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Caption: Seeing some recent photos posted of Waterloo Central's RDC-9 (WCR 6006) in service reminded me of an earlier encounter with the same car:
Wandering around CP's North Toronto Sub with a friend, the usual CP #T56 transfer to West Toronto put in an appearance at Davenport Diamond. By surprise, it had this random ex-VIA RDC-9 buried in its train, DAWX 6006, which we later found out was heading to the Orangeville-Brampton Railway. It's pictured just about to slam the Davenport Diamond with CN's Newmarket Sub, marshalled between two hoppers for forwarding.
The origins of this car can be traced to the Boston & Maine Railroad, the only owner of the RDC-9 model (30 cars were built by Budd for the B&M in 1956 as full coaches, with no end cabs or controls, and only one engine - essentially a trail-only RDC). Numbered 6925, it and six other RDC-9 cars were sold to Canadian National in 1965 (as CN D506/6006), changing hands to VIA Rail in the late 70's. It continued in service into the mid-1980's before being retired and later sold to a Quebec area railway equipment dealer (the ownership details are a bit mirky, but they eventually came under ownership of dealer David A. Walmseley (DAWX)). Most of the cars were dispersed years later, and 6006 went to OBRY in Orangeville to join the small collection of passenger cars on the Credit Valley Explorer. It was put into service as a non-powered coach a number of years after sitting stored in Orangeville. When the CVE disbanded at the end of Cando Contracting operations on the OBRY, the passenger cars were sold off. 6006 and some other cars were all sold to the Waterloo Central Railway.
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Wow. Neat to see. By 2011 the unit had been cleaned up and stripped of its VIA paint, receiving a fresh coat of grey on the ends and the ‘early’ Credit Valley Explorer logo on its platform-facing flanks. Over the course of its residency in Orangeville (to 2018) I don’t think I ever saw it move. Are there photos here of it in service on the tour train?
I remember at one time hearing it was used for backup moves on the CVE as the rear car, and there’s photos of it in 2011 outfitted with a set of ditch lights on one end, and later photos show only a single ditchlight-style headlight mounted on the roof mount, but I can’t find photos of it on the CVE to confirm if it was actually used like that, or as a coach, if at all. Maybe someone like Steve Bradley knows?
I have photos of it in 2014 with what looks like a temporary single headlight mounted on the door at the north end of the unit, with the window in the door uncovered. Previous to this the window had been covered with plywood. As for backup moves, perhaps the headlight was used when Cando ran “Santa Trains” out of Inglewood. I never saw these trains but believe they only ran a relatively short distance northward from the village over multiple trips. I have no idea if, at the end of the day, they ran down to Snelgrove to run around the train before heading back to Orangeville.
Although you’re close to 20 years apart…I think this would make a great time machine photo. The history is there, and it’s been shot in two different locations cementing the aforementioned history.
My notes related to the Santa Trains start in 2008. I have no idea if they ran before then or what year, exactly, they ceased. In 2008, they were planned to run from both Inglewood (three dates in Nov) and Orangeville (three dates in Dec). On 20 Dec 2008, CCGX 4009 led three coaches — but not the RDC-9 — from Orangeville down to the Osprey Valley Golf Course in Alton, and then returned northward in “push mode”. The trailing coach sported the temporary headlight on its rear door.