LRC (train)
Encyclopedia
LRC is a bilingual acronym for Light, Rapid, Comfortable or Léger, Rapide, et Confortable, the name of a series of lightweight diesel-powered passenger trains that were used on short- to medium-distance inter-city service in the Canadian Provinces of Ontario
and Quebec
. The LRC family includes both locomotives and passenger carriages designed to work together, though the two can be, and now are, used separately.
LRC was designed to run with power cars at both ends and provide 125 mph (201 km/h) service on non-upgraded railway routes. LRCs have reached speeds as high as 130 mph (209 km/h) on test runs. To accomplish this, the LRC passenger cars feature active-tilt
technology to reduce the forces on the passengers when a train travels at high speeds around a curve in the railway tracks.
However, during development the locomotive weights increased to the point that service at this speed would produce too much wear on the rails. On its only regular service route, on the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, wear concerns, signalling issues and conflicts with heavy slower moving freight trains limit this to 100 mph (161 km/h) or less. Nevertheless, special signage allows the LRC to run at higher speeds than normal traffic when the tilt system is enabled.
Although the last LRC locomotive was removed from service on 12 December 2001, the passenger cars are still in widespread use and form the backbone of Via Rail
's services. The same basic car forms the basis of the Acela Express
in the U.S., and the tilt mechanism was adapted for use in the more recent design British Class 221
.
, which is proportional to the square of the speed and inversely proportional to the radius. Even a small amount of force, acting across the length of the human body, creates a moment
that can make moving about difficult; and, in the case of railway vehicles, also leads to wear of the outer rail. This force was not an issue on early railways where the speed was low, but gained importance as line speeds increased and the radius of curvature became tighter. Centrifugal forces are not normally an issue in a car because the occupants are seated, nor in an aircraft
where the fuselage is tilted so the centrifugal force passes through the line of the floor. It is primarily a problem in high-speed trains, where passengers and attendants often walk about while the train is moving.
One solution is to place speed restrictions on curved sections of track; and another is to bank the railbed on the curve, with the outer rail higher than the inner rail so the net force passes straight through the floor of the coach. Banking the track is known as "cant
" or superelevation. These measures were gradually adopted on the railways between 1835 and 1860. The use of track cant can only be applied where the speed of the train is fixed in advance. Slower, or stationary, traffic sharing the same line will experience forces pulling inwards, and, conversely, faster traffic will experience forces pulling outwards. Long experience has shown that, to avoid discomfort on slower trains, track cant should not exceed 6°; and, for trains moving more quickly, cant deficiency
should not exceed 4.5°.
Dedicated high speed railway lines were being constructed in Japan
in the 1960s, and France
and other European nations were planning to introduce their own in the 1970s. These new railway corridors took advantage of long straight sections of track and gentle curves of long radii, with track canting and gradual transition curves, to facilitate high speed running, and had dedicated track signalling systems for high speed trains, which generally have longer braking distance
s and needed longer signalling blocks lengths. In the case of the Japanese Shinkansen
, the track was standard gauge
, whilethe rest of the network was ; it was designed for 210 kilometre per hour running, track curves had minimum radius of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) and the required braking distance at 193 kilometre per hour was 5.3 kilometres (3.3 mi).
, but this system was "passive" and took some time to respond to curves. A great improvement can be had by making the system "active", reading the forces on the cars and quickly rotating them to the proper angle using hydraulic ram
s. British Rail
ran an extensive experimental program on active tilt systems in the 1960s that was highly influential, and followed these studies in the 1970s with a new tilting train design, the Advanced Passenger Train
(APT), consisting of an experimental APT-E and three prototype APT-Ps. The technical design objectives for the APT included: maximum speed 50% higher than existing trains, curving speeds 40% higher than existing trains, to run on existing tracks within the limits of existing signals, efficient energy consumption, passenger comfort, and similar "cost per seat" to existing trains.
While tilting reduces the problem for the passengers, it does not change the forces on the rails. A train going around a bend at high speed rides up onto the rails, and if the flanges on the inside of the wheels contact the rails they cause considerable wear. Eliminating this effect is difficult, but it can be reduced by lowering the weight of the locomotive, or eliminating the locomotive entirely and distributing the motive power throughout the train. APT took the former route, and originally (in the APT-E) used gas turbine
power. Gas tubines have an excellent power-to-weight ratio
, perhaps ten times that of a conventional diesel engine
, with the downside that they use considerably more fuel at idle. This was not a concern when the APT was first being designed, but after the 1973 oil crisis
they quickly changed to an electrically powered design, even lighter but requiring the lines to be electrified. As a result, only the West Coast Main Line
from London to Glasgow Central Station
used the APT-Ps.
to Montreal
that carries the bulk of the Corridor passenger numbers (about 2/3). The owners of the lines, CN Rail (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway
(CP), saw little utility in either electrification or cant; the freight services on the lines were based on diesel locomotives running at low speeds that did not want any cant in the roadbed.
The TurboTrain, or simply "Turbo" as CN preferred, was CN's first attempt to provide higher speeds along the Corridor. Designed in the early 1960s by Sikorsky Aircraft
, the TurboTrain used a licensed version of Talgo's passive tilt system and a new turbine-powered locomotive to address the problems of high-speed travel on the existing lines. The CN trainsets were built in Canada by a consortium of Dofasco
for the bogies and suspension system, Alcan
for the car bodies, and Montreal Locomotive Works
(MLW) for the engines and power systems. All three companies gained valuable experience with modern passenger train design as a result of the project.
