Light-Rapid-Comfortable - VIA's LRC

LRC DEBUT

VIA took delivery of its Light-Rapid-Comfortable (LRC) high-speed train at Montreal's Windsor Station on July 7/81. The otherwise celebratory ceremony was darkened by Federal Transport Minister Jean-Luc Pepin presaging inevitable cuts to VIA that would take place only four months later. Meanwhile, VIA Chairman and President Frank Roberts opined that the LRC was an "ideal bridging mechanism as VIA moves towards the introduction of high-speed technology in the future".

The LRC made its debut at Toronto Union Station on July 30, 1981 and was toured by 3,200 guests. Familiarization trips for VIA employees were made from Toronto to Oshawa on August 8 and 9. VIA promoted the delivery of the LRC in its 1981 Annual Report:

I was able to see this train at Kingston’s Montreal Street station on August 12, 1981 before it travelled to London and Sarnia. The consist of this train was: 6901-3309-3308-3306-6904. (David Woodhead kindly shared his black & white image of the display train at Kingston - top photo.) For more photos, see these previously-published posts: the LRC Debut and LRC's in Service. Fully bilingual, LRC translated to French as Leger-Rapide-Confortable.

The cost of the order was $100 million. The first batch of LRC-2 locomotives 6900-6920 and 50 LRC coaches 3300-3349 were built in 1980-1982, with LRC-3 locomotives 6921-6930 and 50 more LRC coaches 3350-3399 built in 1983-1984. Coaches 3375-3399 were converted to club cars in 1985, renumbered 3451-3475. Of these, 3451 and 3452 were re-converted to coaches in 1986 to their original numbers 3375 and 3385, then converted back to club cars 3451-3452 in 1991. Coaches 3373 and 3374 were converted to club cars in 2002, renumbered 3600 and 3601.

The first revenue run was an unofficial debut between Toronto-Sarnia on September 4, 1981, No 83 with 6901-6 LRC cars-6904. This was not because VIA wanted to, it was because VIA had to due to a Labour Day weekend rush. Everything on wheels had to be pressed into service!

Regular service between Montreal and Toronto was postponed at least twice, from October 25 to November 16 to December 18, 1981. VIA's plan was to introduce the LRC's on Montreal-Toronto train Nos 60/61 and 66/67. However, a cautious VIA decided to hold off on advertising the debut until it could be sure of the new trains' reliability. A VIA advertisement published in the Toronto Star on June 24, 1982:

Finally, on June 1, 1982 every city-pair in VIA's Quebec City-Windsor Corridor had at least one daily LRC consist round-trip. Montreal-Toronto (3); Montreal-Ottawa (2); Montreal-Quebec City (1); Toronto-Windsor (1); and Toronto-Sarnia (1). This was accomplished by bypassing the coach yard, as was required with conventional equipment like club cars, meal service cars and baggage cars, and by utilizing one LRC consist between multiple city-pairs. One train could cover Toronto-Sarnia (No 83)-->Sarnia-Toronto (No 86)-->Toronto-Ottawa (No 46). Another rotation was Ottawa-Montreal (No 28)-->Montreal-Ottawa (No 33)-->Ottawa-Toronto (No 46).

Locomotives 6900-6904 were initially assigned to Spadina, appearing for the first time in GO’s Willowbrook yard on January 7, 1982: 6902-5 LRC cars-6904, also 6908 and 6909. When GO Transit needed room at Willowbrook, VIA's Montreal Maintenance Centre was already under construction on April 12/83 at the former Canadian Car & Foundry plant in Ville St-Pierre. With two 400-foot inspection pits, the 90% of LRC components that were mounted in closed compartments underneath were within reach, and the locomotives and cars could be serviced together without being uncoupled and sent to a roundhouse facility.

