Super Continental

The Super Continental was a transcontinental Canadian passenger train operated by the Canadian National Railway from 1955 until 1977, when Via Rail took over the train and ran it until it was cancelled in 1981. Service was restored in 1985 but was again eliminated in 1990. The original CNR train had a Montreal–Ottawa–Toronto-Winnipeg–Saskatoon–Edmonton–Jasper–Vancouver routing with daily service.

Following World War II, CNR's passenger fleet was in need of modernization, and between 1946 and 1950 the railway purchased a total of 75 of new lightweight coaches and sleeping cars. However, post-war material shortages constrained the number of cars that CNR was able to procure commercially, leading to a significant programme of in-house refurbishment of older heavyweight equipment in the CNR carshops. Ultimately a total of 211 heavyweight cars were fitted out with new interiors, roller bearing trucks, and sealed windows. Nevertheless, it quickly became apparent that refurbished equipment alone would not be sufficient to remain competitive, and in 1952 CNR placed a large order for new lightweight equipment. This order consisted of 218 coaches from the Canadian Car and Foundry in Montreal, as well as 92 sleeping cars, 20 dining cars, 17 parlour cars, and 12 buffet-sleepers from the Chicago-based Pullman-Standard Company.

Deliveries of the new cars were essentially completed by 1954, but CNR waited until 24 April 1955 to introduce its new transcontinental flagship Super Continental to replace its former flagship, the Continental Limited. Not coincidentally, this was the same date that competitor Canadian Pacific Railway introduced its new streamlined transcontinental train The Canadian. Despite the new and refurbished equipment and a new black-and-green, yellow-trim paint scheme, the Super Continental's mixture of equipment paled in comparison to CPR's all stainless-steel consist, produced for them by the Budd Company. An additional important distinction was that The Canadian featured scenic dome cars, which the Super Continental did not use. CN chose not to purchase dome cars for reasons of economy, although it has also been claimed that dome cars might interfere with the electrified catenary used in Montreal's Central Station by commuter trains of the former Canadian Northern raillines. In 1964, CN purchased used dome cars that came from United States to use on the portion of the route between Edmonton and Vancouver from the Milwaukee Road.

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