CN was attempting to bring the new trains into service for Expo 67
, and rushed the testing period to meet this goal. Initial service was plagued with problems, and they were quickly withdrawn from service for refitting. The Turbos were just being re-introduced in 1969 when CN and CP Rail formally requested that they be allowed to drop all passenger service. In the few years since the Turbo project started, cars became much more widespread and the highways along the same route had greatly improved. Passenger numbers on rail were plummeting, quickly rendering it unprofitable. The government considered rail access to be an essential service, and refused to allow CN, then still a Crown Corporation, to drop the service. Instead, they arranged the National Transportation Act that agreed to pay 80% of any losses. This meant the railways were still losing money, just less of it, so they made little to no investment in rolling stock into the 1970s.
The Turbo project went ahead, resulting in a split within CN between the executives who believed the Turbo would reinvigorate passenger services, and those who continued to push for it to be dropped entirely. In service the Turbo had practical problems as well; although it was fast, routinely hitting 100 mph, its articulated design meant it was very difficult to change train lengths. This made it somewhat impractical as it was not possible to change the number of coaches based on demand. Additionally, if there was a problem with one of the cars, the entire train had to be taken out of service. The trains also suffered from a wide array of reliability problems when they were first introduced. Throughout, it was the subject of differences of opinions on the part of CN's management.
The locomotive was based on the ALCO 16-251F
prime mover
rated at 3750 bhp at 1050 rpm. This was the only suitable engine already being built at MLM; it was a relatively old design and the LRC would prove to be its last use in North America. In order to keep the train as a whole as streamlined as possible, the loco body was wrapped very tightly around the engine, at the same height as the cars. The resulting design was quite small even by modern standards, several feet shorter than the GE Genesis
that replaced them in Via service for instance, and thousands of pounds lighter. The light weight and low wind resistance would allow higher speeds while using less power, improving fuel efficiency.
In spite of the older engine design, the LRC was a great advance in the state of the art over the Turbo in every way, offering a smoother ride, at the same or faster speeds, and with lower capital and operational costs. In January 1967, the two companies approached Dofasco and MLW about the possibility of a new joint venture to develop the design. In December, the group presented their design to Transport Canada
, and in January another presentation was made to the Department of International Trade and Commerce to gain funding. The Canadian government's Transportation Development Centre (TDC) outside of Montreal agreed to provide development funding for the technology under the Program for the Advancement of Industrial Technology (PAIT). The effort found strong support within the government. The Canadian Transport Commission studied the problem of offering Corridor service and concluded that "the most profitable strategy to adopt involves maximizing the potential of existing railway facilities through the introduction of new vehicle technology."
, won the majority of the bogie development contracts. They developed a system that consisted of two parts, a bogie and suspension on the bottom, and a separate tilting mechanism on top.
The suspension consisted of several parts. Between the axle and the bogie frame was a series of C-shaped steel leaf spring
s stacked inside each other for the basic suspension, with rubber sheets between the leaves providing some shock absorption. A second set of softer springs on top of the bogie provided finer ride quality. Four sets of shock absorber
s completed the suspension.
The tilt mechanism was developed by SPAR Aerospace
and Sperry Rand Canada. The car body rode on rollers fitted into two U-shaped arms at the front and back of each bogie. Hydraulic rams moved the car from side to side along these arms, tilting it up to 8.5 degrees. This made the bottom of the coach slide sideways while it rotated, so that the axis of motion was in the middle of the car body, instead of the top (like the Turbo) or bottom (like most tilt systems). This reduced the feeling of motion on the passengers by keeping the rotation close to their center of gravity
, and reduced loads to 0.5 gee. Each bogie was equipped with its own accelerometer and operated as a completely self-contained unit.
The companies had predicted that development of the prototype would cost $2.48 million, and the government provided half of that under the PAIT agreements. The project overran the budget by $77,000, which the companies supplied out-of-pocket. The prototype coach was completed in 1971 and started testing with conventional locomotives. By the summer of 1972, it had seen 5000 miles (8,047 km) of service, and a few relatively minor problems cropped up. Issues with the tilting mechanism were studied by a group at SPAR and McMaster University
, and several fixes incorporated into the design. By that point the prototype locomotive was 85% complete.
During this period, CN executives started expressing concerns about the cost of the equipment, while their engineers stated a preference for electrically powered tilting in place of the hydraulic system. Dofasco stated that such a change would be impractical, upsetting CN. In response, CN requested a series of additional tests, delaying their decision on ordering the design. This was also likely a response to the problems encountered on the Turbo, which had been rushed into service for Expo '67 before rigorous testing had worked out its problems.
With the PAIT funds exhausted in 1972 and the launch customer delaying its orders, the project went into a lengthy hiatus period where little progress was made. In order to continue testing without an order from CN, the consortium was forced to turn to the TDC for additional funds. It was not until July 1973 that an additional $460,000 was released to finish the locomotive and start testing. A four-phase program was envisioned to bring the LRC to production. The first two phases would have the coach running on normal mainline service through April 1973 as part of Phase 1, and runs at higher speeds in Phase 2 through to July 1974.