VIA 6903 was featured in early VIA publicity:

Optimistic plans by VIA and Bombardier for LRC sets to be used in Edmonton-Calgary, Montreal-Maritimes and Halifax-Saint John/Fredericton never materialized. The LRC's were not the new wave of North American passenger travel they were envisioned to be. VIA had no choice but to accept the LRC's, problems and all, because the consortium, CN and then VIA had invested so heavily in the technology for over a decade. Almost all its other rolling stock was decades older. Amtrak and international contracts never materialized.

LRC TESTING AND PROBLEMS

The prototype JV-1 locomotive and coach made a 7,000-mile round trip to the US Department of Transportation test facility in Pueblo, CO in 1974. On November 13, the set completed a 1,094-mile test of 120 laps at the average speed of 96 mph, returning back to Canada on December 1, 1974. Test trains were operated between Montreal-Toronto and Montreal-Quebec City for months.

VIA locomotive 6905 was tested at the National Research Council's Uplands facility in January-February 1983, with coach 3320 to follow. Throughout the early years, the untried LRC equipment faced a host of mechanical and operating challenges. Train riders were on board to fix what defects they could. The banking system required constant vigilance and was often deactivated. A wheel bearing failure on December 2, 1983 led to all 50 cars then in service being sidelined six days later for bearing inspections. Bearing replacement was done around the clock, with a goal of having 80% of the fleet in service by December 19. Replacement bearings were stockpiled for use in the next 50-car order.

Though publicly VIA said the problems were not major bugs, only basic design problems which took five years to work out. Behind the scenes, the manufacturer said the railway was not maintaining the new sets properly, while VIA said that the trains' high-tech complexity caused failures. During testing on Amtrak, their shop forces exhibited indifference to what they viewed as oddball technology that would never find a home on Amtrak. 

LRC locomotive 6906 on VIA No 77 was destroyed by fire at Glencoe, Ontario on October 21, 1983. Passengers waited four hours for rescue. VIA 6920-3349-3457 ravaged by fire at Brighton, Ontario in 1994. VIA 6909 suffered a main generator explosion. VIA 6915 suffered a fire and collision. VIA 6920 is shown at Spadina in 1983 (above - online auction site photo). 

Effective June 1987, all VIA Corridor service through Ottawa was being provided by LRC’s except for the Canadian and the Cavalier. In March 1988, the LRC locomotive fleet required major electrical work and could not operate solo. As a result, LRC equipment was pulled by LRC-F40PH-2 double-ended on longer trains, with F40PH-2’s on shorter trains, or LRC-F9B’s pulling conventional trains or RDC’s substituting.

LRC LOCOSTORAGE

By July 1990, LRC locomotives were already entering storage, bumped by newer F40PH-2’s. With windows covered by plywood, and air intakes and exhaust covered by plastic, VIA’s Ville St Pierre facility held 6908, 6910, 6911, 6913, 6918 and 6929. By 1991, only eight LRC locomotives remained in service, assigned to Montreal: 6902, 6903, 6905, 6912, 6916, 6919, 6920, and 6921. LRC cars were refurbished between 1991 and 1994. 

In 1992, Operation Axle sidelined the LRC cars, returning VIA trains in the Corridor to blue & yellow once again, if only temporarily.

For the rest of the locomotive fleet’s service life, eight to twelve 6900’s would be in service at any one time, with the remainder stored. In March 1992, 6907 and 6917 returned to service. In March 1993, 6909 and 6914 returned to service, and there were likely other temporary changes in status as units were stored or reactivated. 

By 1997, nine locomotives were in service: 6902, 6903, 6907, 6909, 6912, 6914, 6917, 6919, 6921.

In August 2000, eight locomotives were in service: 6902, 6903, 6905, 6907, 6914, 6917, 6919, 6921.

In February 2001, there were seven: 6903, 6905, 6907, 6909, 6917, 6919, 6921. 

