VIA Rail Lake Superior (Budd Car) from White River to Sudbury - Apparently a Trip Report

[@davidmaclachlan]

Take this train all the time. Great crews. That was my truck and trailer in White River. We own Lodge Eighty Eight at Swanson. Thanks guys.

[@MilesinTransit]

Oh, awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@onthewater4020]

You know what's actually amazing about this? That Sudbury literally has better VIA Rail service than Vancouver - a city of MILLIONS.

[@YoungThos]

@@onthewater4020 But at least Vancouver has a bit of Amtrak service to complement it. Perhaps even more shocking is that Churchill, MB, Senneterre, QC and Prince Rupert, BC all have better VIA Rail service than Calgary

[@MilesinTransit]

I do love how Amtrak serves Vancouver significantly better than VIA does.

[@mats7492]

VIA-Rail, how shitty do you want to be? Via Rail: YES!

[@paulnewstead9693]

Miles and his gang need to come out to Vancouver to do a tour of adequate transit system.

[@mats7492]

@@paulnewstead9693 Being european i found their system.. well.. barely okay

[@johnpatterson4272]

Miles, you and your band of characters always breakdown the finite details of your experiences. You make it light-hearted and enjoyable, you do the stuff we wish we could/should have done in our younger years. You do realize you can go anywhere in Canada and see (and ride) vintage 1950s passenger trains. A and W burgers at 6am, there is nothing more Canadian than that.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you so much!

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

In the early 1880s, White River started as a workcamp along the Canadian Pacific Railway, then under construction, but grew into a town when this site was selected by William Van Horne as the railway's divisional point. The name Sudbury was selected by James Worthington, the superintendent of construction on the Northern Ontario segment of the railway, named after Sudbury, Suffolk, in England, which was the hometown of his wife Caroline Hitchcock. The city's official name was changed to Greater Sudbury in 2001, when it was amalgamated with its suburban towns into the current city. To go more into the story of Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne. Illustrator Ernest Howard Shepard in turn based his illustrations of Pooh on his own son's teddy bear named Growler, instead of Christopher Robin's bear. The rest of Christopher's toys, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger, were incorporated into Milne's stories (most of these toys are on display at the NY Public Library's Main Branch). Two more characters, Owl and Rabbit, were created by Milne's imagination, while Gopher was added to the Disney version. In 1921, Milne bought his son the toy bear from Harrods in London. Christopher initially had named his toy bear Edward, but then named him Winnie after the bear he saw mentioned here at the London Zoo, and Pooh, a friend's pet swan they had encountered while on holiday. The bear cub was purchased from a hunter for 20 Canadian dollars by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in White River while en route to the UK during the First World War. Colebourn, a veterinary officer with the Fort Garry Horse cavalry regiment, named the bear Winnie after his adopted hometown of Winnipeg. So Winnie is named after Colebourn's adopted hometown (Colebourn was originally born in Birmingham, UK and moved to Canada when he was 18). Winnie was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner and gained unofficial recognition as The Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. With the ATV, this train is the "Auto Train at home". Love the hilarious conductor, and the scenery is stunning! The rock formation at 24:33 is the Canadian Shield, which stretches north from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean, covering over half of Canada and most of Greenland. The RDC inspired several derivatives, including the unsuccessful Budd SPV-2000, though based on the body of an Amfleet. 31 SPV-200 cars were built, and they proved mechanically unreliable, though interestingly six of them made their way over to Morocco for use as then King Hassan II's royal train! The New York Central Railroad installed two jet engines (second-hand General Electric J47-19 jet engines originally used as boosters for the Convair B-36 Peacemaker intercontinental bomber) on an RDC in 1966 and called it the M-497 Black Beetle. The construct was then successfully sent on test runs over the existing tracks between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio. The line had been chosen for its arrow-straight layout and good condition, but otherwise unmodified track. On July 23, 1966, the car reached a speed of 183.68 mph (or 295.6 km/h)! Despite it being built relatively cheaply and its spectacular performance, it was not considered commercially viable and its valuable test data regarding the stresses of HSR on equipment and tracks in the US was ignored, as NYC of course merged with the Pennsy who focused on the Metroliners. M-497 continued to serve for Penn Central after the jet engines were removed until retirement by Conrail in 1977. The engines were re-used as X29493, an experimental snow blower.

[@emaglott]

Tldr but thank you!