Testing was further delayed due to a railway strike in Canada, which led the consortium to explore moving the high-speed tests to the U.S.'s facility in Pueblo, Colorado
. Although a deal was arranged in January 1974, testing continued in Canada. Later that year the consortium learned that the U.S. was considering foreign designs for service with Amtrak, so the contract was revived and the LRC prototype was sent for a six-week period starting in November 1974. The tracks it ran on included butted and welded rail, concrete and wooden ties, and was originally designed to test low-speed urban transport designs at speeds up to 80 mph. During the testing the train covered 35000 km (21,748 mi) at speeds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph), and routinely took corners designed for 65 mph at 105 mph. In one all-day test it averaged 98.6 mph including three 10 minute stops to change crews. The testing was considered a great success by everyone involved, although Amtrak eventually purchased locally made versions of the Turboliner
.
With Phase 1 and 2 complete, additional funding was provided in 1975 to complete the last two phases. Phase 3 started with the LRC entering service on the Toronto-Sarnia portion of the Corridor, replacing the existing Tempo trains, running on the Tempo's existing schedules and lower speeds. The locomotive ran for another 100000 km (62,137 mi) in these tests, and the coach 80000 km (49,710 mi). Simultaneously the last phase, Phase 4, had to demonstrate high speeds on Canadian rails, not test sites. On 12 March 1976 on a stretch of CN line outside Farnham, Quebec
, the prototype reached 208 km/h (129 mph). With those tests successfully completed, the LRC had passed the entire four-phase testing program and was cleared for Canadian service. The total cost for testing, including the funds released in 1973 and 1975, reached $1.1 million. The program as a whole hit $5 million in total.
purchased MLW in 1975, in part to gain access to the LRC. By this point it had outstripped development of the APT in the UK, and would enter service before it. Although it had a lower top speed than the APT or Japanese designs, it was otherwise considered very advanced. Fuel economy was particularity noteworthy; at full speed the LRC used about 1 gallon per mile with a five-car train, whereas existing fleets used just under two, and the Turbo used two to three.
The monocoque aluminum coaches were particularly noteworthy; they weighted 105000 lb (48 t) empty, about one-third less than CN's existing fleet, and were somewhat lighter than the 115000 lb (52 t) Amfleet
coaches being introduced at the same time in the U.S. They were built around two aluminum girders running the length of the car, providing them with the high strength needed to meet the more stringent North American crash standards, while still being competitive with similar designs from Europe. They also included heavy soundproofing, including 3 inches of foam insulation throughout the body.
The only major problem with the LRC to come up during development was a continued weight increase of the locomotives. The prototype locomotive weighted 236000 lb (107 t), about 14000 lb (6.4 t) less than a conventional low-speed loco. However, while development turned into production the weight grew to 245000 lb (111.1 t), eliminating any difference. By 1980, the National Research Council published a report noting that the weight had grown so much that service above 100 mph would cause unacceptable wear on the Corridor, thereby limiting the new LRC to the same speeds of the Turbo it was meant to replace. Alcan and TDC were also highly critical of Bombardier's management of the MLW portion of the program, suggesting that their mid-level management lacked the know-how to conclude the project rapidly.
made by Pierre Trudeau
in 1974 to implement a nation-wide carrier similar to Amtrak
in the U.S. Although they agreed in principle to buy the LRC in 1975, purchase of the LRC was put on hold while newly forming Via Rail was setting up. CN, which had been wanting to rid itself of passenger service since the late 1960s, started passing off its existing passenger rolling stock to Via starting in 1976.
In the meantime, in January 1977 Amtrak
signed a $10 million lease agreement for two locomotives with five coaches each, with an option to buy the trains at any time, or return them after the two years were up. Amtrak was in the process of investigating high-speed service on their own Corridor, the Northeast Corridor
, especially between New York City
and Boston
. This portion of the line contained numerous curves, and they were investigating active tilt for at least this portion of the route. The "LRC 1" batch for Amtrak was completed in the fall of 1980. They ran in revenue service as Amtrak #38 and #39, where they were known as Beacon Hill
(New Haven-Boston) and Shoreliner (New York-Boston).
Amtrak declined to take over the trains and they were returned to Bombardier in 1982. There were significant differences between these machines and the later Canadian sets, so they could not be easily mixed. Via used the Amtrak coaches for their International service to Chicago
, repainted in Via Rail colours. The locos (#38 and #39) were returned to MLW before being scrapped in 1990; the ten coaches are currently parked at Via's headquarters in Montreal. In spite of Amtrak not taking up the LRC design, there was some consideration, even at that early date, of an electric locomotive version of the same basic design.
By 1978 Via was up and running and they formalized their first order for 10 LRC locomotives and 50 coaches. The total price for the project to this point was $90 million, less than the APT project in the U.K., and less (inflation adjusted) than the successful Metroliner
project in the U.S. This order was then expanded for another 10 locomotives. This batch of 20 became the "LRC 2" (loco serials 6900 to 6920). In 1981 they placed another order for 9 locomotives (6921 to 6930) and another 50 coaches, the "LRC 3" batch.
on 1 June 1981. Initially, the LRCs were plagued with problems. One common problem was that the cars would "lock" in the tilted position even after the track had straightened out from a curve.
At the time, Bombardier was estimating total sales of another 80 LRC sets, for up to $500 million. Their calculations showed that the LRC would have a cost per passenger of $23.26 over a 335 miles (539 km) trip, only slightly higher than conventional trains. Although the LRC used much less fuel per passenger than conventional sets, even less than a bus, no further sales were forthcoming.
Via Rail put the trains into service, persisting through their initial teething pains and coming to depend on the LRC for the majority of its intercity service in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The original LRC locomotives were gradually retired after ten to fifteen years of service, although #6905 was used during test runs of the Nightstar
"Renaissance" carriages between Glen Robertson and Ottawa in 2000. The last run of an LRC locomotive was in 2001.
