LRC Reborn - The Awakening of LRC Locomotive

The Toronto Railway Historical Association, Rapido Trains Inc. and ESU LLC finally get VIA Rail Canada Bombardier LRC Engine #6917 to start after 13 years stored outside!
Music by Pawel Blaszczak, used under licence.

[@WillF40PH_train_railroad]

I'm watching this in 2020 and I just picked up my Rapido LRC. It's a beautiful locomotive.

[@rapidotrains]

Fantastic! I forgot we mentioned that...

[@thetrainshop]

Cranky, but ALCOs never die!

[@lxdesign1]

well they do.... but parts are not hard to find.

[@cmac9029]

She still smokes like an ALCo should! Awesome work you guys!

[@rapidotrains]

Thanks! Still has a lot of needed work, but at least she can be fired up!

[@CSXrailfan814]

This is why i love your company. You make beautiful models and you have helped preserve locomotives, rail car, and bus

[@rapidotrains]

We just love trains!

[@michaelwalterselevatorsrob5009]

I love how enthusiastic this guy is..

[@rapidotrains]

It's very contagious!

[@eatonjask]

Much as I'm glad to see 6917 being restarted, I really, really miss those Railliners being used as a 'load' too! Railliners were and are such a good idea for Canadian passenger service - fast, light, and flexible!

[@Random.Channel_]

Ya

[@tivie9261]

BC Rail had a fleet of 11 RDCs, from North Vancouver to Prince George. Bud built really good stainless equipment throughout the mid 20th century.

[@trainglen22]

Agreed! They were and still are perfect for several Via trains.

[@bobbyt9999]

I know that this video is kinda old - this is 2022 - but I just had to comment. I was holding my breath while Chris was trying to start #6917 and smiled when it did start. Whoever said that working on a loco was a "clean" job? One look at Chris working should tell you otherwise!!! Thanks for the great videos, eh?

[@SkysTrains]

i saw 6917 not too long ago while on a via train. it was so cool to see

[@rapidotrains]

Awesome!

[@YukariAkiyamaTanks]

I can't believe yall did this 8 years ago. This is still amazing to this day in 2022!

[@rapidotrains]

Thanks!

[@wilfstor3078]

the music in the begining makes me cry

[@j_eldridge]

OMG Same!

[@rahin6852]

Same

[@MontrealtrainChannel]

Could be amazing to see 6917 redoing a travel in the corridor,from Toronto to Montreal,then,back to Toronto,I'm sure than many railfans will want to get a ride abord 100% LRC train,with LRC cars,pulled by an LRC locomotive..It could be a very nice dream for me to see this run again..But I get one reserved..I will reproduce my first train that I saw,when I rode first time with VIA,LRC locomotive,4 LRC cars and a F40PH-2d at tail end ( I reserved mine with sound)..I still remember when I was young,loved to see them passing my my area,I still remember seeing TurboTrain,riding in the corridor,oh they was running fats for trains from this era..LRC's was strong locomotives,able to pull,up to 9 LRC cars without any problems..And they was still reliable in winter conditions..

[@jadedfox4672]

Via: generously provides cars and a newly rebuilt locomotive to provide a boost Rapido: bathes the f40 in alco smoke If you guys did a re release of the lrc locos I’d have to restrain myself from not getting one

[@rapidotrains]

Anything’s possible, we might run them again one day!

[@TOPWOP999]

Hell with the LRC look at those budd cars! I miss 6148...belongs back on the Island. Nice work guys!

[@KaciCooperations]

Awesome!! That sounds like GE soundings!

[@rapidotrains]

Thank you!

[@CoffeePot31]

That startup of the LRC locomotive #6917 was epic, though I like the GMD E & F units better.

[@PantherLineProductionsofOhio]

Jason you have one amazing sense of humor. I love it. You guys will make me broke. I need to go to work for you

[@danielfantino1714]

Remember when CP short of locos, leased some LRC...for their freight trains.

[@rapidotrains]

Absolutely!

[@kevinpatrick8788]

im a carman at tmc and I have a video somewhere of one of the other lrc locomotives being scrapped. I believe the 6917 and 6921 are the only one left now.

[@joe-ut7ee]

I've been waiting for this model since 1983

[@trainships1795]

TRUE SHADES OF ALCO ! An Honorary Stream Engine.