[@elinoamrichter162]

can someone explain how supreme leader kim jong un is more familiar with north american history than most north americans

[@Watch_the_gap]

Man Miles, you make better Canadian content than many Canadians do!! I guess it truly takes an American(s) to appreciate the beauty here! Can't wait for your Toronto - Cochrane (via Timmins) Northlander train video!!!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much! Someday!

[@jeffwiseman3840]

That whole video was great fun! Your handling of the scenery along the trip was very well done, just lots of silence and allowing the scenery to speak for itself, a nice contrast to the quick cuts elsewhere in the video

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!

[@eyezak_m]

Wish I could have seen this, but sounds like I won't be able to get out there in time. But your video on this is just as good... probably (; . Thanks for this video! I'm in need for more Via Rail Adventure Routes videos

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much for the donation! Definitely more to come at some point, but not sure when!

[@stinkyroadhog1347]

Cars won't be retired for at least another 5 or so years. You do have some time before that happens

[@kieranstravels]

RDCs remind me of the little British Rail Class 153 Railcars that exist in droves still here from the 1980s. Really cool!

[@YoungThos]

The hits just keep on coming! Miles is basically an honorary citizen at this point 🇨🇦

[@stephenwilson9999]

Much to our chagrin.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Miles has genuinely explored more of Ontario than I have, and I was born and raised here.

[@evildemon11]

Love Jeremy

[@DouglasEdward84]

What an unexpected delight! Such an obscure but fascinating train. So glad you did this, one of your best videos ever.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you so much!!!

[@lindarobinson195]

Thank you for showing me the bud train. Back in May 1972 I took the one car only bud train to Camden nj then nj transit bus to high speed lindenwall train to phila. I walked alot and at the old reading station train home. Stopped at glassboro state college then back to vinel a nd not far from the bus stop you were at. Service stopped in Nov 1972. Service bud train stopped in ocean city and capemay about 1975. One of the train executives retired yours truly Evans w Robinson ret sgt

[@ClassyWhale]

Bro - this looks insanely beautiful, so glad you got to do it, and so glad we get to live vicariously through you. But next time you do something this epic, buy a GoPro. Trust me on this.

[@goldenstarmusic1689]

Seconded on the GoPro. Even something as simple as a Hero 3 can be had for like $30 and do 1080p video

[@aidanfirth1581]

What a fun video. One of your best!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much!

[@ashjarnicki8558]

lol honoured to have my jaywalking comment make a video Ontario Northland is a pretty good service as now the only bus service going through Northern Ontario. Also lived in Sudbury for a few years and always wanted to take this train but never got around to it, looks awesome.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Kasper Bus also operates in Northern Ontario

[@stormythelowcountrykitty7147]

OMG Miles is in the Sault!

[@Taitset]

What an awesome operation! I didn’t realise any RDCs were still in service, and really cool seeing all those little wayside stops.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

The funny part about the 1950's RDCs being retired soon is that the replacement coaches are even older, they're from 1947-1953.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much for watching!!

[@brianhubert8418]

What an amazing jouney. The BUDD RDC's are so cool. I've ridden in an RDC-3 on the Reading and Northern between North Reading, PA and Jim Thorpe, but's that a touist focused operation even with 60mph MAS in parts on CTC territory. It's wild to think these cars are still running in day to day service on this unique remote route in 2024. It's interesting to see them with the more modern Amtrak-style interiors juxtoposed inside the completely 1950s vibe of these cars. And the scenery at sunrise was also amazing too.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