. Some were scrapped and others awaiting sale to museums or operators.
Most of the carriages remained in service after the withdrawal of the LRC locomotives, though pulled by newer locomotives, usually P42DCs
and often with the tilting mechanism disabled. From 2003 onwards, Via installed wireless internet on all Corridor trains, with distinctive white domes for the satellite downlink being installed on top of the first class carriages. A new capital program announced by the Canadian government in October 2007 includes funding for the refurbishment of Via's remaining LRC carriages. The tilting mechanisms will be removed as part of this project.
Bombardier have since used updated versions of the LRC carriages and their tilt systems in the Acela Express
electric high-speed trains
they developed for Amtrak in the late 1990s, the Super Voyager
in the United Kingdom and in the experimental JetTrain
recently proposed for several corridors in Canada and the United States.
museum in the former Canadian Pacific John St. Roundhouse in Toronto, once the necessary money has been raised for the move. The Association is in negotiations with an unnamed Ontario short line railway for temporary storage of the unit, until the $80,000 (Can) needed for the move is raised.
In addition, LRC locomotive #6921 has been a fixture at the Canadian Railway Museum
outside of Montreal
for a number of years.
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. The LRC family includes both locomotives and passenger carriages designed to work together, though the two can be, and now are, used separately.
LRC was designed to run with power cars at both ends and provide 125 mph (201 km/h) service on non-upgraded railway routes. LRCs have reached speeds as high as 130 mph (209 km/h) on test runs. To accomplish this, the LRC passenger cars feature active-tilt
Tilting train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest due to...
technology to reduce the forces on the passengers when a train travels at high speeds around a curve in the railway tracks.
However, during development the locomotive weights increased to the point that service at this speed would produce too much wear on the rails. On its only regular service route, on the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, wear concerns, signalling issues and conflicts with heavy slower moving freight trains limit this to 100 mph (161 km/h) or less. Nevertheless, special signage allows the LRC to run at higher speeds than normal traffic when the tilt system is enabled.
Although the last LRC locomotive was removed from service on 12 December 2001, the passenger cars are still in widespread use and form the backbone of Via Rail
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....
's services. The same basic car forms the basis of the Acela Express
Acela Express
The Acela Express is Amtrak's high-speed rail service along the Northeast Corridor in the Northeast United States between Washington, D.C., and Boston via Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York...
in the U.S., and the tilt mechanism was adapted for use in the more recent design British Class 221
British Rail Class 221
The Class 221 Super Voyager is a class of British diesel-electric multiple-unit express trains built by Bombardier Transportation between 2001 and 2002, entering service on 12 April 2002....
.
Problems with speed
As a vehicle turns it generates centrifugal forceCentrifugal force
Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...
, which is proportional to the square of the speed and inversely proportional to the radius. Even a small amount of force, acting across the length of the human body, creates a moment
Moment (physics)
In physics, the term moment can refer to many different concepts:*Moment of force is the tendency of a force to twist or rotate an object; see the article torque for details. This is an important, basic concept in engineering and physics. A moment is valued mathematically as the product of the...
that can make moving about difficult; and, in the case of railway vehicles, also leads to wear of the outer rail. This force was not an issue on early railways where the speed was low, but gained importance as line speeds increased and the radius of curvature became tighter. Centrifugal forces are not normally an issue in a car because the occupants are seated, nor in an aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
where the fuselage is tilted so the centrifugal force passes through the line of the floor. It is primarily a problem in high-speed trains, where passengers and attendants often walk about while the train is moving.
One solution is to place speed restrictions on curved sections of track; and another is to bank the railbed on the curve, with the outer rail higher than the inner rail so the net force passes straight through the floor of the coach. Banking the track is known as "cant
Cant (road/rail)
The cant of a railway track or a road is the difference in elevation between the two edges...
" or superelevation. These measures were gradually adopted on the railways between 1835 and 1860. The use of track cant can only be applied where the speed of the train is fixed in advance. Slower, or stationary, traffic sharing the same line will experience forces pulling inwards, and, conversely, faster traffic will experience forces pulling outwards. Long experience has shown that, to avoid discomfort on slower trains, track cant should not exceed 6°; and, for trains moving more quickly, cant deficiency
Cant deficiency
The term "cant deficiency" is defined in the context of travel of a rail vehicle at constant speed on a constant radius curve. Cant itself is a British synonym for the superelevation of the curve, that is, the elevation of the outside rail minus the elevation of the inside rail...
should not exceed 4.5°.
Dedicated high speed railway lines were being constructed in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in the 1960s, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and other European nations were planning to introduce their own in the 1970s. These new railway corridors took advantage of long straight sections of track and gentle curves of long radii, with track canting and gradual transition curves, to facilitate high speed running, and had dedicated track signalling systems for high speed trains, which generally have longer braking distance
Braking distance
Braking distance refers to the distance a vehicle will travel from the point where its brakes are fully applied to when it comes to a complete stop...
s and needed longer signalling blocks lengths. In the case of the Japanese Shinkansen
Shinkansen
The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...
, the track was standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
, whilethe rest of the network was ; it was designed for 210 kilometre per hour running, track curves had minimum radius of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) and the required braking distance at 193 kilometre per hour was 5.3 kilometres (3.3 mi).
