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.

The Canadian Piggyback Flatcar features:
• Drawn from original blueprints
• Two styles of hitches; upright and collapsed
• Artworks sourced from original design drawings
• Wire grab irons
• Heavy die-cast center sill
• Barber S-2 trucks with metal wheels
• Photo-etched deck surface
• Rapido semi-scale metal knuckle couplers