"Oh no" boss music plays when an English speaker has to listen to French. Wow, Bob's Burgers, my favorite animated sitcom set in New Jersey! Electric Love is still a banger, and congrats to Bob for beating Jimmy Pesto...since Pesto's original voice actor was sentenced to prison for participating in Jan 6. Jeremy's laugh when he found Fart Bunny is infectious! That Wawa Circle K stop is truly the "We have Wawa at home". Wawa, Ontario takes its name from the Ojibwe word for "wild goose", just like the one in Pennsylvania. Hence why Wawa's mascot is a goose! I've eaten at the American version of A&W a few times, up at a location in Lake George, Upstate NY (the US version is the oldest extant chain in the country; founded in 1919). The Canadian A&W separated from the US-based company in 1972 thanks to Unilever, and then a group of Canadian franchisees took over in 1995. A&W stands for Allen & Wright. On June 20, 1919, Roy W. Allen opened his first root beer stand in Lodi, California (selling a glass of root beer for just a nickel). The first day was for a homecoming celebration of soldiers who returned from WWI. Allen then opened a second stand in Stockton, and his employee Frank Wright joined Allen in a partnership, thus the name A&W root beer in 1922. Due to the effect of prohibition, it gave Allen and his stand with a beverage with "beer" in the name a heavy rebound. In 1920, Allen and Frank Wright opened their first drive-in in Sacramento. In 1924, Allen purchased Frank Wright's stake in the business. RDCs have even made their way over to Cuba! In the 1950s, both major railway companies in Cuba purchased RDCs. The Consolidated Railways of Cuba (Ferrocarriles Consolidados de Cuba) ordered 11 RDC-1s and 5 RDC-2s in 1950. These operated either singly or in multiple units of up to three cars. The Western Railways of Cuba (Ferrocarriles Occidentales de Cuba) ordered four RDC-1s and six RDC-3s in 1956-57. 5 of the ones Cuba got were ex-Via Rail. 6109 and 6120 (both formerly CN Rail with 6109 purchased from Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad) also Canadian Pacific Railway 9049, 9055 and 9307 acquired from Canadian scrap dealer in 1998. After the Cuban Revolution, Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba was created as the only national railway. The cars remained in use well into the 1980s. At least one Cuban RDC-1 still existed in 2017, stripped of all mechanical components and serving as a passenger coach. After the visit of Étienne Brûlé (first European explorer to journey beyond the St. Lawrence River) in 1623, the French first called the Sault Ste. Marie area as Sault de Gaston in honor of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, the brother of France's King Louis XIII. In 1668, Jesuit missionaries renamed it as Sault Sainte-Marie, and established a mission settlement in what's now Michigan on the river's south bank. The Ojibwe on the other hand called it Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids". They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season. As the rapids and cascades descend more than 6 m from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes, this slowed shipping, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The American Soo Locks were eventually built in 1855 by the US Army Corps of Engineers, bypassing the rapids. It is the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Je suis anglophone et je n'entends aucun boss music

[@295g295]

> 12:12

[@michaelbruchas6663]

Thanks!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much, Michael!

[@HelloIAmJo]

A fresh Miles video, 29 minutes old, that I'll eat over a fresh loaf of handmade bread shaped like a pumpkin? Hell yeah.

[@MilesinTransit]

What! That bread sounds so damn good.

[@MilliBlom]

This is such a wonderful video for such a deeply cool service. It really makes me want to go experience it myself. I've always thought places where rail is the main type of access are just the coolest and most romantic things out there.

[@MilesinTransit]

Do it!!

[@RedBees-w4m]

Thanks for uploading a report on one of the regional VIA services! Great scenery, reminds me a lot of the views on the Canadian on this section of the route. I imagine it would be pretty amazing to have one of those lake cabins and just take the train to civilization whenever you need. I like how you mentioned the whole contrast with people 'living off the land' and the government funded train - imo a good society is one where things like that can exist in harmony.

[@grinoktonday759]

always wanted to see Canada's one road, thank you Miles

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

In 2016 when the Nipigon River Bridge was closed for structural issues, there was literally no road connection between eastern and western Canada. The only way to drive between them was to go through the U.S.

[@ck4426]

I absolutely love when you take transit to somewhere in the middle of the night and then walk around and then you get on a delightful train and share everything with us. Really loved this video and everything about it!!!!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!!

[@3catfirephotography374]

Damn, I really fell for it

[@mountainclawoutdoors]

Ha

[@Slime_Head]

Yay more Canada content

[@thesledgehammerblog]

Miles has enough CanCon now they could probably stick it on CBC.

[@MilesinTransit]

Honestly maybe...what's the rule again, 15%?

[@chibivesicle9612]

Loved the old TTC bus stock shout outs; definitely rode those when I lived in Toronto! I'm surprised that this was the first inter-city bus trip - I had assumed you'd taken GO bus from Toronto for a trip etc. GO bus is pretty sweet - or at least when I had to take it from Toronto to St. Catherines. I would wager a lot of those small 'houses' are actually cottages that people summer at and the train is one of the easier ways to get there.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

The bus from Toronto to St. Catharines (Route 12) is so frustratingly slow though - the express bus to Niagara doesn't stop in St. Catharines so you have to take the local bus that stops at a bunch of park-and-ride lots

[@MilesinTransit]

GO generally strikes me as being more commuter than intercity - but either way, I didn't make my first GO bus trip until last weekend!