Active tilt
Another solution to this problem had been developed in the 1950s but not widely used: the introduction of tilting trains on existing railway lines, using existing signalling systems. Tilting trains rock into the curve to tilt the passenger cars the same way that a superelevated track would tilt them inward. Tilting systems had been introduced in service by the Spanish TalgoTalgo
Talgo is a Spanish manufacturer of railway vehicles. It is best known for a design of articulated railway passenger cars in which the wheels are mounted in pairs, but not joined by an axle, and being between rather than underneath the individual coaches...
, but this system was "passive" and took some time to respond to curves. A great improvement can be had by making the system "active", reading the forces on the cars and quickly rotating them to the proper angle using hydraulic ram
Hydraulic ram
A hydraulic ram, or hydram, is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It functions as a hydraulic transformer that takes in water at one "hydraulic head" and flow-rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic-head and lower flow-rate...
s. British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ran an extensive experimental program on active tilt systems in the 1960s that was highly influential, and followed these studies in the 1970s with a new tilting train design, the Advanced Passenger Train
Advanced Passenger Train
The Advanced Passenger Train was an experimental tilting High Speed Train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s....
(APT), consisting of an experimental APT-E and three prototype APT-Ps. The technical design objectives for the APT included: maximum speed 50% higher than existing trains, curving speeds 40% higher than existing trains, to run on existing tracks within the limits of existing signals, efficient energy consumption, passenger comfort, and similar "cost per seat" to existing trains.
While tilting reduces the problem for the passengers, it does not change the forces on the rails. A train going around a bend at high speed rides up onto the rails, and if the flanges on the inside of the wheels contact the rails they cause considerable wear. Eliminating this effect is difficult, but it can be reduced by lowering the weight of the locomotive, or eliminating the locomotive entirely and distributing the motive power throughout the train. APT took the former route, and originally (in the APT-E) used gas turbine
Gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
power. Gas tubines have an excellent power-to-weight ratio
Power-to-weight ratio
Power-to-weight ratio is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement of actual performance of any engine or power sources...
, perhaps ten times that of a conventional diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
, with the downside that they use considerably more fuel at idle. This was not a concern when the APT was first being designed, but after the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
they quickly changed to an electrically powered design, even lighter but requiring the lines to be electrified. As a result, only the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
from London to Glasgow Central Station
Glasgow Central station
Glasgow Central is the larger of the two present main-line railway terminals in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The station was opened by the Caledonian Railway on 31 July 1879 and is currently managed by Network Rail...
used the APT-Ps.
Turbo
The only route with passenger numbers and trip times suitable for high-speed service in Canada at the time was the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, especially the 500 km portion from TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
that carries the bulk of the Corridor passenger numbers (about 2/3). The owners of the lines, CN Rail (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(CP), saw little utility in either electrification or cant; the freight services on the lines were based on diesel locomotives running at low speeds that did not want any cant in the roadbed.
The TurboTrain, or simply "Turbo" as CN preferred, was CN's first attempt to provide higher speeds along the Corridor. Designed in the early 1960s by Sikorsky Aircraft
Sikorsky Aircraft
The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. Its parent company is United Technologies Corporation.-History:...
, the TurboTrain used a licensed version of Talgo's passive tilt system and a new turbine-powered locomotive to address the problems of high-speed travel on the existing lines. The CN trainsets were built in Canada by a consortium of Dofasco
Dofasco
Dofasco is a steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, which is also home to longtime Canadian rival Stelco. Dofasco is currently a standalone subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer. Previously ordered by the U.S...
for the bogies and suspension system, Alcan
Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..Rio...
for the car bodies, and Montreal Locomotive Works
Montreal Locomotive Works
Montreal Locomotive Works was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883–1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company...
(MLW) for the engines and power systems. All three companies gained valuable experience with modern passenger train design as a result of the project.
CN was attempting to bring the new trains into service for Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
, and rushed the testing period to meet this goal. Initial service was plagued with problems, and they were quickly withdrawn from service for refitting. The Turbos were just being re-introduced in 1969 when CN and CP Rail formally requested that they be allowed to drop all passenger service. In the few years since the Turbo project started, cars became much more widespread and the highways along the same route had greatly improved. Passenger numbers on rail were plummeting, quickly rendering it unprofitable. The government considered rail access to be an essential service, and refused to allow CN, then still a Crown Corporation, to drop the service. Instead, they arranged the National Transportation Act that agreed to pay 80% of any losses. This meant the railways were still losing money, just less of it, so they made little to no investment in rolling stock into the 1970s.
The Turbo project went ahead, resulting in a split within CN between the executives who believed the Turbo would reinvigorate passenger services, and those who continued to push for it to be dropped entirely. In service the Turbo had practical problems as well; although it was fast, routinely hitting 100 mph, its articulated design meant it was very difficult to change train lengths. This made it somewhat impractical as it was not possible to change the number of coaches based on demand. Additionally, if there was a problem with one of the cars, the entire train had to be taken out of service. The trains also suffered from a wide array of reliability problems when they were first introduced. Throughout, it was the subject of differences of opinions on the part of CN's management.
