# CN Passenger Trains



## Marbleski (Jan 6, 2022)

Are my dad‘s HO model CN passenger cars an accurate representation of those used pre-Via Rail?

Were these trains painted and used by Via Rail in the late 70’s?

Here is a link to a video of me playing with dad’s HO model trains videoed with the new GoPro that I plan on using during my February Via Rail adventure between Halifax and Ottawa. 

Hopefully by then I will have the camera figured out and come up with a way to see the video clips on my eight plus year old computer. 

Hope I copied and pasted the YouTube link to my video correctly.


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## jiml (Jan 6, 2022)

From a fan perspective, the paint is accurate, but there are more "heavyweight" cars in the consist than would have been typical in the period immediately preceding VIA. A lot of the CC&F and Pullman Standard CN lightweight cars did make the transition to VIA however. An interesting addition to your portfolio would be something that resembled a CN/VIA FPA4. They were the predominant CN passenger power in most of Eastern Canada. When I was active in N-scale I modified and painted an Alco FA-2, which looked pretty darn close.


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## Marbleski (Jan 6, 2022)

jiml said:


> From a fan perspective, the paint is accurate, but there are more "heavyweight" cars in the consist than would have been typical in the period immediately preceding VIA. A lot of the CC&F and Pullman Standard CN lightweight cars did make the transition to VIA however. An interesting addition to your portfolio would be something that resembled a CN/VIA FPA4. They were the predominant CN passenger power in most of Eastern Canada. When I was active in N-scale I modified and painted an Alco FA-2, which looked pretty darn close.



Thanks for the info. There is another engine or two that are a bit different than those in the video but I don’t know my engine types yet. I will eventually look them up. I have learned plenty since I found this site.

The first was the word “consist“. I never heard of that before this site lol. I just called them trains. I remember dad working on train 204 a lot as a trainman. 

I picked up a number other terms and lingo as well. The best part is I now know a bit about the various Via Rail “cars“ …. if that is the term… I think dad called it ”rolling stock”.

I disappointedly found out from this site that the dome car is no longer on the Ocean. Glad I know that now, rather than find out once on board in February.


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## Metra Electric Rider (Jan 6, 2022)

Marbleski said:


> The first was the word “consist“. I never heard of that before this site lol. I just called them trains. I remember dad working on train 204 a lot as a trainman.



I won't confuse you further by referring to it as a rake...


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## jis (Jan 8, 2022)

Metra Electric Rider said:


> I won't confuse you further by referring to it as a rake...


Heh heh! Consist, Rake, as they say US and UK - divided by a common language  Apparently Canada is one of the few ex-colonies that uses the term consist. ex-colonies like those in Asia and Africa generally use the term Rake.


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## Marbleski (Jan 8, 2022)

jis said:


> Heh heh! Consist, Rake, as they say US and UK - divided by a common language  Apparently Canada is one of the few ex-colonies that uses the term consist. ex-colonies like those in Asia and Africa generally use the term Rake.



Rake is another new term for me. Thanks for info.


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## Metra Electric Rider (Jan 8, 2022)

jis said:


> Heh heh! Consist, Rake, as they say US and UK - divided by a common language  Apparently Canada is one of the few ex-colonies that uses the term consist. ex-colonies like those in Asia and Africa generally use the term Rake.


Well, we're an ex-colony too, just further ex'd... And in London the underground uses American terminology thanks the Mr. Yerkes, so it goes both ways.


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## jiml (Jan 8, 2022)

Metra Electric Rider said:


> Well, we're an ex-colony too, just further ex'd... And in London the underground uses American terminology thanks the Mr. Yerkes, so it goes both ways.


You must watch Jago Hazzard. He's obsessed with Charles Yerkes.


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## Metra Electric Rider (Jan 8, 2022)

jiml said:


> You must watch Jago Hazzard. He's obsessed with Charles Yerkes.


Never heard of the fellow... 

(says the guy who watches him, Geoff Marshall and The Tim Traveller religiously - along with a few canal boaters)


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## Gemuser (Jan 8, 2022)

Metra Electric Rider said:


> Never heard of the fellow...
> 
> (says the guy who watches him, Geoff Marshall and The Tim Traveller religiously - along with a few canal boaters)


I heartily approve of this part of your YouTube subscription list!