[@nickgooderham2389]

Worked for a forestry company in this area for several years, many years ago. The plant that you saw was likely one of the sawmills in Chapleau. The town at 22:29 I believe is Biscotasing, known simply as Bisco by the locals. It's located on the Spanish River system with the main industry being fishing and hunting tourism. The town is accessed by a logging road that connects to another logging road that eventually reaches a highway (144). A cool place that not many people get a chance to see.

[@NotJustPlanes]

You guys NEED to visit Moosonee, Ontario - You need to take a train from Cochrane going north on Ontario Northland, it's called the Polar Bear Express

[@92xsaabaru-]

And across the river, or in the river, is the island of Moose Factory, Ontario

[@HoosierRallyMaster]

Or the train to Churchill in Manitoba - even further north on Hudson Bay

[@295g295]

@@NotJustPlanes That Polar Bear train had used T-E-E railcars from about 1977 in Europe?

[@cloudhands]

Been itching to do the moosonee trip for years

[@trainman1971]

I just made this trip myself back in July, but did the round trip from Sudbury to White River, overnighted there, and then back to Sudbury the next day. It was an amazing experience! Ended up about an hour and 50 minutes late arriving White River. The next morning, departure was 18 minutes early, as I was the only person on the manifest to board at White River the next morning, so we departed as soon as I boarded. Aside from a supply and trash pickup stop at a remote camp about 45 minutes out, it was nonstop to Chapleau, where arrival was an hour and 10 minutes early. When the one person on the manifest arrived to board, it was on the move early again, by about 20 minutes. When all was said and done, arrival in Sudbury was 55 minutes early (and there is padding in the times between Sudbury and the preceding stop. Had me laughing playing the recording of SEPTA locations at the station in White River....

[@MilesinTransit]

Wow, that trip back sounds crazy! Did you get to step out at Chapleau for a bit?

[@trainman1971]

@@MilesinTransit I did indeed. Got some video shots of the train, as well as the steam locomotive and caboose there. On the trip west the day prior, I was permitted to detrain while we were stopped in a siding to await passage of two freight trains; I videoed the meet with the first train from the ground. Now that's something I'd never get to do on even a regular VIA run, or anywhere else...

[@92xsaabaru-]

This is the first video Ive found that actually mentions the noise, or lack of, from the engines inside the train. Ive been wondering about that a long time.

[@johnbridgman4310]

This has to be my favorite train. Apart from the equipment, the staff is wonderful, and they stop pretty much anywhere. You can leave your guns, ATVs and your deer/moose etc... in the baggage car and know they'll be there when you come back.

[@trainparty2012]

Awesome video! You caught a coworkers van at Chapleau there. A 90's chevy Lumina

[@MilesinTransit]

Whoa, that's awesome! Thanks so much!

[@dawnutstein811]

That was the nicest (and funny) train conductor I've ever seen. Kudos to him.

[@jordan9435]

I remember when you said that you’d be doing this trip while on a live stream! I’m glad you guys got to check it out! I’ve spent plenty of nights in White River on my way out west in my car hahah!

[@ianweniger6620]

This is the furthest north "transit" video you've ever done. I thought you were pushing it with that ferry on Lake Michigan but this takes the cake. And yet I have always wanted to take this train!

[@emaglott]

I just love how you edit what must be soooo much video into this excellent and concise storytelling!

[@MilesinTransit]

Aw, thank you!!

[@baksidesteez]

definitely agree with everyone in the comments, fantastic video and one of my favorites you've done

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you so much!

[@baksidesteez]

@@MilesinTransit yw :)

[@GlacierTek]

Really great to see the positive reviews of Ontario Northland! They really stepped up to fill those crucial routes from Winnipeg to Ottawa when Greyhound Canada collapsed, and it's nice to see that they offer a pretty good passenger experience and they're continuing to expand (Northlander on track to return in the next few years!).

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Yeah it's pretty cool that I can travel 2000 kilometres from my house in Ottawa all the way to Winnipeg, entirely on Ontario Northland, and it's even timed transfers all the way

[@haroldsmith45302]

Thank you for this video. You suffer so that we don't need to. I hope you saw some autumn colours on the rail trip. And had some water and food with you.

[@ainsleyhogan6015]

Dang, what a cool trip.