[@haroldalexis4200]

I'm watching this in 2021. This is what Railroading is truly about. This is a first for me as a viewer that a scale model railroad company was adventurous on the field and to share these engines that all have been later produced by RAPIDO. I loved your comedy as well. I couldn't stop laughing 😄. I'll get to the LRC in a moment... My other strong interests was the F 40 PH altered appearance! The front nose triple lights that was a surprise in addition to the rear of this engine the large hatch door and hump on the upper roof 😱! In some ways the rear large door reminds me of AMTRAK'S CABBAGE engine. Those details make this VIA RAIL paint scheme extremely interesting. Now I want to or a model of this one featured in the yard! The BUDD RDC Unfortunately it wasn't available in my area in the road names I wanted. I have Amtrak pointless arrow & VIA RAIL in LIFE LIKE PROTO 1000. As for the LRC startup in the 2nd attempt I was very concerned of the safety with the VIA crew that did a fantastic job working on this retired turbo. When all that steam and smoke my other thought was: uh oh call 911 the fire department 😄 that was alot of diesel smoke coming from it! Terrible me then I thought 🤔 now I know why the LRC diesels were retired! All jokes aside from this is a extremely good video I'm into this engine for my future layout. These trains have been viewed on many videos and for me to watch them brings joy to me as a railroader in HO, N, & a touch of O SCALE. Thanks for presenting this. 👏

[@rapidotrains]

Thanks for all the kind words! You're clearly as passionate about trains as we are!

[@johnburke1317]

Very nice 👌

[@rapidotrains]

👍

[@mj1234321]

Pretty cool. Wish we could fire up one of the 'ol Rohr Turboliners!

[@cprail1b]

Excellent. I guess Rapido will have to bring out some RDC's so you can accurately recreate this train on Jason's layout !

[@ontariorailfanproductions]

You would think it would be all messed up and falling apart after sitting outside for all that time Like the roof caving in and the controls rusty I would think

[@rapidotrains]

They built 'em to last!

[@alexpaumen3937]

I FINALLY may be able to get one of your LRC models. Make that 4!

[@trainglen22]

Just curious if the Via historical society will have a GE Genesis locomotive added to the fleet along with a LRC Via 1 car and a normal coach.

[@rapidotrains]

That would be awesome!

[@ttcorionv1347]

I believe there is one or two in Sudbury Ontario and one is painted in the green red and yellow and was about to be exported to Africa.

[@danielfantino1714]

Well sadly it was exported to the scrapyard. Can be seen from Google earth view.

[@TrainsNStuff]

Man I'd love to see this!

[@ProDJ1980]

Even though I like the Via Trains we have today, I can't understand why we still couldn't have the LRC ( whatever the amount we have left) back into service, they still seem to run good to me.... I remember seeing these trains as a kid and would love to see a comeback with them!!!

[@martindoyle831]

maritime marine and diesel scrapped the majority of them in 2004-6 i believe. there are 2 for sure this one and delson. 1 at cad rail maybe 2 there is a test bed out front by the bridge not sure if its the same one the re-engined with a cat. and the one in sudbury. past that its over for these.. they should have been converted to baggage head end cars. making them so via would have to turn trains

[@GintaPPE1000]

VIA had money to play with back then, and the LRC's phone-booth engine compartment made re-engining them instead of buying new P42DCs even less sensible. Not to mention ALCO/MLW-engined products were falling out of favor with railroads in no small part because neither manufacturer was involved with locomotive production any more.

[@martindoyle831]

