CN Turbotrain - "

We at High Speed Rail Canada pride ourselves in having the largest audio and video relating to Canada's only high speed train the CN Turbotrain. What a shocker when we found out about this rare gem shot professionally by CN and shown by CN Communications people at meetings and events in Ontario and Quebec in the late 1960s and early 70s. The title refers to the time it took on the schedule to go from Montreal to Toronto. Present VIA trains still cant match it.
For more UAC Turbo Train audio and video go to our site at www.highspeedrailcanada.com . Twitter - @HSRCanada

[@keithdaniel8098]

Thanks! My dad worked for CN, had a yellow ticket, spent a whole summer going back and forth on the Turbo.

[@Wingeezer]

Brings back memories! As a newly hired graduate mech eng at CN, I worked on establishing dedicated Turbotrain maintenance facilities within Montreal's Central Station when the Turbo Train was built. It was wspecially of interest to me, because the year before finishing school and joining CN, coincidentally, I had worked as a student with United Aircraft doing test work on the fuel control systems of the PT6 turboprop engine. A shame that reliability issues and high operating cost brought about a early retirement of the Turbo. Luckily I fared a little better, and retired after 34 mostly enjoyable years working in a variety of engineering positions at CN!

[@PaulLangan]

great memories, thanks for sharing! any Turbo photos/footage we dont' have let us know. Here is the link to the largest audio, video selection of TURBO. www.highspeedrailcanada.com/p/uac-cn-turbo-train-archives.html

[@craven5328]

I've just been googling the TurboTrain after my dad once again told me the story of how his father was one of the chief engineers (I'm guessing for the engines, as he was with Pratt and Whitney for a long time), and how my dad managed to pick up the phone the day they got the call about the crash on it's maiden voyage! Wild to think - but could you have known my grandfather?

[@DEVILTAZ35]

thanks for posting this. This train was amazing and it is ashame it was not developed further.

[@pipey61]

Turbo did perform very well once it had the bugs ironed out. I took it regularly between Toronto and Kingston when I was in school. A very fast and comfortable ride! The LRCs' much-touted automatic banking for curves proved to be pointless because the locomotives were not so equipped. Anyway, the greatest obstacle to high-speed rail between Toronto and Montreal is not the freight traffic or even the railbed; it is the great number of private, unsignalled level crossings that farmers must use to get from one field to another. Until such time as these are eliminated, really high speed trains will not be possible.

[@Jay-vr9ir]

It is a shame . I love trains , but this train was just a little before The FLQ and then Montreal for a while became a place that non french people , did not feel welcome . It is an overall shame ,I recall the hype regarding this train , very sad .

[@stinkyroadhog1347]

Im fairly sure LRC locomotives could tilt but due to their unreliability, F40s would usually be pulling instead which made the tilt function pointless

[@vostock83]

I remember all the fuss about the Turbo when it was unveiled. I also remember going to Dorval station with my mother, and being delayed because the Turbo had broken down at the platform. At least we got a really good look at it!

[@samtrak1204]

[@am74343]

It's a shame that here in North America (especially here in the U.S.), we have pretty much not progressed in modernizing our train transportation system in the past 40 years. I live in the Upstate, N.Y. region, and outside of the N.Y.C. metropolitan area, availability of passenger train transport is woefully inadequate throughout the state. I remember as a child seeing Amtrak's Turboliners rolling along the Hudson River, and thinking, "Wow! Those trains have jet airplane engines!" It's ashame that now some 30 years later this technlology has not been continued. With today's composite carbon-fiber and ceramic formulations much better suited to the high temperatures involved, one would think that engine companies would be scrambling to use these technologies to allow trains to utilize alternative fuels such as ethanol or LNG as their fuel sources, rather than diesel. Sure, the efficiency of diesel locomotive engines has gone up by 25% in the past 20-30 years, but that doesn't mean that we should stop seeking every possible alternative out there, in order to reduce our dependency on foreign fossil fuels.

