CN SD70M-2 S 8955-8958 Were Delivered in Early February. CN 8959-8964 Are Still to Come

MAR 2011

Updated Feb 5

CANADIAN NATIONAL

CN SD70M-2’s 8955-8958 were delivered in early February. CN 8959-8964 are still to come.

The proposed CN renumbering of the 40 ex-BNSF C40-8W’s acquired in January 2011 is as follows:

BNSF 801-853 (odd #’s only) to CN 2162-2188

BNSF 854-864 (inclusive) to CN 2189-2199

BNSF 865, 866 to CN 2098, 2099

As well, in 2010 CN acquired the first group of 27 BNSF C40-8W's, 800-852 (even #’s only) whiach are assigned CN 2135-2161. Add the C40-8’s acquired from UP last year,numbered CN 2100-2134 and you have the complete 100 GE units in the 2100-series.

During January, IC GP40R 3110 was released from Woodcrest paint shop, and is seen in CN paint in Wi Rapids, Wisconsin January 3oth. (Bob Schoneman photo).

Pierre Fournier clicked CN 305 on Febuary 3rd with brand new CN SD70M-2 8958 leading the charge on the Drummundville Sub at St-Léonard, QC.

Last month we reported the Woodcrest Shop had released B&LE SD40T-3 904 following repairs and has returned the unit to service. To clarify, the work done on all three B&LE units was upgrades, not repairs. Ken Lanovich these units were built from EMD eith straight ladders below the rear walkway. They are now replaced with standard stepswith a horizontal offset. B&LE 878 is still Bad order and has no work scheduled for it. CN has assigned several B&LE SD40T-3 ‘s to the former DM&IR.Kent Rengo submitted the DMIR power line ups with 900-series loco’s on February

B&LE 900 U-tac rotation paired with the 909

903 T-Bird rotation leading every other turn

904 Limestone rotation

906 Two Harbors ore pool leading every other trip

909 see the note above on the 900.

On February 4th Chris Gertz caught Train 385 with CN C40-8 2100 as the second unit. Since release from Centralia at the end of January, 2100 was seen often in Quebec and Ontario the first part of February.

CN SD75I 5700 is seen leading this all GM locomotive consist southbound on CN train A432 at Centralia, Il, on January 19th. (George Redmond)

In January, John Reynolds took this shot of retired CN SW1200RS 1379 in the CN Walker Yard deadline in Edmonton, AB.

CN Vignettes:

None of these CN photos by Douglas Leffler were taken in Canada. He shot them all right in his home town of Jackson, Michigan. During September and October 1976, Conrail was power short and leased a mixed bag of units from CN. Conrail DC-1 has CN GP35 4000, GP40 4010 and anM636 in October 1976. The previous month he caught CN GP35 4001 and GP40-2LW’s 9518 and 9511 in Jackson, MI.

CANADIAN PACIFIC

January 25th, 2011 Gary Knapp captured this gorgeus night shot of CP Train 642 on the D&H at Port Henry, NY. The power this evening is also impressive with SOO SD60 6027, ICE SD40-2’s 6426, 6432, and CITX SD40-2 3078.

Gary also captured another great consist January 30th as empty CP ethanol train 643 returned north. I arrived in town with just enough time to set up the lights and capture 643 passing the station. CITX 2790 with the SD45 carbody is a nice accent. CP continues to surprise trainwatchers on the D&H North End with power consists from years back! Shot on January 30, 2011 at 01:59 with Canons' 5D and the Nikkor 14-24 zoom set at 24mm and f2.8.

In early Fevruary the following NREX units were leased to CP: NREX SD50 5462, SD40-2’s 5581, 5661, 5668, 5777, 5823, 6301, 6309, 7289, 7349, 7356, 7360, 7368, 7370, 7374, 8092, 8096, 8099, and SD45T-2 9402.