LRC
A competitor to the Turbo had been brewing for some time at this point. As early as 1966 an engineer in Alcan had been formulating ideas for a new lightweight train and introduced the design to CN. The car body design was made mostly of aluminum for light weight, and built two inches lower than conventional sets to cut down wind resistance. The entire underside and running gear was also streamlined and tight-fitting from car to car to reduce the inter-car gap. Active tilt in the cars would allow them to take advantage of higher speeds on existing lines, and an advanced suspension design would offer a smooth ride at all speeds.The locomotive was based on the ALCO 16-251F
ALCO 251
The Alco 251 diesel engine was developed by the American Locomotive Company to replace the 244 and 539. The 251 was developed to be used in diesel locomotives, as a marine power plant in ships and as a stationary power generator.-Development:...
prime mover
Prime mover (locomotive)
In engineering, a prime mover is an engine that converts fuel to useful work. In locomotives, the prime mover is thus the source of power for its propulsion. The term is generally used when discussing any locomotive powered by an internal combustion engine...
rated at 3750 bhp at 1050 rpm. This was the only suitable engine already being built at MLM; it was a relatively old design and the LRC would prove to be its last use in North America. In order to keep the train as a whole as streamlined as possible, the loco body was wrapped very tightly around the engine, at the same height as the cars. The resulting design was quite small even by modern standards, several feet shorter than the GE Genesis
GE Genesis
GE Genesis is a series of passenger locomotives produced by GE Transportation Systems, a subsidiary of General Electric...
that replaced them in Via service for instance, and thousands of pounds lighter. The light weight and low wind resistance would allow higher speeds while using less power, improving fuel efficiency.
In spite of the older engine design, the LRC was a great advance in the state of the art over the Turbo in every way, offering a smoother ride, at the same or faster speeds, and with lower capital and operational costs. In January 1967, the two companies approached Dofasco and MLW about the possibility of a new joint venture to develop the design. In December, the group presented their design to Transport Canada
Transport Canada
Transport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities portfolio...
, and in January another presentation was made to the Department of International Trade and Commerce to gain funding. The Canadian government's Transportation Development Centre (TDC) outside of Montreal agreed to provide development funding for the technology under the Program for the Advancement of Industrial Technology (PAIT). The effort found strong support within the government. The Canadian Transport Commission studied the problem of offering Corridor service and concluded that "the most profitable strategy to adopt involves maximizing the potential of existing railway facilities through the introduction of new vehicle technology."
Designing the suspension
The first consideration was whether or not a suitable tilting mechanism could be built into the bogies that would not require extra space or project into the car. Dofasco, a major steel manufacturer in HamiltonHamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, won the majority of the bogie development contracts. They developed a system that consisted of two parts, a bogie and suspension on the bottom, and a separate tilting mechanism on top.
The suspension consisted of several parts. Between the axle and the bogie frame was a series of C-shaped steel leaf spring
Leaf spring
Originally called laminated or carriage spring, a leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles...
s stacked inside each other for the basic suspension, with rubber sheets between the leaves providing some shock absorption. A second set of softer springs on top of the bogie provided finer ride quality. Four sets of shock absorber
Shock absorber
A shock absorber is a mechanical device designed to smooth out or damp shock impulse, and dissipate kinetic energy. It is a type of dashpot.-Nomenclature:...
s completed the suspension.
The tilt mechanism was developed by SPAR Aerospace
Spar Aerospace
SPAR Aerospace was a Canadian aerospace company. It produced equipment for the Canadian Space Agency to be used in cooperation with NASA's Space Shuttle program, most notably the Canadarm remote manipulator system....
and Sperry Rand Canada. The car body rode on rollers fitted into two U-shaped arms at the front and back of each bogie. Hydraulic rams moved the car from side to side along these arms, tilting it up to 8.5 degrees. This made the bottom of the coach slide sideways while it rotated, so that the axis of motion was in the middle of the car body, instead of the top (like the Turbo) or bottom (like most tilt systems). This reduced the feeling of motion on the passengers by keeping the rotation close to their center of gravity
Center of gravity
In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...
, and reduced loads to 0.5 gee. Each bogie was equipped with its own accelerometer and operated as a completely self-contained unit.
Prototypes and testing
With Dofasco's successful demonstration of a tilting system, additional contracts were offered to build a prototype train. The name LRC was carefully selected to define the project's goals bilingually; a lightweight train, operating at high speeds, and providing a more comfortable ride than existing trains. Alcan of Montreal won the contract for the aluminum passenger cars and the carbody of the locomotive, while MLW developed the new diesel-electric system.The companies had predicted that development of the prototype would cost $2.48 million, and the government provided half of that under the PAIT agreements. The project overran the budget by $77,000, which the companies supplied out-of-pocket. The prototype coach was completed in 1971 and started testing with conventional locomotives. By the summer of 1972, it had seen 5000 miles (8,047 km) of service, and a few relatively minor problems cropped up. Issues with the tilting mechanism were studied by a group at SPAR and McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
, and several fixes incorporated into the design. By that point the prototype locomotive was 85% complete.
During this period, CN executives started expressing concerns about the cost of the equipment, while their engineers stated a preference for electrically powered tilting in place of the hydraulic system. Dofasco stated that such a change would be impractical, upsetting CN. In response, CN requested a series of additional tests, delaying their decision on ordering the design. This was also likely a response to the problems encountered on the Turbo, which had been rushed into service for Expo '67 before rigorous testing had worked out its problems.
With the PAIT funds exhausted in 1972 and the launch customer delaying its orders, the project went into a lengthy hiatus period where little progress was made. In order to continue testing without an order from CN, the consortium was forced to turn to the TDC for additional funds. It was not until July 1973 that an additional $460,000 was released to finish the locomotive and start testing. A four-phase program was envisioned to bring the LRC to production. The first two phases would have the coach running on normal mainline service through April 1973 as part of Phase 1, and runs at higher speeds in Phase 2 through to July 1974.
