Via Rail (mbi Railroad Color History)

The story of VIA Rail is one spiced with political intrigue, an element that has been fundamental to Canadian railroad history ever since the humble establishment of Canada's first railway on the shores of the Richelieu River in 1836. Canadian author and railfan Chris Greenlaw delves into the circumstances, beginning as far back as the nineteenth century, which culminated with the establishment of Canada's national rail passenger network and its status as a Crown corporation beginning in 1978. A wealth of archival and modern photography, as well as four specially commissioned system maps, detail VIA Rail's development right up to the present, examining the routes, name trains, hardware, and political dealings that have resulted in the creation of a national transportation icon.


Go VIA Rail and see Canada: Here is Canada's national railway, covering 14,000 kilometers of track from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay. This illustrated history tells the story of how, starting in the early 1970s, VIA Rail became a separate Crown corporation, once and for all relieving the old Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways of their beleaguered passenger operations. It is a story rich in history--and marked with failures and misfortunes right up to our day, when a need for convenient, fuel-efficient mass transportation holds out hope for a renaissance.

Archival and modern photography, route maps, and print ads help detail the history of VIA Rail's motive power and passenger cars from the likes of General Motors, Bombardier, Montreal Locomotive Works, and Budd Company, as well such passenger trains as The Canadian", The Atlantic", The Ocean", and The Super Continental". Chris Greenlaw also explains all of the political machinations that have inevitably shaped the railroad, and delves into its connection with Amtrak via The Maple Leaf".