Roman Litarchuk compiled a list of 71 NREX's leased to CP during 2007/2008. Currently 20 are on the property (asterisk*):

783 3928 4279 4294 4297 4403* 4404 4406 5062 5063 5067 5071 5074 5078 5081 5082 5087 5413 5417* 5431* 5462* 5468 5567 5581* 5661* 5668* 5760* 5777* 5823* 6300* 6301* 6309* 6451 6452 6475 6481 6497 6498 6503 6513 6817 6876 7009 7343 7349* 7356* 7360* 7364 7368* 7370* 7374* 7482 7526 7880 8250 8680 8685 8695 8822 8865 9270 9273 9294 9300 9308 9337 9402* 9842 9903 9926 9931.

CEFX’s on Lease to CP:

On February 5th, Frank Jolin caught (D&H) CP #252 rolling along the shores of Lake Champlain just south of Port Henry, NY, with CP SD40-2 5966 leading 3095, 5739 and 5916 on a cold and crisp winter morning

CP #253 had an amazing power consist on January 22nd. Frank Jolin snapped the train at Lacolle, QC, with locomotives from three Canadian Pacific Railway subsiadaries and two SOO paint schemes.

The remnants of the first class CASO double track mainline across Southern Ontario are still evident in this Westward February view, with a Canadian Pacific Southbound on the approach to Welland North. Formerly called Hewitt Junction, the jog in the track on the left was the original location of a crossover between the high speed North and South mainlines. Today, the North mainline is removed, and East of here the South at Welland Yard, the crossover was just “straight tracked”. David R Howard

In early February following cannibalization of parts, former CP SD90MAC-H 9300 was cut up for scrap at RB Recycling in lachine, QC. Three others (9301-9303) remain stored at St-Luc Yard and will also be moved to RBRX/Cadrail.

On February2nd Cor van Steenis captured this incredilble Canadian winter scene on the Laggan Subdivision at M. 101 oat Storm Mountain Lookout inBritish Columbia. Cor had to fight hard to walk through deepSnow to catch this impressive image.

Cor also submitted the following five shots of CP train 115 all taken on Feb 6th: Luc Lanthier's CP train location trace showed CP Intermodal Train 115 WEST with CP 8816 leading, departed the Lachine IMS Terminal (Montreal, QC) on Feb 2nd at 06:21h. Here we see CP train 115 entering Field, B.C., 4 days later on Feb 6th 13:50h, for a crew change. It will finish its five day run in Port Coquitlam, B.C. (Cor van Steenis).

Here CP IMS Train No. 115 West is seen approaching the Lake O'Hara Road crossing after cresting the Great Divide at StephenFeb 6th.

After departing Lachine, QC four days earlier, CP IMS Train No. 115 is seen on February 6th at Ottertail, B.C., on the final day of its journey before reaching Port Coquitlam, BC.

CP 1520 is still at CP's Port Coquitlam yard. Soon to go to the SRY sometime?

The 8235 was at the SRY Shops on Dec 6th and headed South a few weeks ago.

Last known spot was Sandpoint not sure if it was Sandpoint Idaho?

I hope that someone can do a search on the JLCX 8235 and JLCX 5643 as well

The photos by AJ Shewan were taken at Jason's junk yard called ABC and or J&L consulting.

Former CP GP9u 8235 was photographed by Mark Forseille at New Westminster, BC December 6th, 2010 enroute to the SRY Shop still lettered CP. Rumored as sold to Ontario Southland (OSRX),in January wearing JLCX (J&L Consulting) reportimg marks, it had moved south to Tacoma, WA,for engine repairs at the old CEECOShop. The second shot shows ex-CP GP9u 1520,(sold to JLCX last year) in Port Coquitlam, BC December 19th 2010, prior to moving to the SRY Shop for evaluation.

As of Jan. 24th, 2011 - BNSF Powder River Coal started to move North through the Coutts-Sweetgrass border crossing and up to Lethbridge and Calgary, AB on CP. Then move up to Edmonton, AB and then West, on CN, to Prince Rupert, BC. BNSF run through power is expected to be used on these trains.

CP symbols will be 897 (Sweetgrass to Cloverbar) and 896 return empties. Routing is BNSF - Coutts - CP - Edmonton (Cloverbar) - CN.

