VIA Budd RDC Stock

Perhaps this is a foolish question with so much knowledge here, but I don't know the answer, so I'll ask.

Does anyone know what the status is of VIA's Budd RDC stock? Are there any for sale? And if so, any suggestions on who / where to contact at VIA?

Most of VIA's Budd RDCs were sold to various parties between 1993 and 2000. Today VIA only has six remaining on the roster.

If anyone is interested in buying a former VIA RDC, Farmrail (of Oklahoma?) purchased a number that are still stored in Canada. Industrial Rail Services Inc. (Moncton, NB) also bought some for the purpose of rebuilding and resale. IRSI also picked up some of VIA's LRC locomotives.

At times VIA leased back one of Farmrail's RDCs (6130) for use on the E&N Malahat run and (strictly rumour) may be looking to lease some more to add service on the Toronto-Kitchener-London-Sarnia line.

I Really appreciate your through and quick answer! Is there somewhere that Via posts equipment as being up for sale? In the mid-80s I saw some nice ex-VIA stock sitting waiting for melt-down at Ipsco in Regina...one was a beautiful diner-like car, still complete with swivel stools along a long server table. Sigh....should have taken pics!

It's too bad VIA Rail Canada didn't hold onto a few more of the Budd RDC cars. The would have been great for feeder service - as the winds change with each administration. I am not saying that VIA should be a museum of such rail cars, but some hasty moves may have been made when the initial early 1990 cuts were made. Even if the Bras'd Or was reinstated seasonally with Budd RDC equipment - it would be better than nothing. I'd rather have someone else do the driving from Halifax out to Cape Breton - via train verse bus. Course DMU service - new and attractive - may be a better solution than hauling out the old Budd RDC's if money and routes are found for such.

Ken V wrote:.....Industrial Rail Services Inc. (Moncton, NB) also bought some for the purpose of rebuilding and resale........

Nice link here to a slideshow of the RDC rebuilding project:
http://industrialrail.ca/services.php

Great slideshows . what is the origins of the panorama cars ? Are they dome car height ?

The Panorama cars are standard height. They were built by Colorado Railcar in 2000 for BC Rail. When BC Rail ended their passenger service a couple of years later, VIA picked up the three of them along with lounge car Glenfraser. Alaska Railroad also has a number of these cars.

Thanks Ken .
There were some budd rdc's operating in South Australia . Wether they were similiar to the Canadian ones , i don't know .

Great slide show! Are these renovated RDC's operating anywhere in North America - i.e. on the VIA Rail lines? Amazing on the re-building. It's too bad Amtrak can't learn how to do some of this stuff with their Heritage equipment that they decide to sideline rather than perhaps outsource for re-manufacture.

And of course the ex-VIA Rail coahces or should I say ex-CN cars in the slideshow were also nicely rebuilt for the Rocky Mountaineer's Whislter service (i.e. Glacier Dome).

I get two pic of RDC's I tooked in Montreal,in october 2007




Just after,They was towed to Montreal MMC and after,tehy ship the to Ottawa,But after that,I did'nt have any new of them..

From the outside, those appear to be refurbished - they have a wheelchair accessible door as well as the flag on the side. Also, the overall pant scheme looks new. Those were probably sent out west for the Vancouver Island service.

-Chris

chriskay wrote:From the outside, those appear to be refurbished - they have a wheelchair accessible door as well as the flag on the side. Also, the overall pant scheme looks new. Those were probably sent out west for the Vancouver Island service.

-Chris

Those 2 RDC's were being tested by VIA Rail in the Corridor. VIA has 3 RDC's on Vancouver Island and for the current level of service don't need 2 more.

So wait - are these two RDC's incremental units that VIA currently has on its roster, or just cars that were at Toronto or Montreal going through inspections/overhaul of some sort. Wasn't there some talk about using refurbished RDC's from either Sarnia or Windsor to Toronto?

Neither of these two belong to VIA. They are owned, I believe, by Industrial Rail Services and were loaned to VIA for some trials to evaluate their potential use on some corridor routes such as Toronto-Sarnia. Since nothing has come of this trial period I guess VIA wasn't interested.

IMHO it would have been nice to see VIA rail keep them around for a possible short run in the extended GTA area. for example the purposed route GO transit gave to extend service from Hamilton to Niagara falls. However they figured it would be a waist for fuel and resources for a 10 car train with very few passengers to make that trip on a regular basis. VIA could easily take control of that Idea and run a 1 car RDC every 2-3 hrs in each direction from Hamilton to Niagara falls. seem reasonable. Not to mention maintenance could be carried out in the Mimico VIA yard, where I remember a few RDC being stored there in the last few years.

EDIT: for anyone trying to keep up with the ex VIA RDC, TRE in Texas has 13 of them all have been rebuilt and are now in storage ( out of service) so I guess VIA could buy them back..