[@taichanie]

Glad to see after not living in Sudbury for over 10 years... nothing has changed. Also love how somehow Sudbury has two train stations. Since that's not the one the Canadian stops at.

[@stanpatterson5033]

I wanted to take the Canadian to Sudbury, take local transit across town (get a hotel for the night) and catch the train from the CP station and do Sudb to WR, then back the day after. Sadly, Scuzzbury transit doesn't have buses anywhere close to the station where the Canadian train stops, so you would have to have a cell phone and call a taxi. I'm reconsidering doing such a trip. Probably just take my car to Sudbury and try to find a safe place to park it.

[@HelloIAmJo]

I love Jeremy videos :)

[@KokimoKandle]

I've been trying to take this train again but I haven't had time for it, unfortunately. I took it back in like... 2007? I was working in the middle of nowhere and decided to use the train to get home on my break. I bought my ticket online and just stood at the edge of the track in Missanabie. Easily one of the most memorable train rides I've taken. Everyone was telling me it can be a real party train sometimes. Also, I'm glad to see my sticker on the White River train station is holding up lmao

[@MilesinTransit]

Oh whoa, which sticker was yours??

[@KokimoKandle]

@MilesinTransit it was a pirate flag with a pi symbol on it lol I slapped it on the foundation next to the bench at the train station. I'm honestly surprised it held up.

[@MilesinTransit]

@@KokimoKandle Incredible! It's closing in on 20 years!

[@Aqwerty314]

My favorite fun fact I haven't seen here yet - Sudbury is Alex Trebek's hometown!

[@MilesinTransit]

Oooh now that is a fun fact!

[@history_leisure]

This crew really puts a lot of heart into putting in a good experience despite the woes of the corridor services (and probably the LD ones too). I wonder if its a good representation of the other Adventure Routes

[@Spanderson99]

I’ve never been on the Corridor, but the rural Via guys are mostly just in it for the love of the game. Too bad the rest of the company couldn’t care less about running a railroad! The guys on the ground have to step up so that the work gets done.😊

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

From my experience riding the Corridor very frequently, most of Via's staff there are excellent. The problem is that the management and policies are horrible. The front-line employees make the best with the crappy situation they're given

[@johnlinn]

Alaska rail is great at the flag stop service. People go into Anchorage from nowhere, hit Costco, drop $20,000 on winter supplies and t.he train the them back

[@davidbarts6144]

22 years ago I rode VIA from Toronto to Vancouver and really enjoyed crossing the Canadian Shield. That train made flag stops in remote areas without road service, too.

[@Weslovestone]

LETS GOOOOO YES

[@TheBadCivilServant]

My favorite unit of Canadian dollarettes was the thousand. The queen looked good in purple.

[@raymondmuench3266]

Purple, like London’s Elizabeth line. Coincidence? Pensiamo di no!

[@trainboy1979]

The lack of traffic at whatever time of morning it was is kinda normal, but something else to keep in mind, there are two Trans Canada routes in that part of Ontario, and I think a lot of the trucks go the other way as there are less towns and slower speeds.

[@MilesinTransit]

Ah, good point!

[@darickymeister]

Welcome to Sudbury. My home town.

[@ReelBigMike]

16:42 "This is majestic" 'This is very majesti-NOW IT'S TIME FOR A BATHROOM REVIEW!...woo.'

[@drdewott9154]

Railcars my beloved. Up in the Nordics theyve been a stable of operations on the railways since the 1930's. I know DSB, the Danish state railways in the 1930's started introducing a big railcar a lot like the RDC called the MO class. These kept getting built until 1962 and were kept in service until 1984! They were the backbone of branch lines, and evens served on some express trains in their early years until the late 50's. One of those with a standard cab car or other carriages behind it were such a sight back then. But they required a lot of manpower. Some places like Sweden and Finland, as well as independent lines in Denmark went for tiny railbuses instead. Same idea just lighter, smaller, more fuel efficient, and less manpower. Sweden didn't get big railcars until the 1980's and some are still around but most got sold to ex-Yugoslavia countries and also Uruquay for some reason. My local heritage society actually has 3 different railcars/buses. One from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway respectively. The Norwegian type 86 railcar oozing with Budd vibes. Those lines they used to operate on in Norway are also just super similar to this. Just with more mountains in the overall landscape but same kind of laid back oddjob operations on those lesser used lines.

