Help us paint our Cafe-Bar-Lounge and Baggage Car

After a tremendous amount of work through the latter part of 2025, we were able to successfully move our new cars from their former home in Uxbridge to the location where they will soon be re-painted into their classic VIA blue and yellow. The successful move of these cars was only possible thanks to the dedicated efforts of several of our members and volunteers, both in making the critical preparations of the cars themselves before the move, and in coordinating all of the many components required to safely clear and open the line, and arrange transport logistics. Executive Director Christopher Greenlaw deserves special thanks for putting in many long hours making this move possible. 

Now that the cars are safely relocated, we are hard at work arranging all the details for the needed repairs and the full repainting. One key piece of this process is getitng the accurate artwork prepared to guide the paint work. These drawings are critical to ensure the rolling stock accurately depicts how the car looked when it was in VIA Rail service.

Here's a look at the first draft of the painting instructions for our cafe-bar-lounge car 2514, prepared by volunteer Joshua Anderchek. Josh has been working behind the scenes, generating these drawings for locomotive 6539, Dayniters 5700 and 5714, and baggage car 9604, and we thank him for this important work!

Thanks as well to all the volunteers and our generous donors, who are working together to preserve VIA's history.