Our Train
Over the years the YDHR has purchased a variety of rolling stock. We are continuously refurbishing and maintaining our equipment in order to keep everything in top form and looking good.
In our rail yard you will see coaches, locomotives, a caboose, boxcars, a ballast regulator, a rules car, and maybe even a kiddie train.
Passenger Coaches:
We have six coaches (passenger cars), known as “Boise BUDDS”. They were originally built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as self-propelled rail diesel cars (RDC’s). In the early 1980’s they were converted to passenger coaches by removing the diesel motors. This was done by Morrison-Knudsen in Boise, Idaho, hence the name, Boise Budd.
With all of these cars in service, we have the capacity to carry 476 passengers.
Cars 101 & 106
These two cars have tables and chairs and can each seat up to 72 passengers. Each table grouping seats four people. If you take part in one of our unique dining experiences it will take place in one on these Budd coaches.
Cars 102 & 104
These cars have upholstered bench seating with tables with each table grouping accommodating four people. Both cars can seat up to 84 and 88 passengers respectively.
Cars 103 & 105
Both of these two cars have upholstered bench seating without tables. Seat groupings accommodate 4 people. Car 103 seats up to 80 passengers, and Car 105 up to 88 passengers.
Locomotive 3612
We have a couple of locomotives, #3612 being YDHR’s “workhorse”. This locomotive is used to pull the heavier loads. Over her lifetime she has worked for a number of US railroads including the Central Vermont (CV), Lamoille Valley (LV), and the New Hampshire and Vermont. In February 1995 she was retired and sent to Canada where she ended up at the Petromont Plant in Montreal East. Just a year later, in August 1996, she was purchased by the YDHR where she has been given a second life hauling passengers on our Uxbridge – Stouffville run.
Entertainment Car
This car was built in 1954 by Canadian Car and Foundry for Canadian National Railway. It was built as an 82 seat coach and numbered 5546. It was converted by CN to a café/coach and renumbered 3024. In the 1970’s its ownership was transferred to VIA Rail where it retained its 3024 number.
In the 1990 it was purchased by Ontario Northland as was rebuilt as an entertainment car being renumbered as 1410. The seating was removed, the steam heating equipment removed and replaced with all electric systems. A bar was built at one end, a small stage added in the middle of the car and new seating consisting of inward facing single seats around the periphery added.
The car was used mostly on the overnight “Northlander” train from Toronto to Cochrane until sidelined and purchased by the York-Durham Heritage Railway in 2017
Snack Car
In 1954 the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) 1408 was originally built for the Canadian National Railways as CNR 5613 by the Canadian Car & Foundry Company. It went through a few iterations: first rebuilt as a coach-bar lounge, then a café- bar lounge. It was renumbered to CNR 3028, and then to CNR 2514 and finally acquired by VIA Rail as VIA 2514. The ONR acquired the coach in 1990 and it was rebuilt as a Snack Bar coach and renumbered as ONR 1408
Baggage Car
The Baggage Car (9636) was built in 1957 for the Canadian National Railways by the National Steel Company in Hamilton. It was initially numbered CNR 9255, later being renumbered to CN 9636, the number it wore in VIA Rail service and the number it retains today as YDHR 9636. This baggage car was the prototype car used by Rapido Trains Inc., Markham, to manufacture N and HO gauge models of this car for the model train market.
Kiddie Train
The Kiddie train was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a promotional tool. It was bought by the YDHR in 2016 from the SOO Line Railway, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a CPR subsidiary.
Caboose
The caboose came from Canadian Pacific and was built in their Angus (Montreal) shops in 1956. It was one of their first all-steel vehicles of this type. The interior is surprisingly small, as most of the space is used for storage cupboards. All of the spare parts needed to repair freight cars had to fit in these cupboards. The remaining space was used for sleeping (there are three bunks, one folds into the wall, the others convert into seats) and an office/kitchen area.
The caboose is not currently being used.