Testing was further delayed due to a railway strike in Canada, which led the consortium to explore moving the high-speed tests to the U.S.'s facility in Pueblo, Colorado
Pueblo, Colorado
Pueblo is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The population was 106,595 in 2010 census, making it the 246th most populous city in the United States....
. Although a deal was arranged in January 1974, testing continued in Canada. Later that year the consortium learned that the U.S. was considering foreign designs for service with Amtrak, so the contract was revived and the LRC prototype was sent for a six-week period starting in November 1974. The tracks it ran on included butted and welded rail, concrete and wooden ties, and was originally designed to test low-speed urban transport designs at speeds up to 80 mph. During the testing the train covered 35000 km (21,748 mi) at speeds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph), and routinely took corners designed for 65 mph at 105 mph. In one all-day test it averaged 98.6 mph including three 10 minute stops to change crews. The testing was considered a great success by everyone involved, although Amtrak eventually purchased locally made versions of the Turboliner
Turboliner
The Amtrak Turboliners are gas turbine trainsets built for Amtrak. The trains were powered by gas turbine engines and ran on diesel fuel. Some were equipped with third rail shoes to enable entry into the underground tunnels approaching Grand Central Terminal and New York Penn Station in New York...
.
With Phase 1 and 2 complete, additional funding was provided in 1975 to complete the last two phases. Phase 3 started with the LRC entering service on the Toronto-Sarnia portion of the Corridor, replacing the existing Tempo trains, running on the Tempo's existing schedules and lower speeds. The locomotive ran for another 100000 km (62,137 mi) in these tests, and the coach 80000 km (49,710 mi). Simultaneously the last phase, Phase 4, had to demonstrate high speeds on Canadian rails, not test sites. On 12 March 1976 on a stretch of CN line outside Farnham, Quebec
Farnham, Quebec
Farnham is a town located in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Brome-Missisquoi regional county municipality, in the administrative region of Montérégie. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 7,809, making it the second most populated community in the RCM.- History :The...
, the prototype reached 208 km/h (129 mph). With those tests successfully completed, the LRC had passed the entire four-phase testing program and was cleared for Canadian service. The total cost for testing, including the funds released in 1973 and 1975, reached $1.1 million. The program as a whole hit $5 million in total.
Into production
BombardierBombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
purchased MLW in 1975, in part to gain access to the LRC. By this point it had outstripped development of the APT in the UK, and would enter service before it. Although it had a lower top speed than the APT or Japanese designs, it was otherwise considered very advanced. Fuel economy was particularity noteworthy; at full speed the LRC used about 1 gallon per mile with a five-car train, whereas existing fleets used just under two, and the Turbo used two to three.
The monocoque aluminum coaches were particularly noteworthy; they weighted 105000 lb (48 t) empty, about one-third less than CN's existing fleet, and were somewhat lighter than the 115000 lb (52 t) Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...
coaches being introduced at the same time in the U.S. They were built around two aluminum girders running the length of the car, providing them with the high strength needed to meet the more stringent North American crash standards, while still being competitive with similar designs from Europe. They also included heavy soundproofing, including 3 inches of foam insulation throughout the body.
The only major problem with the LRC to come up during development was a continued weight increase of the locomotives. The prototype locomotive weighted 236000 lb (107 t), about 14000 lb (6.4 t) less than a conventional low-speed loco. However, while development turned into production the weight grew to 245000 lb (111.1 t), eliminating any difference. By 1980, the National Research Council published a report noting that the weight had grown so much that service above 100 mph would cause unacceptable wear on the Corridor, thereby limiting the new LRC to the same speeds of the Turbo it was meant to replace. Alcan and TDC were also highly critical of Bombardier's management of the MLW portion of the program, suggesting that their mid-level management lacked the know-how to conclude the project rapidly.
Service entry
While work progressed on the LRC, the Canadian government was in the initial stages of fulfilling an election promiseElection promise
An election promise is a promise made to the public by a politician who is trying to win an election. They have long been a central element of elections and remain so today...
made by Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
in 1974 to implement a nation-wide carrier similar to Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
in the U.S. Although they agreed in principle to buy the LRC in 1975, purchase of the LRC was put on hold while newly forming Via Rail was setting up. CN, which had been wanting to rid itself of passenger service since the late 1960s, started passing off its existing passenger rolling stock to Via starting in 1976.
In the meantime, in January 1977 Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
signed a $10 million lease agreement for two locomotives with five coaches each, with an option to buy the trains at any time, or return them after the two years were up. Amtrak was in the process of investigating high-speed service on their own Corridor, the Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
, especially between New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. This portion of the line contained numerous curves, and they were investigating active tilt for at least this portion of the route. The "LRC 1" batch for Amtrak was completed in the fall of 1980. They ran in revenue service as Amtrak #38 and #39, where they were known as Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill (Amtrak)
The Beacon Hill was a daily commuter rail service operated by Amtrak between Boston, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut. Service began in 1978; the Beacon Hill replaced the Clamdigger, an early morning service from Providence, Rhode Island to New Haven with connections to New York...
(New Haven-Boston) and Shoreliner (New York-Boston).
Amtrak declined to take over the trains and they were returned to Bombardier in 1982. There were significant differences between these machines and the later Canadian sets, so they could not be easily mixed. Via used the Amtrak coaches for their International service to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, repainted in Via Rail colours. The locos (#38 and #39) were returned to MLW before being scrapped in 1990; the ten coaches are currently parked at Via's headquarters in Montreal. In spite of Amtrak not taking up the LRC design, there was some consideration, even at that early date, of an electric locomotive version of the same basic design.