Nah via missed a HUGE cost savings opertunity there. And the entire fleet should have been turned into control cab baggage cars.. currently 3 corridor sets run daily on the toronto. Ottawa montreal corridor. On 5 car sets.. like really.. .. thats my money they are pissing away. The baggage lrc sets could have been configured with dual hep units in them. This could have eliminated the need to purchase p42s all together. At what 4 plus mill/per they should have bought the used go f59ph's sent them to boise for streamline cabing and mid life renewals. And cycled the f40s through THE SAME program The f40 rebuild program is a complete failure. Those thinks are already moving wind blocks. So lets put more square angles on the inly angular streamlining of the unit.. yea. Retarded. Lets keeo the 645e3-16 main gen. Maintaining the higher fuel consuption ratio of older units. Regardless of hep or not. And less hp. Because CAD re rated them e3's back to 3000 hp. They had been over clocked for the hep. The program should have seen at min 710-12s from f59 styling which would have allowed separate hep inside the same cowling length. So again more stupidity at its government best. They could have picked up a suplimentary fleet of 30 or 40 f59s. Rebuilt them all with midlifes. And M-i new electronics. Turning them into f59phi-Ms had all the lrc locos converted to hep/cab bagage cars. Rebuilt the whole fleet of f40s to matsh the f59s to keep a standard motive power. And purchased 40 more coaches for the corridor and pay for the expanded service. For the same price on the f40s/p42 deal. The lrc car rebuild program is a completely separate story. WHAT A WASTE. The new cars blow ass chuncks. They litterally made the overhead bins smaller for no reason at all other than to change all the parts. I ride lots. What a waste. And the new overheads are fucken crap. Built like shit. Parts missing . Miss alligned. Broken. The cad lrc rebuild isnt its a fucken paint job. Cept they didnt use paint. Then made stickers. Look at the cars. They are wraps. Its not even paint. The original paint is still under their. The cars the ils did rebuild WHERE actually nice. Cept cad had swapped the interiors alresdy so u cant tell as a rider unless u knew which ones went. Via runs those cars into the ground. They run them with flat wheels. Low tolerance wheels. Truck Pinioin problems. Like bolster ride where is shakes side to side. Dampener problems its terrible. There had been atleast 3 rides where i was surprised the car didnt derail or hit a passing frieght. Especially in the cross over at speed between kingston and brockville we diced back to the 2 track and the car ossolated side to side by atleast 3-4 inches over normal travel banging and clanging (truck bolster) The wheel sets are run down ti what appears to be .75-1.25 of an inch. Honestly less the 1.5 on a passenger car scares me. Like common its peoples lives change the fucken wheels its not that expensive as a unit cost. Plus u get more on trade in based solely on extra weight. There is no cost measure anyone can say. As a .u5 wear on the low end of a wheel tolerance translates to a max of 3 extra wheel sets on the 25 year life of a car. Compared to normal change outs. 3 maybe 5 ... no excuse. They dont run the eurostar corridor sets. And the 4000/4100 sets arent running as frequently so there is no excuse for maintanence cycles. Its just simple. Gov. And corperations run by government cant do the job. Belleville where i live got a 15 million dollar 3 track station and now see's less frequency per day than when it was a single track platform. Via with the gov. Gave cn 1.5 billion dollars for access and trackage. They got 5 sections of 15 mile triple track and via trains are more delayed now than ever. I could fix it. And offer more services. Be real easy and i could eliminate the gov budget on via rail completely in less than 10 years. Guarenteed!! Id face a treason and hang mans noose and sign the papers stating as such. Telling ya. Its easy. And simple.

[@martindoyle831]

I dont disagree on the re engine part. Of the lrc. Tough yes. But my plan. Very viable and would save the money via wants of quick station turn around like mtl ottawa quebec city. Toronto. Where trains do depart back to original destinations. Via runs a turning program at all these locations. Bang. That would be done. Thats soooo expensive

[@danielfantino1714]

@@martindoyle831 from Google Earth view, the one on Sudbury was scrapped. Funny it had one or two (at least the rear one) B truck replaced by a C truck. Was supposed to be ship somewhere in Africa and deal fell through and was scrapped.

[@Tom8201]

Congrats!

[@SenecaRailhead]

Awesome video! Love the LRC series and this was awesome to watch! May I ask what the song is used in this vid?

[@mikeytrains1]

NS's Seneca Railhead The coaches VIA uses,for the P42s,are the LRC's coaches!

[@orion45]

What song is this?

[@NYSW3636]

Maybe this can come to the next streamliners event if there is one.

[@JBS319]

It finally FINALLY moved

[@ultimatehockeypool7917]

I love the lrc

[@hdtraincam]

amazing video

[@lailasalas]

WOW. TORONTO-MONTREAL RAPIDO staying alive. I would like to be the engineer of the special train. It could be so nice if a whole LRC trains is completed

[@jmream2618]

lailasalas what does LRC stand for

[@lailasalas]

IN CANADA where there the train saw service For ENGLISH Light Rapid Comfortable and FRENCH Leger, Rapide, Comfortable

[@cookode]

its 2017 and thank you

[@ICTSProductions]

Congrats! ...is 6917 still certified for 100mph operation?

