buddah wrote: I wonder if VIA would be interested in selling them now that we know there still around, the only issue I have is they cannibalized them for there trucks ( probably for the running fleet as spare parts) which makes these semi useless.
THANK YOU BUDDAH for replying to this thread--it's now October and, as they say, "tempus fugits"---It's not often that one has $30-50 million in hardware just lying in a marshland next to one of the finest transportation(water/rail/truck) terminals in North America. Surely some broker could stimulate enough interest in these shells to market them via auction(onsite or online) to private-car builders and thereby liquidate VIA's investment for other uses. I know no one in the industry--I'm just a harmless railroad hobbyist nearing retirement that still hasn't hit the lottery, so chances are the only private railcar I'll ever experience is one I get invited to attend, or perhaps visit in a museum. So, come on, all you eccentric, well-meaning, enthusiastic, perhaps even rabid railfans, let's persuade VIA to either put these shells into service OR release them into the marketplace for next-generation passenger/tourism/luxury usage. If I DO hit the lottery in the next year, I'd take one or two, although I'd prefer a Budd self-propelled model like BCRail used to run--maybe I could trade for one!
Time to stop hallucinating and go to work--but--that part about persuading VIA to take action--somehow we MUST do that...