[@useless2764]

things I knew about and genuinely forgot about: that ex ttc bus that the sault bought a while ago

[@PiercyReviews-vs9kv]

Underrated

[@paulw.woodring7304]

Thanks for doing this so we don't have to. I am a longtime RDC fan as well, although I've only gotten to ride on them a few times, both here and in Canada. The "baggage" RDC on that train was converted from a Railway Post Office/Baggage RDC-3. There was a RDC-4 all-baggage unit available, of which 14 were built. It does not look like any survived. I think I will satisfy my RDC Jones someday with an excursion on the Reading and Northern set, which doesn't require as much adventure to get to. You really need to talk at least a little about the Canadian Shield and how this geographic feature renders much of the region unsuitable for just about anything other than wilderness, forestry and mining. This also extends into much of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan as well. I recommend "Budd Car, The RDC Story", by Chuck Crouse (The Weekend Chief Publishing Co., 1990) as a resource for information on the history of Budd RDCs.

[@emaglott]

So all 3 cars of this consist have diesel power?

[@paulw.woodring7304]

@@emaglott Yes, RDCs have two Diesel bus engines, one for each truck, and only have enough power to move themselves, not tow a trailer. They are a direct transmission drive unit, but are MU-able.

[@Transitguy4124]

Jeremy! Glad he's back

[@BoBandits]

21:00 was hilarious!

[@ToniBabelony]

ok this is really good stuff here

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks!

[@cullenanderson173]

Haven’t heard that theme song in too long, I had to replay it twice. It’s just so snappy and fun.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!

[@BlacqueJacqueShellacque_]

Cool trip. Northern Ontario is amazing. Sudbury is a cool town too.

[@JohnLumagui]

Man, what a ridiculously scenic route! I started humming Gordon Lightfoot songs while watching it!

[@jeffwiseman3840]

Yeah! Miles, you should re-edit this and feature some of Gordon Lightfoot’s Canadian railroad trilogy as a backing track.

[@scunekt]

The scenery along this line is absolutely *gorgeous*, wow. Love me some good "complete middle of nowhere" vibes. The seemingly random stops with nothing even resembling any sort of civilization and the occasional and rare crossings of literal dirt roads are so neat. Reminds me of visiting the UP, you don't have to go far at all to be completely surrounded by *nothing*. My visits to the UP never had a sweet train ride though.. Also, never thought I'd ever see an ATV hitching a ride on a train, that's wild

[@lauscho]

Northern Ontario is FULL of those vibes. It's why I proudly live here and plan to remain forever!

[@gdrriley420]

The longest normally scheduled run of the RDC was 925 miles between Oakland and Salt Lake City taking almost 24 on WP called Zephyette. The single cars were used mostly by employees to reach remote segments of the line with little to no road access.

[@MilesinTransit]

Absolutely insane! You'd need a lot of snacks to take that all the way...

[@nicholasthompson7690]

Awesome! Looks like fun!

[@frontier_etc]

What an epic adventure. More of these please

[@saz_donned5214]

Yeahhhhh another Canada video!!!

[@flerphead]

Eyyy it's the dynamic duo. Let's gooo.

[@sticknoise23]

Congrats! you survived the Sault Ste. Marie bus station. I moved from there a few months, couldn't wait to escape... I lived down the street from the Ontario Northland Stop. The Motel 6 used to be a Howard Johnson. Did you see the anatomically correct cows at the ice cream shop?

[@MilesinTransit]

No, we didn't!

[@1ironneck]

You guys were in my hometown

[@reilandeubank]

Jeremy is a very welcome sight back

[@michaelbruchas6663]

Glad that you took this trip! Many years ago, some VIA RDC consists still had the area for a snack bar/diner - but the stopped that service and kept the cars untouched.😢 YOU GUYS NEEDED A CANADIAN MAP for this Trip Report.

[@295g295]

> 26:26

[@lauscho]

