Under the sleek exterior of VIA Rail Canada LRC #6928 beats the heart of an ALCO (in this case, by way of Canadian subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works).

The LRC, which stands for "Light, Rapid, Comfortable", was VIA's first full-fledged attempt at modernizing the passenger services it inherited from CN and CP.

The LRC concept combined these locomotives with a fleet of coaches for VIA's Quebec City, Que.-Windsor, Ont. corridor, and #6928 is running the corridor this day as it makes a stop at Kingston, Ont. with a Montreal-Toronto train.

After VIA retired its LRCs in favor of a small contingent of GE "Genesis" P42s, several were preserved and most of the rest were sold to an rail equipment dealer in Moncton, N.B.

Amtrak also tested an LRC consist on the Northeast Corridor between Boston and New Haven, Conn., but did not purchase any.

The leased locomotives and cars returned to Canada, and later ran as part of VIA's equipment contribution to the Chicago-Toronto "International".

Photographed by Thomas McCann, September, 1989.
Added to the photo archive by Thomas McCann, July 27, 2010.
Railroad: VIA.

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