By 1978 Via was up and running and they formalized their first order for 10 LRC locomotives and 50 coaches. The total price for the project to this point was $90 million, less than the APT project in the U.K., and less (inflation adjusted) than the successful Metroliner
Budd Metroliner
The Budd Metroliner car was an electric multiple unit train designed for first-class, high-speed service on the Pennsylvania Railroad's route between New York City and Washington, DC....
project in the U.S. This order was then expanded for another 10 locomotives. This batch of 20 became the "LRC 2" (loco serials 6900 to 6920). In 1981 they placed another order for 9 locomotives (6921 to 6930) and another 50 coaches, the "LRC 3" batch.
In service
The first Canadian production set was delivered to Montreal's Windsor StationWindsor Station (Montreal)
Windsor Station is a former train station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formerly serving as the city's Canadian Pacific Railway Station.Windsor Station was the Canadian Pacific Railway's headquarters built between 1887 and 1889. The Romanesque Revival building was designed by New York architect...
on 1 June 1981. Initially, the LRCs were plagued with problems. One common problem was that the cars would "lock" in the tilted position even after the track had straightened out from a curve.
At the time, Bombardier was estimating total sales of another 80 LRC sets, for up to $500 million. Their calculations showed that the LRC would have a cost per passenger of $23.26 over a 335 miles (539 km) trip, only slightly higher than conventional trains. Although the LRC used much less fuel per passenger than conventional sets, even less than a bus, no further sales were forthcoming.
Via Rail put the trains into service, persisting through their initial teething pains and coming to depend on the LRC for the majority of its intercity service in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The original LRC locomotives were gradually retired after ten to fifteen years of service, although #6905 was used during test runs of the Nightstar
Nightstar (train)
The Nightstar was a proposed overnight sleeper service from various parts of Britain to continental Europe, via the Channel Tunnel. To run alongside the Eurostar and north of London day time Regional Eurostar services, the Nightstar was the last part in a round the clock passenger train...
"Renaissance" carriages between Glen Robertson and Ottawa in 2000. The last run of an LRC locomotive was in 2001.
Retirement
After being retired, some of the LRC locomotives were sold to Industrial Rail Services of Moncton, New BrunswickMoncton, New Brunswick
Moncton is a Canadian city, located in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The city is situated in southeastern New Brunswick, within the Petitcodiac River Valley, and lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces...
. Some were scrapped and others awaiting sale to museums or operators.
LRC Carriages
GE Genesis
GE Genesis is a series of passenger locomotives produced by GE Transportation Systems, a subsidiary of General Electric...
and often with the tilting mechanism disabled. From 2003 onwards, Via installed wireless internet on all Corridor trains, with distinctive white domes for the satellite downlink being installed on top of the first class carriages. A new capital program announced by the Canadian government in October 2007 includes funding for the refurbishment of Via's remaining LRC carriages. The tilting mechanisms will be removed as part of this project.
Bombardier have since used updated versions of the LRC carriages and their tilt systems in the Acela Express
Acela Express
The Acela Express is Amtrak's high-speed rail service along the Northeast Corridor in the Northeast United States between Washington, D.C., and Boston via Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York...
electric high-speed trains
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
they developed for Amtrak in the late 1990s, the Super Voyager
British Rail Class 221
The Class 221 Super Voyager is a class of British diesel-electric multiple-unit express trains built by Bombardier Transportation between 2001 and 2002, entering service on 12 April 2002....
in the United Kingdom and in the experimental JetTrain
JetTrain
The JetTrain is a Canadian experimental high-speed passenger train created by Bombardier Transportation in an attempt to make European-style high-speed service more financially appealing to passenger railways in North America. It uses the same LRC-derived tilting carriages as the Acela Express...
recently proposed for several corridors in Canada and the United States.
- 26 club cars
- 72 passenger cars
Preservation
In August 2010, The Toronto Railway Historical Association announced that it had successfully concluded the purchase of LRC locomotive #6917 from Via Rail Canada, as part of its "Save The LRC" campaign. This locomotive is destined to be placed in The Toronto Railway Heritage CentreToronto Railway Heritage Centre
The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is a museum being developed by the Toronto Railway Historical Association in partnership with the City of Toronto in Ontario, Canada.-Mission:The mission of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is to:...
museum in the former Canadian Pacific John St. Roundhouse in Toronto, once the necessary money has been raised for the move. The Association is in negotiations with an unnamed Ontario short line railway for temporary storage of the unit, until the $80,000 (Can) needed for the move is raised.
In addition, LRC locomotive #6921 has been a fixture at the Canadian Railway Museum
Canadian Railway Museum
The Canadian Railway Museum Musée Ferrovaire Canadien) is a rail transport museum in Delson/Saint-Constant, Quebec south of Montreal.-Collection:...
outside of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
for a number of years.
Further reading
- J. Lukasiewicz, "Passenger rail in North America in the light of developments in Western Europe and Japan", Transportation Planning and Technology, 1029-0354, Volume 9 Issue 3 (1984), p. 247-259
- H. Kolig and K.R. Hesser, "Tilt system for Amtrak high speed trainsets", Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE/ASME Joint Railroad Conference, 18-20 Mar 1997, p. 59-64
External links
- LRC Coach Car Tour (Via Rail)
- Save The LRC (Toronto Railway Historical Association)