I live in Sudbury (pronounced "sud-ber-ee" by the locals, not "sud-berry")! Never took the Budd Car though. And yes, Northern Ontario is VERY pretty. It's why I'm proud to live here! 24:36 Highway 144! The main highway between Sudbury and Timmins, and the crossing is at Bannerman Creek, just south of Onaping Lake, where my grandparents built a cottage in the 1960s! 24:45 I had a couple friends I went to high school with that lived in Cartier :D 25:01 Chelmsford is the town I live in. I'm just down the road from that rail crossing! No station but it is a flag stop. Theoretically, I could hop on the Budd Car and take it to work! (edit: technically the stop for the Budd Car is closer to my place of work than my transit stop on GOVA is) 25:20 I get to see the same views from my bus ride to work :P Speaking of which, you might be inspiring me to see how far on GOVA I can go in a day. It's a HUGE transit network, distance-wise. Unless you got to it before me! 26:04 There is another station in Sudbury, on the OTHER rail line through it (I can never remember which is CN or CP but it's the one that isn't this one) that serves the cross-country Canadian VIA train. The downtown station ONLY serves the Budd Car, sadly. The other station, Sudbury Junction, is at the end of a road after a long industrial district and far from any of Sudbury's residential or commercial centers and far from the nearest local transit stop! Ha! Classic Sudbury! And I hope the homeless didn't accost you TOO much near Memorial Park. Sudbury is not exactly the prettiest downtown when it comes to some of its more crippling social problems but HEY that's SUDBURY hey hey! 29:04 I spend WAY too much of my day here. And based on the time, there's a very small chance we bumped into one another! 30:00 Kingsway and Barrydowne IS crazy. Especially if you're driving through it. And now I will forever refer to the ramps as "sliplanes of DOOM"

[@lauscho]

This is such a great video and I can't wait to share it with all my friends. I hope you enjoyed your time in Sudbury! I really enjoyed this video. :D

[@lauscho]

FUN FACT: Sudbury's transit system recently underwent a major revamp a few years ago, and changed its name from "Greater Sudbury Transit" to "GOVA" which is derived from both the English word "go" and the French translation of go, "va". AND THAT IS A FUN FACT.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much for watching, sharing, and the fun facts!!!

[@cstrutherskgs]

We saw how you got to the train station, but how did you get to Sault Ste. Marie? 🤔

[@debestcanadian]

Came here to ask this exact question

[@bkark0935]

He probably crossed in from Michigan? Most likely took a Greyhound (or whichever coach bus firm took over for them) from Chicago or Detroit? I’m sure he’ll let us know…it’s probably another video.

[@MilesinTransit]

We flew Porter! It might be a video, we did film the trip!

[@cstrutherskgs]

@@MilesinTransit 👍

[@terielrand8344]

EPIC! Budd RDC! and they flag stop for the ATV. Love it!

[@bobsykes]

Amazing video!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!

[@commercialcritic4676]

you guys are nuts! sweet!

[@JimbobsTransportVideos]

3:10 hello train people, due to a POOR BID the train starts here

[@GWVillager]

What an amazing little line! It’ll be sad to see the RTCs go, but hopefully using regular stock will get rid of the excuses not to run a more frequent service!

[@JonFromRhodeIsland]

Pro tip: egg salad is the safest convenience store sandwich. It’s never worse than just OK.

[@bkark0935]

Completely disagree, a turkey sandwich is way safer. Egg salad (as delicious as it is) regularly runs the risk of it being unpalatably off, taste wise!

[@JonFromRhodeIsland]

@@bkark0935 I’ve had some F tier turkey sandwiches but never less than a C tier egg salad.

[@irtbmtind89]

The Canadian also allows flag stops anywhere in Northern Ontario (defined as between Winnipeg and Washago), as do (and did) most Canadian long distance passenger trains in "remote" areas. There was even stock footage of this in a lot of the obligatory late night "patriotic" national anthem montages when TV stations used to sign off for the night (kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKPWp5agnbZggcU ). The reason why this specific train even exists was to maintain service to remote areas that otherwise would have lost it when the Canadian was moved off the CP route in 1990.

[@benjaminwagner8141]

earliest i've watched a video

[@justinwiley2072]

Love the Budd cars! Super cool - thanks for the apparent trip report. How fast did the train get going? Is there any contemporary Budd-esque equipment out there in the market? I have often thought they make so much sense for the smaller routes where a full-size train isn't needed. Do they economically make sense?

[@sgt.eclair]

Closest thing would probably be the Siemens and Stadler EMUs - lots of regional and other smaller services use them. There's also some similar things in Australia, here's some wikipedia articles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadler_Regio-Shuttle_RS1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Endeavour_railcar en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Sharyo_DMU en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_Desiro

[@OntarioTrafficManClips]

According to the video the train reached 75 mph (121 km/h). The speed limit is 80 mph (129 km/h)

[@MilesinTransit]

Although we weren't in the 70s for most of it - a lot of the line was closer to 40-50!