In March 2001, 6909 was stored, replaced by 6914. The last LRC locomotives in service in late 2001: 6903, 6905, 6907, 6914, 6917, 6919, 6921. By September, 2003 the last seven were being offered for sale, as is. Interestingly, 6927, 6928 and 6930 had been stored at Montreal and not operated since 1990. 

My last LRC locomotive sighting was on August 30, 2001 as VIA No 67’s four cars were powered into the setting sun by 6921. Bumped by the arrival of VIA’s new P42DC’s, the 6900’s swan song came in December, 2001. Last trains led by the remaining LRC locomotives: 6919 leading Quebec City-Montreal No 23 on November 2, 6905 leading Toronto-Montreal No 66 on November 25, 6903 leading Toronto-Montreal No 68 December 4, 6921 leading Ottawa-Montreal No 30 and 6914 leading Toronto-Montreal No 64 both on December 10, 6917 leading No 27 on Dec 11, and 6907 leading Quebec City-Montreal No 27 two days later. The seven units were later moved to Toronto on CN freight train No 309, arriving at the TMC for storage in January, 2002.

LRC VIA1 car 3461 was painted in a red-white-blue scheme promoting ‘Wireless Internet on board’ in the summer of 2003.

LRC REBUILDING

In early 2006, F40PH-2 6400 and VIA1 car 3451 were stripped as prototypes for rebuilding: new wiring, controls and lighting plus HVAC upgrades were added to 3451. A major four-year LRC car fleet refurbishing program was begun in 2009. All remaining 98 cars, 26 VIA1 and 72 coaches would be included, having racked up 5,000,000 miles per car. Planned upgrades included new door mechanisms, interior LED lighting, HVAC controls, wiring, layover system, interior redesign, and a grey & green paint scheme that I dubbed Renaissance (R) for record-keeping purposes. VIA 3302 is shown in the new scheme at Belleville - one of my favourite photos of the Renaissance scheme, platform-level view on VIA No 643 on May 7, 2016 (above).

In 2009, a $100 million contract had been awarded to Moncton's Industrial Rail Services Inc. (IRSI) to completely overhaul 98 LRC coaches, providing a more energy-efficient car with a more comfortable interior environment. Initially planned to begin delivery in May 2010, with the last car completed by December 2013, the project was dogged with delays. The first cars arriving at IRSI in Moncton in late 2008 were: 3315, 3317, 3319, 3328, 3329, 3346, 3348, 3362 and 3601.  Unfortunately, the refurbishing program would be put on hold as problems were identified by VIA, involving the structural integrity of some of the 10 delivered rebuilt cars.

In March, 2011 the first refurbished LRC coach, 3315 was released from IRSI, in service on VIA train Nos 22/23 in April. Although VIA had produced Business Class ‘prototype’ car 3451, seen below on VIA No 66 at Kingston on March 10, 2014, LRC coach 3315 was deemed the ‘true prototype’ (coach) car, and this prototype designation was the subject of subsequent legal wrangling. 

Cars began entering service: 3317 early-June 2011, 3319 early-July, 3328 early-August, 3339 late-September, 3346 and 3348 in November and 3344 in late-December. My first observation was of coach 3348 at Kingston on December 5, 2011. As early as August, 2011 3315-3316-3319 were operating together. In 2012, 3347 was released in late-January, 3331 in late-February and the contract was ‘removed’ from IRSI in April, with legal manoeuvring and the receivership of IRSI in April, followed by the launching of two lawsuits against VIA by IRSI. CAD Railway Industries (CAD) would take over the completion of cars requiring time-sensitive modifications. In late-2012, there were 12 LRC cars (3303, 3310, 3320, 3321, 3326, 3327, 3330, 3332, 3345, 3362, 3452 and 3461) on-site. On April 12, 2013 CAD released 3330, 3345 in July, 3332 on August 13 and 3327 in October.