[@samtrak1204]

CN TURBOTRAIN Toronto - Montreal "3:59" CN Turbotrain covered 335 miles between Toronto and Montreal in 3hrs/59mins in 1973whereas VIA trains take over 5 hours to cover the same distance.

[@louiscapwell]

what a great piece! interesting what changed, both in message and presentation between this film and the longer one.

[@tabhorian]

Thank you thank you thank you. This means a lot to me.

[@tabhorian]

Yes. England, at least, that I know of. And Australia. My dad brought me back a little kangaroo stuffed animal from there. 1968 I think it was. I got to see all of the HO scale models they used for testing and demos. They were in one of those aluminum cases. I was NOT allowed to touch though. For good reason - a week before I tore apart a replacement washing machine timer to see how it worked. It was the closest I ever saw him come to cursing :)

[@briansokoloski776]

I have seen a CN Turbo Train set just outside Union Station in Downtown Toronto parked on the siding in the early 1970s

[@sean6975]

At 3:35, the dude does not look impressed..

[@jaworskij]

HighSpeedRailCanada, when you digitized this film, did you not try to fix the red shift of this, to make maybe make it look new again? It got reddish because one of the colours was gone.

[@PatrickTomaszewski10]

Thanks for the Video!

[@devvydoesstuff]

All I know is that VIA Rail bought all five CN turbotrains.... I came from Engines of VIA episode 6

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Groovy

[@Highspeedrailcanada1]

glad you like it!

[@samtrak1204]

Perfect performance?

[@DredWolfster]

What dramatic times of change the 1960s must have been. In the late 50s there were still steam trains and then within a decade to the late 60s it went all the way to CN Turbo Trains. When will North America finally return to the more urban centric way of living of what was once a vast continental rail network of varying rail transportation modes nearly back a century ago. Urban sprawl since the post war era has been a drain on our resources, its time to return to the transit village!

[@QuadMochaMatti]

You're welcome to live stacked up on each other and crammed in like sardines.

[@jackiechan511]

Does anyone know where to find the theme played in this video that is played at the beginning and in the middle to the end portion

[@rodneyjweltham150]

I wonder why the film has a 'reddish' colour? I remember travel ling on this from Toronto to Montreal in the 70's...the lead car engine 'wall' had a couple of dials including speedometer - to see how fast (or slow!) the train was traveling...Too bad the roadbed and safety features of the rails were NOT up to the task of accommodating the speed of the train...It never got up to over 160 kmh as far as I recall...Still, a grand vision of what MIGHT be (eventually) accomplished in the Windsor/Quebec City corridor. Thanks for the memories! You can check out this BRITISH PATHE black and white promo video for the train here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnSliKuAlMeSgqc Favourite part? The guy DRINKING A SHOT behind the driver/operator. I wonder if they'd allow that these days? (no)

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Film dye colour shift

[@Highspeedrailcanada1]

age of film, deterioration, it could be fixed we just wanted to get it posted.

[@LDTV22OfficialChannel]

0:29 why was the film spliced here?

[@Highspeedrailcanada1]

The film was from a former CN promo person. It was 16ml, thats the reel he used to use to promote the Turbo around Ontario. Not unusual for film that old to have been damaged and spliced back together

[@DEVILTAZ35]

Did anyone notice how they look alot like the designs of vehicles in the game Fallout 3?

[@Neville6000]

@Railskunk136: The LRC is crap and not even as half as fast as the Turbo Train. The Jet Train should be brought by VIA, but the environmental movement would have a big meltdown, and there would be massive protests against it, so it will never be used.

[@quynhngo3836]

Good cn train station and the training center of The world God and the city of Manchester united

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Wot? 🗣️💨

[@northlanderdude]

the turbo train sucked, it was nothing but grief !

[@donaldinho62]

It took them five years, after its initial run in 1968, to get the bugs worked out. They should have kept it running longer though. Once the LRCs were acquired, it was no longer needed, apparently.