VIA Rail No. 6300 is an FP9A type diesel locomotive built by General Motors Diesel (GMD) in March 1957, originally for the Canadian National Railway (CN) as their No. 6524. After serving with the CN in passenger service for several years, it would then operate for VIA Rail of Canada as their No. 6300. On February 8, 1986, it was one of six locomotives involved in the infamous Hinton train collision in Yellowhead County, Alberta, Canada when a CN manifest freight train slammed head-on into a VIA Rail passenger train called the Super Continental due to the crew of the CN train being incapacitated with drugs and alcohol in their system.
After the horrific accident, the leading and trailing locomotives of both trains were either totally destroyed or damaged beyond repair. However, VIA Rail 6300 was eventually repaired and rebuilt with a new cab from former Kansas City Southern (KCS) F7A No. 4062 and continued to operate with VIA Rail until it was officially retired from service in September 2011. By then, it was over 54 years old since first being built for the CN back in 1957. It became the last FP9 type locomotive to be in service with VIA Rail before retirement. It was eventually acquired by the British Columbia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), and as of today, it currently resides at the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City, Utah operating tourist excursion trains.