Riding A VIA Rail RDC
July 16th and 17th, 2024
Join me for a ride into the wilderness of Ontario, where roads and cell phone signals are nonexistent, and the only way in or out is via VIA Rail trains 185 and 186, the Sudbury-White River train, operating 3 days a week in each direction (with no service on Monday).
Riding the Budd RDC's assigned to this run, the trip begins in the city of Sudbury. After departing the town of Cartier, about 45 minutes into the journey west, it's all wilderness with few, if any roads. The train makes multiple flag stops along the way to discharge and pick up hikers, campers, folks heading to or from remote cottages, lodges, and campgrounds, etc. The tiny hamlet of Biscotasing, Ontario is the largest sight of civilization between Cartier and Chapleau, and many campers and kayakers were loaded and unloaded here. Then it's back into the wild again until the town of Chapleau, where the RDC's get their fuel tanks topped off before the trip to White River resumes, where arrival is roughly 8 hours after departing Sudbury. And it's the same in reverse back to Sudbury the following day.
Along the way you'll see the scenery from the head end of the train, plenty of interior shots of the Budd cars, and a couple runby shots at each end of the trip as the train heads to/from the yard at Sudbury and to its layover point in White River.
With the arrival of new Venture equipment on the Corridor, there is speculation that some of the Budd coaches and locomotives displaced by the Siemens trains will replace the RDC's on this run. If you're up for an adventure, this ride is definitely for you. Bring your own food and drink, as only a very limited menu of snacks and beverages are available on this train. It is also advised to have your reservations at the White River Motel made prior to making train reservations as well (and they will arrange pickup and drop off at the White River train station upon request).
As an interesting side note, White River is also the birthplace of the bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh. The bear was transported to the zoo in London, Ontario, where author A. A. Milne and his son, Christopher Robin, visited and viewed the bear many times, and inspired the stories of the honey-loving bear.