[@tdvandy2]

Very cool ride! Thanks, guys! How did you get back?

[@MilesinTransit]

Ontario Northland from Sudbury to Toronto, then the Maple Leaf train back to New York!

[@budw.8362]

You probably know this, but The Reading and Northern in Pennsylvania operates Buddy cars as a kinda tourist thing on weekends among small towns around Reading, Jim Thorpe and other points. It's really fun and definitely worth some videos! Great job as always!

[@MilesinTransit]

Yes, that trip sounds great!

[@RealCrimsonPeach_TSFTWDTFTL]

I had no idea there were any Budd RDC cars left in service, and I gotta say, they look really nice, especially for this route. You should check out VIA Rail's other three scenic adventure routes sometime in the future if you ever get the chance. And I've always liked Winnie The Pooh, especially when I was little. I definitely wouldn't recommend walking around such a small village in the middle of nowhere at 2AM, though. You guys are right about everything looking creepy, but I'm glad there were no jumpscares in this video. I also binge watched your Great Races, and I very much enjoyed them. They were very fun and inspiring to watch, and they seem like a very fun thing to do. Not gonna lie, though, Jordan was always quite hilarious in those videos! Humor aside, I've been wondering if there will be another Great Race, and if so, I hope the next one does happen sometime in the near future. Anyway, I always enjoy your content and look forward to seeing more of it being uploaded. Keep up the great work!

[@MilesinTransit]

There will be one someday, but not anytime soon. The economics of Great Races don't pencil out aside from adding new Patreon subscribers (they get fewer views than other videos), so I want to wait until the subscriber base is larger.

[@stanpatterson5033]

The only thing to be worried about in THIS small village in the middle of nowhere at 2AM, would be hungry wildlife wandering around in search of a meal. Which may conveniently also answer the riddle of why creepy music was being played in the middle of the night. It might deter the more skittish animals from wandering in town.

[@ryan-ltt]

I believe the rock formation at 24:32 is the Canadian Shield (?)

[@YoungThos]

Yes, very solidly in Canadian Shield country - famous for having lots of mines in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. In Sudbury it is (was?) the Inco nickel mine

[@andre-cmyk]

ah this makes me very happy. probably gonna record my trip to rio because of this video. your channel is always such a joy to watch but the trip reports are the best!

[@MilesinTransit]

Do it! Thanks so much, man!

[@phronsiekeys]

This was incredible. I can't wait to watch the other videos you recommended.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much!

[@jfmezei]

For a more expansive experience of the service, I recommend this video, it is 3 hours long, but provides more in depth stories of who travels rthe train and all its quirks at various points along the line. It was provided by TVO. (lots of nice drone footage as well). Immersive railway POV through Canadian Shield in 4K | TRIPPING Train 185 (2023) | TVO Original (you can look for TVO Tripping Train 185 and it will find it). (not diminishing your video which as its own value, but this complements it).

[@MilesinTransit]

Oh cool! Unfortunately TVO blocks its videos to people in the US but I'm sure it's great!

[@judyschultheis]

Such a neat video; thanks so much for sharing this!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@bilbojenkins5276]

Come out to NV, guys! We can walk down a state highway for literal hours and never see another car! Also, where I grew up near Willits, CA is the Skunk Train. It's mostly just a tourist train, but there are legit towns in the middle of the woods without road access and the train is their only lifeline or way in or out. I think they still run a steam engine on the weekends, and it's some of the densest CA forest you'll ever see - really a beautiful trip!

[@davidsummers6700]

Jeez, zero comment about how you two stayed in room 420. 420 is the best number.

[@MilesinTransit]

There's a reason I said "light it up, baby" as we were approaching the room!

[@koga115]

Hey Miles! Great video as always! Wanted to say, but Jay Walking is legal in NYC now

[@AmonSadler-kq8rk]

Please say you livestreamed this, this is so magnificently stunning!

[@MilesinTransit]

Unfortunately not (I generally don't livestream things I'm turning into videos), but someone commented that TVO has a 3-hour video of the trip if you're in Canada!

[@meltingtomato]

7:00 Man, you guys stumbled on one of the few A&W in Canada that isn’t open 24/7.

[@NealForAmbassador]

Canada loves you 💖🍁

[@MilesinTransit]

I love Canada 💖🍁

[@joermnyc]

Just saw a news story: NJ transit will start rolling out new multi-level cars next year, to finally get rid of a bunch of old single level cars.