Both of Canada’s two major railways started piggyback (TOFC) services in the 1950’s. By the late 60’s early 70’s this traffic had grown substantially and both railroads saw a need to purchase purpose-built flatcars that could handle both 26-foot and longer trailers, up to the then-new standard of 45-foot.

Canadian National placed a order for 283 cars with Vancouver Iron and Engineering Works (V.I.E.W.). Delivery on these cars started in 1966. They would continue in service well into the late 1980’s, after a major rebuild in 1976 to a single hitch configuration which resulted in the cars being renumbered into the 688000–688184 series.

Canadian Pacific ordered a large batch of 305 cars from Marine Industries Limited (MIL) in 1972, which were delivered as road numbers 505625-505930. These cars would soldier on in service after several rebuilding programs. As well as the removal of second hitch, container pedestals were later added to many of the cars. A final group of cars were reconfigured for the Southern Ontario XpressWay service with rub-rails for the circus-style loading and unloading at terminals.

The Canadian Piggyback Flatcar features:

• Drawn from original blueprints
• Artworks sourced from original design drawings
• Heavy die-cast center sill
• Photo-etched deck surface
• Two styles of hitches; upright and collapsed. Either is install-able by the modeler
• Wire grab irons
• Durable trucks with metal wheels
• Rapido semi-scale metal knuckle couplers installed from the factory

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