CN LINES V12N3 - Canadian National Railways Historical Association

RDC-3 No. D100(i)—here at South Devon, N.B. on August 25, 1956—inaugurated RDC
service on the CNR.—Kenneth S. MacDonald photo
As discussed in Part One (CN
LINES Vol. 12 No. 2), the CNR
bought seven Phase One Budd
RDCs and placed them in
service between 1954 and
1955 in New Brunswick,
Quebec, and Alberta.
These initial seven RDCs served on runs
which we have arbitrarily numbered as 8,
15, 18, 20, 26 and 76 in Figure 1 on pages
32-33. This chart was prepared by Gordon
Jomini and shows all runs on which the
CNR/CN used RDCs. We will be referring
to it frequently throughout this article.
Please note that the run numbers are not
anything that CN had, but are a convenient
way for us to cross-reference Figure 1
to the text and photo captions.
The initial order of seven cars was apparently
sufficient to handle these services
with D-100(i)/D300 covering Run 8 in
New Brunswick, D-150 plus D-200(i) and
D-151 plus D-201(i) covering Runs 15, 18
and 20 in Quebec, D-250/D-200(ii) covering
Run 26 before being transferred in
1956 to join D-101(i) on Run 76 between
Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta.
The CNR must have been impressed
with how the RDCs speeded up services
and increased patronage, so ordered another
21 Phase Two units which were delivered
between 1957 and 1960. As seen in Figure
1, these new CNR Railiners brought RDC
service to Nova Scotia, Ontario, Minnesota
(on the DW&P), Manitoba, and
Saskatchewan as well as expanding coverage
in the provinces initially served. As late
as Timetable A172 for December 1958,
however, RDC service had not yet started
in Ontario and only did so once some
routes in Quebec were converted back to
conventional trains and the final RDCs
were completed and delivered from CC&F.
Gordon Jomini thinks that after the
CNR figured out how to operate RDCs on
the Newcastle–Fredericton and Riviere-du-
Loup–Levis routes, it chose to add more
RDCs first to several Quebec routes plus
some additional runs in the Maritimes and
Western Canada. Folder “B” Table 172 for
December 1958 shows RDCs on eight runs
in Quebec: Riviere-du-Loup–Levis, Lyster–
Richmond, Quebec–Charny–Lyster–
Richmond, Quebec–Chicoutimi, Montreal–Sorel–Victoriaville,Montreal–Richmond–Sherbrooke,
Montreal–Richmond–
Sherbrooke–Island Pond, Vt., and
Montreal–Garneau–La Tuque!
There was obviously some reconsideration
of where RDCs should be assigned
during the winter of 1958-1959, as the end
of steam-hauled trains was rapidly
approaching and most of the pioneering
1920s-era motor trains were becoming
quite unreliable. A number of RDCs were
moved from Quebec to Ontario routes
effective with the 1959 timetables. The
Railiners may have been less-than-desirable
to unsatisfactory on some of the Quebec
routes and/or they were more needed to
take over from steam-hauled and motor
trains which had been serving on Ontario
branch lines. RDCs were never assigned to
some Ontario routes which would appear
to have been good candidates. Perhaps the
CNR drew some lessons from its experience
in Quebec or there simply were insufficient
Railiners to go around. During the
first half of the 1960s, Saskatchewan had
the most Railiners of any province, with
Table 1:
CN Railiner Assignments:
December 31, 1960
Source: Self-Propelled Cars of the CNR
by Anthony Clegg
D-100(ii) Riviere-du-Loup–Levis, Quebec
D-101(ii) Quebec–Chicoutimi, Quebec
D-102 Edmonton–Calgary, Alberta
D-103 Regina–Saskatoon–Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan
D-104 Regina–Saskatoon–Prince Albert
D-105 Halifax–Truro–Sydney, Nova Scotia
D-106 Campbellton–Gaspe, Quebec
D-107 Sydney–Truro–Halifax, Nova Scotia
D-108 Stratford–Kincardine, Ontario
D-200 Stratford–Kincardine, Ontario
D-201 Edmonton–Grand Centre, Alberta
D-202 Regina–Saskatoon–Prince Albert
D-203 Edmonton–North Battleford, Sask.
D-204 Richmond–Lyster–Quebec, Quebec
D-205 The Pas–Flin Flon, Manitoba
D-301 Duluth, Minn.–Fort Frances, Ontario
(DW&P)
D-302 Moncton–Campbellton, N. B.
D-350 Edmonton–Drumheller, Alberta
D-351 Stratford–Southampton–Kincardine–
Southampton, Ontario
D-352 Stratford–Southampton–Kincardine–
Southampton, Ontario
D-353 Ottawa–Barry’s Bay, Ontario
D-354 Newcastle–Fredericton, N. B.
D-400 Levis–Riviere du Loup, Quebec
D-401 Calgary–Edmonton Alberta
D-402 Truro–Sydney (Mail Only), N.S.
D-450 Quebec–Chicoutimi–Edmundston,
New Brunswick
D-451 Regina–Saskatoon–Prince Albert
D-452 Regina–Saskatoon–Prince Albert
seven of the 28 CN units assigned there for
maintenance.
CN RDC service was not extended to
British Columbia until the early 1960s
when Mountain Region secondary trains
were converted to RDCs. However, service
was relatively short-lived in B.C. as we will
discuss later.
After a batch of RDCs was bought used
in 1965-66, CN had a total of 47
Railiners available to cover the remaining
more-isolated runs and to add to coverage
in the “Corridor” and the Maritimes. By
1968, all RDC-1, RDC-2 and RDC-9
equipment had received modernized interiors
with reclining seats to equal the best
deluxe coaches. Snack bar food service has
also been added to many cars.
Alas, the 1970s were to bring a gradual
reduction in rail travel on CN and services
began to shrink throughout the 1970s
until the formation of VIA Rail effective
with the April 1977 timetable. During the
latter years, CN assigned its fleet of RDC
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