unserviceable

3346 - retired

3347 - stored unserviceable

3348 - retired

3350 - v 

3351 - v, standby since May 27

3352 - v

3353 - v 

3354 - v 

3355 - v

3356 - v

3357 - v, standby since June 22

3358 - v

3359 - v

3360 - v

3361 - v

3362 - v

3363 - v

3364 - v

3365 - v

3366 - v

3367 - v, mtce June 25

3368 - v, mtce June 17

3369 - v

3370 - v, mtce June 26

3371 - v

3372 - retired Apr 22

BUSINESS CLASS CARS

3451 - stored unserviceable

3452 - v, standby since May 27

3455 - v

3456 - was V Mar 24; OK for service Apr 22

3458 - v

3459 - v

3460 - v

3461 - v

3462 - v

3463 - v

3464 - v, standby since June 22

3465 - v

3466 - v, standby since June 22

3467 - v

3468 - v

3469 - v

3470 - v

3471 - v

3472 - v

3473 - v, standby since June 22

3474 - v

3475 - v 

3476 - v

3477 - v

3478 - v, in northern Quebec service July 1,4. VIA has three galley-equipped cars being rebuilt at CAD. HEP2 cars weren’t suitable or have had failures, so the LRC cars are in use.

Stop back often to see the 'v's being replaced with other notations denoting the remaining cars' sidelining, sidetracking or stored unserviceabling.

Thanks to my sources - those who know that I know who they are.

Running extra...

Trackside Treasure will be doing what everyone else does when their entity reaches a certain point in its trajectory. A brand-new product - Trackside Tequila! Perfect to enjoy while you're relaxing and reading Harper Lee's classic novel, Tequila Mockingbird. It if wasn't tequila, it would likely have been VIAdka! I asked The Rock to help me with the launch. That's me in the corne!

Trackside Treasure will also be doing another one of those trajectory things - launching a podcast. Podcasts require catchy names to distract from the fact that it's just a guy droning on for three hours. My wife tells me that the sound of my voice can put one to sleep, so my working title is The Sleeper Series. I think it just ties everything together, though I have yet to gauge reaction!

Trackside Treasure will be getting into Crypto. [Revision: we will not be getting into Crypto. I realized I knew SFA about EFT and NFT so I postponed the IPO before I spent a single FTE or got into the TSX or got into trouble with the CSE or the CRA for NSF]. I'm going to stick to LRC, CNR, CPR and some VIA thrown in!

Oh darn, I was disappointed my plan had gone awry. There must be something else I could try. Nothing came to mind - nothing more yet. So I decided this blog needed a poet laureate. I got out my notebook and needed a place to chuck it. Fortunately, I had a spare bucket. Yes, that's where I decided to tuck it! Maybe I should leave it to the prose.