Tendered as a 23-car contract, VIA planned the refurbishing of two Business Class cars to be completed each month between August 2013 and August 2014. In June 2013,  Business Class car 3475 was released from refurbishing, the first of all such cars to be redone. The cars now featured 2+1 seating. On October 8, 3451 was released. Eleven of 26 upgraded Business Class cars were completed by March 2014, with the last one expected in November 2014. Cars 3600-3601, converted from coaches 3373-3374 in 2002, were renumbered 3476-3477, with one more car joining the series: 3478.

In the summer of  2015, LRC coach 3368 was tagged by graffiti vandals along its lower body. VIA shop forces painted over the offending ‘artwork’ with a blue-grey paint making this car unique. Evening sunlight on August 3, 2016 shows off 3368's unique paint-scheme (above).

In 2016, seating in the LRC cars was changed, actually returned, to 50/50 with all seats facing toward the centre of the car. This was intended to promote bidirectional consist operation, with reduced need for wyeing. My first observations were coaches 3323, 3363 and 3370 on January 2, 2016.

In 2017, the LRC cars wore the CANADA150 wrap (video capture of coach 3364 on VIA No 62/52 at Belleville on September 30, 2017 - below). Then in 2018, the ViA40 Future wrap was applied to the same cars.

With the inaugural Siemens trainset now being tested by VIA, it's anticipated that the LRC car fleet will be retired as soon as practicable, joining the LRC locomotives as a vital part of VIA's history, marking the transition from first-generation power and steam heat.

LRC STATESIDE

An interesting off-shoot of the LRC fleet was a trainset built for Amtrak service in 1980. Locomotives Amtrak 38 and 39, coaches 41-44 and 46-49 plus club cars 40 and 45 were operated by Amtrak in a lease/purchase agreement for two years. Returned by Amtrak, the trainset was later renumbered as VIA 6941 and 6942, 3501-3504 and 3505-3508 plus 3511 and 3512 respectively. 

In April 1988, two LRC locomotives and five cars travelled to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor as demonstrators between Boston and New York: 6907-3470-3350-3357-3358-3363-6909 for North-East Council of Governments.

In 1988, nine of the ten 3500’s (except 3502) were removed from storage at Ville St Pierre and moved to Bombardier’s plant in La Pocatiere, Quebec to be rebuilt for service on the Toronto-Chicago International, though the locomotives did not operate again. Operating into the 1990’s, and not compatible with the rest of VIA’s LRC fleet, the orphans were removed from service and stored at VIA’s Montreal Maintenance Centre (MMC). The possibility of rebuilding the cars to fleet standards was abandoned in 1993, and the cars were eventually sold to IRSI in Moncton in 2004. In August 1989, Amtrak 38 and Amtrak 39 were moved from the east-end Montreal Bombardier plant to MMC and stripped of parts, being sold to Century Locomotive parts in Lachine, Quebec in late 1990. The 3500’s were retired in late 2001.

Running extra...

While some faithful readers may have perceived the Ask Me Anything post as some sort of April Fool's Day joke, rest assured that it was not*. As a long-running Trackside Treasure tradition, legs (and fingers) are pulled each April, at the expense of some well-known target. Be it the railways, model railroaders, VIA, or Transport Canada, the most frequent target is you, the reader. Winning undeserved blogger awards, translating this blog into Latin, solving mysteries that never existed, that's how Trackside Treasure rolls.

This year's target was Rapido Trains Inc. If you can give it, you have to take it, and there is no such thing as bad publicity on this blog. Stay tuned for Rapido's next live event on April 7. I can't really sit through another one of these - a mix of self-congratulation, nice models, inside jokes, good-natured banter, behind-the-scenes minutiae and an endless series of frustratingly improbable live comments from modellers repeatedly asking for their pet project to be made. April Fool's**?

                           

We need this type of jocularity in this world in which countries invade each other, celebrities slap each other and we just like trains 'n' stuff . Thanks for playing along - you've just received the home edition of Trackside Treasure!***

*Yes it was.

**No it wasn't.

***Yeah you did.