Rapido's The Canadian in Winnipeg

Jason points out the details of the FP9A.

At 1 p.m. on Sunday 24 April, 1955, a legend was born when the sleek stainless steel passenger cars of Canadian Pacific's The Canadian departed Montreal's Windsor Station for the inaugural run across Canada to Vancouver.

On June 16, 2011 another legend arrived in Winnipeg. This time it was the HO scale version of The Canadian, which made its inaugural visit to this prairie city. The visit was part of the cross-Canada tour by Rapido founder and CEO Jason Shron, now on the western leg of his trip. The stop on this night was Ware House Hobbies, where the models were seen by an appreciative group of about 30 people.

Part of the crowd taking in the presentation.

What makes this train unique is that it is the first complete model of The Canadian ever produced in ready-to-run plastic, including the first-ever accurate model of the CPR's FP9A locomotive. The ten car set, which features two sound-equipped FP9A locomotives, a B unit and ten Budd passenger cars, is available in classic CPR Maroon, CP Rail and VIA. The production run is limited to 2,000 sets.

For more info about The Canadian, click here. To read Jason's blog about his The Canadian tour, click here. To read an interview I did with Jason in 2009 about his company, click here.

All the units and cars on the counter.

The Park Car

VIA FP9A units.