Caption: Resting (or rusting) alone in Mimico at VIA's Toronto Maintenance Centre, a trio of retired LRC locomotives sit awaiting their fate. Developed in the 60's and 70's after extensive research and testing by Alcan, MLW, CN and Dofasco (and built in the early 80's for VIA Rail), the LRC concept envisioned high-speed lightweight aluminum-bodied trains for corridor service between Windsor and Montreal. While they were somewhat successful after initial teething problems, and the LRC passenger car fleet still serves as the backbone of the corridor today, the LRC locomotives weren't very long-lived: the majority were retired in the 90's, with the last few stragglers operating until December 2001.

The bulk of the LRC loco fleet was sold off to IRSI and later scrapped. A few lingered at VIA ,stored at various properties until a housecleaning in 2010. 6903 and 6905 were sold to Diesel Electric Services in Sudbury a number of years back (for foreign export conversion that was half way complete before being canned, see painted 2007 & primer grey), 6907 was stored in Montreal (scrapped at CAD in late 2010), and 6921 donated to CRM/Exporail in St. Constant QC. And then there was 6914, 6917 & 6919 that sat languishing with the other junque at Mimico for eons.

A campaign to save an LRC for local preservation would see the unit in the best shape, 6917, saved for the Toronto Railway Heritage Association. VIA 6914 would be sent to Montreal for scrapping (by CAD / RB Recycling) in late 2010. 6919, which proved to be unsuitable to move east, would be picked over for spare parts for 6917, and then the carcass cut up for scrap by a demolition excavator in January 2011.