The Budd Car

Ten days after deciding to model the Budd Car, I was in Sudbury to ride the real thing (aka VIA 185 / 186 but let’s not call it that). Our consist was VIA 6105-6217-6250 with only 6217 in-service for safety  (fortunately just a temporary measure I don't need to model).  Onboard, it’s amazing how much friendlier the train is up north — it felt like a small community. Our stops were: Woman River (bye Rick), Chapleau (refuel), Nicholson (bye Peter) Swanson (+21 hunters), and White River (end). At the time, I planned to include White River on my layout so I explored as much as I could before dark. East end: 1957-built passenger facility (closed) Sign should read  186  departs  7:00am West end: 1927-built telegraph building (roadmaster HQ) South end: CP 434727 complete with smokejacks in the yard North end: Canada Post and the rest of the town The next morning, I was up at 5:00am to be sure I caught my train back because the next trip wasn't for another 3 days.   Sunrise onboard at

My name is Derek Pittman, and I've wanted a model train layout since I was a kid. Back then, I only got as far as a temporary loop on a ping-pong table. And now that my own kids have a similar setup, it's time to finally build my layout before they lose interest. So let’s get started...

The prototype runs all the way from Sudbury to White River but I’m modelling just the section between Chapleau and Franz.

I chose 1978 to include: Chapleau station, pedestrian / Monk St bridges ( 1973 –Present). Franz station (1912– 1993 ). Franz water tower (1924- 1983 ) Franz new toolshed ( 1978 -present) CP Rail RDCs sold to VIA Rail (9/1978) still in CP Rail paint CP Rail freight train schedule effective April 1978 Algoma Central (AC) timetable #132 effective October 1978 AC GP7's 100-104 in-service July 22, 1978 1978-06-01 to 1978-10-28 (6x/week 417 / 418) 1978-10-29 to 1979-06-16 (3x/week 417 / 418) 1979-06-17 to 1979-10-27 ( 6 x/week 317 / 318 ) 1979-10-28 to 1980-02-02 ( 3 x/week  185 / 186 ) 1980-02-03 to 1980-04-26 (3x/week 185 / 186) 1980-04-27 to 1980-05-13 (3x/week 185 / 186) 1980-05-15 to 1980-09-15 ( 6 trips/week) 1980-09-16 to 1980-09-28 ( 3 x/week 185 / 186) 1980-09-29 to 1981-04-25 NO SERVICE  1981-04-26 to 1981-05-14 (3x/week 185 / 186) 1981-05-15 to 1981-09-14 ( 6x /week 185 / 186) 1981-09-15 to ... (3 trips/week) CP 9021  Notes : Built by Budd (3/1955). Sold to VIA Rail (9/1978)