VIA Rail Canada has donated an LRC coach to Exporail (also known as the Canadian Railway Museum) outside of Montreal. Coach 3308 was delivered in August by CPKC.
VIA is in the process of replacing its LRC cars, built in the 1980s by Bombardier. LRC stands for Light, Rapid, Comfortable. The low-profile cars were originally matched with a Bombardier locomotive with an Alco-designed 251 prime mover, making them among the last Alco/MLWs ever built. Those locomotives were retired in the early 2000s, but the cars have continued to serve VIA between Quebec City and Windsor, Ont. VIA is now putting new trains from Siemens into service. Exporail previously saved one of the LRC locomotives, 6921. A second one, 6917, is maintained by the VIA Historical Association.
—Justin Franz