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## GAT (Jan 9, 2022)

In 1952, when my dad’s company relocated him out west, I, at the age of 12, rode CN from Toronto to Vancouver. If I remember correctly, it was four days and four nights, pulled by a steam locomotive – two units going through the Rockies west of Edmonton. My brother and I slept in upper and lower berths in one bedroom, my mother in an adjoining bedroom. We were joined by Dad in Edmonton for the rest of the journey.

I don’t know anything more about the type of Sleeping car it was. But during my college years at Queen’s University in Kingston from 1958 to 1961, I crossed the country several times in a Pullman sleeping car, where the coach seats made down into beds and an upper berth was pulled down. They were separated by heavy curtains so we could put on our jammies and sleep in privacy.

These Pullman sleepers were on their way out in 1967, when my wife and I road one east on our way to East Africa, where I had gained a two-year employment contract at the ripe old age of 27. Each Pullman sleeper had one large drawing room at the end that occupied about two-thirds of the car’s width. The room was long enough for two windows, and it had two flat beds plus at least one easy chair. Those rooms sold for discounted prices because the cars were so old, and we rode like royalty on that journey. Those were the days when dinner in the diner really meant something. The cuts of succulent prime rib were so thick, they gained the nickname “railroad slabs.”

That was the last time I Travelled on CN, but I have a Halifax – Vancouver VIA journey on my bucket list. Bedroom, of course!


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## Urban Sky (Jan 9, 2022)

George said:


> In 1952, when my dad’s company relocated him out west, I, at the age of 12, rode CN from Toronto to Vancouver. *If I remember correctly, it was four days and four nights, pulled by a steam locomotive – two units going through the Rockies west of Edmonton*. My brother and I slept in upper and lower berths in one bedroom, my mother in an adjoining bedroom. We were joined by Dad in Edmonton for the rest of the journey.
> 
> I don’t know anything more about the type of Sleeping car it was. But during my college years at Queen’s University in Kingston from 1958 to 1961, I crossed the country several times in a Pullman sleeping car, where the coach seats made down into beds and an upper berth was pulled down. They were separated by heavy curtains so we could put on our jammies and sleep in privacy.
> 
> ...



The departure time would have been 11pm on any evening and the arrival time at 7:25am (7:45am until April 26) on the fourth morning after, resulting in a travel time of 83:25h (thus 4 nights and three days). You will find the timings on the left side and consists (never heard the word "rake" before and I did take my Undergrads in the UK) on the right:


Source: CN timetable effective 1952/04/27


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## GAT (Jan 11, 2022)

Urban Sky said:


> The departure time would have been 11pm on any evening and the arrival time at 7:25am (7:45am until April 26) on the fourth morning after, resulting in a travel time of 83:25h (thus 4 nights and three days). You will find the timings on the left side and consists (never heard the word "rake" before and I did take my Undergrads in the UK) on the right:
> View attachment 26686
> 
> Source: CN timetable effective 1952/04/27


That is right! Thanks for recalling my memory. Dad's new company had put us up in the King Edward Hotel for a few days before departure after we had had to vacate our house for the new owners. I distinctly remember Dad's company representative taking us to Union Station in the dark November evening and giving Mom a bouquet of flowers and a huge box of Jenny Lind chocolates. Once we were on board. Mom offered some to our Black sleeping car porter who became our best friend for the rest of the trip. I also recall our early morning arrival in Vancouver on a dank and rainy day. Quite an adventure for a 12-year-old.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jan 11, 2022)

jiml said:


> Jago Hazzard





Metra Electric Rider said:


> Tim Traveller


I'll see your bets and raise you a Jay Foreman.


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## Willbridge (Jan 12, 2022)

Marbleski said:


> Rake is another new term for me. Thanks for info.


The French have two words for it. "Rame" for consist in general use, but "formation" for a trainset of the same type of cars, as on a rapid transit line.

In 2008 I attended a conference in Karlsruhe that had simultaneous interpreting into English -- British rail and transit English. I knew the British terms, but the double-translating that required was too much. I took off the headset and stuck with the original German and appreciated the PowerPoint slides.


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