[@manitobamodeler24]

Awesome

[@blackterminal]

I've never seen a LRC before. What operations did they use to do?

[@rapidotrains]

LRC locomotives were in service from 1981-2001. The LRC passenger cars are still in service in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor.

[@synthfreakify]

Great to see it start! Who owns it?

[@negevsareforpros9250]

TRHA (Toronto Railway Historical Assosiation)

[@msbonniejm]

Will this locomotive ever be shown to the general public or set for display?

[@RogerDiotte]

Hmmm Passenger VIA 6215 RDC wow...I remember working that up on CP in Chapleau Ontario back in 2000 era...What's his name ummm Anthony Dillon (RIP) was (it seemed) the Engineer all the time. I'm getting old and on with it I guess...

[@rapidotrains]

It's always nice to hear from the guys who ran the real things!

[@RogerDiotte]

@@rapidotrains Yea for sure.. A triple consist of them had to take the hole yesterday to let us pass as they piled their way to White River.. Lots of campers heading to their camps..

[@devvydoesstuff]

I never knew a via rail LRC and 2 Budd RDCs still exist I might be late though

[@rapidotrains]

They still exist. Have no worries.

[@ultimatehockeypool7917]

I saw a lrc move at a museum

[@Random.Channel_]

Yay

[@xCharjx]

What's the reputation on those LRC locos?

[@gotrainkid22]

Which yard is that?

[@rapidotrains]

VIA's Toronto Maintenance Centre

[@allanlacosse6630]

Any updates on the LRC?

[@Trainsbigandsmall]

How many LRC locomotives are left? Which numbers?

[@mark10788]

There is 6917 left, and 6921. I believe the rest were gone by 2008. Or maybe there are very few left. If there are, I have no idea what they are.

[@negevsareforpros9250]

+mark10788 I remember around 2007 or 2008 them having most LRC's left including the prototype blue and yellow one but by 2012 I'm sure most of them were gone.

[@martindoyle831]

+Negevs are for pros marine diesel out moncton way they had them on their web page way back. all been scrapped. they may still have some catier rs18s left. or parts. but sadly we like to cut shit up for bullshit instead of loving out traditions

[@negevsareforpros9250]

Martin Doyle true

[@alexpaumen3937]

There are 5 for sale by VIA literally. It's on their site right now. Located in Toronto sold as is where it is. Numbers are 6907, 6914 69??, 6919 (partially cannibalised for spares for 6917), and 6903.

[@JsetYT]

is the lrc a alco?

[@rapidotrains]

Built by Montreal Locomotive Works with an Alco 251 diesel prime mover.

[@JsetYT]

@@rapidotrains ok

[@Jonathan-Adames-402]

Smoke to much smoke

[@rapidotrains]

Is it? Or is it NOT ENOUGH smoke???

[@ferlenarab]

251 prime mover

[@MelioraCogito]

Oddly enough, it's now 2017 and ... did you get it out? Ah... that would be a *yes...* as I've seen your _Rapido LRC in Action_ video of Mar 19, 2015 - it was a rhetorical question. BTW, with the accuracy (and detail) of your digital CAD models which you no doubt send to your model manufacturer, why haven't you folks seriously offered your models as DLC for the various software train simulators out there? Seriously, what does it cost you to make a working digital copy of your CAD models that work on software train simulators? Not everyone has the room (or the financial means) to build their own model railroad, and software railroad simulators I would think would be a highly profitable line of business for you. Here's the reasoning: You've already created the CAD model for your HO scale model offerings (locomotives and rolling-stock). Turning those already digital models, with your detailed sound, liveries and locomotive operating characteristics, into train sim software DLC, poses very little overhead cost to you, unlike the overhead costs associated with manufacturing tangible metal/plastic HO scaled models. This doesn't mean you stop making HO scaled models - not at all. It simply means branching out and reaching the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of train sim users around the world. At 20$-40$ per DLC offering... you do the math. It's not rocket science.

[@rapidotrains]

Good idea, but we'd be concerned about making the designs of our trains so public. A digital model is easily copied.

[@alexmcface]

Electric bell sounds weird

[@rapidotrains]

Jason’s favourite, for some reason. 🤔

[@alexmcface]

@@rapidotrains wow I don’t even remember making this comment!

[@ultimatehockeypool7917]

Please ask to via rail to make the lrc run again and the rdc and f40ph

[@brucetharpe762]

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