Trains will have run-through BNSF power. BNSF coal power is all new enough that the legality of it operating in Canada in the lead position is a non-issue. What remains to be seen is how *collective agreement terms* will be handled, an entirely different matter. CN has a bigger problem than CP does in this regard..

Cor’s source at CN said that the 24 Jan 2011 date you had in CRO was the date the contract was signed, not the date of startup of operations

CP VIGNETTES:

Doug Leffler caught CP RAIL SW8 5705 in Windsor, Ontario in 1974, one of only 10 of this model to grace the CP roster. CP 6700-6709 were SW8’s,and CP 6710-6720 were SW900’s.

Bryon Thomas captured this image of eight MLW RS18u's heading eastbound into Saint John, NB in 1992. Note the unbelievably fresh looking RS18u 1833 in full CP RAIL Multi-Mark!

VIA RAIL CANADA

VIA News Editor (West) Terry Muirhead:

VIA News Editor (East) Tim Hayman:

carRob Eull caught VIA #97 running over three hours late through Oakville, Ontario on February 5th. VIA #97 is the AMTRAK “Maple Leaf” betweenToronto-New York City (over the CN Grimsby Sub south, and runs with a VIA crew/train number in Canada. Then at Niagara Falls VIA station an Amtrak crew takes over and take it to New York City on CSX (ex-CR) trackage. As the pilot on the Amtrak GE was damaged it could not lead, the consist was: VIA 6412, AMTK 78 with fiveAMTK coaches. Amtrak crews take over on the Canadian side of the border, and VIA units aren't cleared to lead in the US, so it is likely the extra AMTK P42 that seems to always be stationed at Niagara Falls, NY was run over the bridge to meet 97. At that point, the VIA crew would have cut the F40 off the lead, to allow the extra P42 to couple on to the damaged one and the rest of the train.

The Amtrak units snow plow was sitting up against the East wall of the TMC the next day after they cut it off. It apparently struck a frog while going around the wye the night before and became damaged enough for the need to remove it altogether.

From his commutter train passing the Pointe St-Charles test shed on February 4th Pierre Fournier clicked retired VIA 6430 and 6400 only 500-feet from the overhead crane where they be cut up and scrapped. This may be the last photo ever taken of these.

A former CN Parlor/Lounge car built in the 1950’s by CC&F - Montreal is for sale from Sterling Rail ,at a price of $16,700 (US).

VIA Vignettes:

GO TRANSIT & AMT COMMUTER

GO news editor Daniel Dell’Unto:

(with thanks to B.Frisina, D.Garcia and B.Miller).

AMT

AMT news editor Jean-Francois Turcotte:

d'électrification du réseau AMT de train de banlieues. COMING

CANADIAN LOCOMOTIVE SHOPS

Global Railway Industries: (RB Recycling / CADRAIL):

Of the four retired CP SD90MAC-H’s 9300-9303 sold to RB Recycling (Montreal, QC) only ine , 9300 has been cut up. The others (9301-9303) remain stored at St-Luc Yard and will also be moved to RBRX.

CANAC / Savage

Lambton Diesel Services

IRSI – Moncton, NB

NRE – Ccapreol, ON

GreenRailNews.com “Green” Locomotive Roundup

Edited by Jody Moore

ELECTRO-MOTIVE CANADA COMPANY

(By Don McQueen)

Summary of EMCC activity during January 2010:

Brendan Frisina’s photo shows UP's "SD59MX" designation. Photo taken 2010-11-01 at Bayview (Hamilton, ON). Higher resolution image here:

SHORTLINES REGIONALS & INDUSTRIALS

WESTERN:

ONTARIO:

GEXR is forwarding CITX GP40-3 6537 to CADRAIL in Lachine, QC for repairs.

QUEBEC:

In January, Quebec North Shore & Labrador ordered five SD70Ace’s from EMCC-London which are to be numbered QNS&L 508-512.

ATLANTIC REPORT:

David Othen sent this video clip of CN 120 apprachuing Milford, NS with two brand new SD70M-2s on January 31st.

CRO MONTHLY PHOTO CONTEST

MODELLER'S CORNER

(Edited by Mike Pebesma)

Our friends Louis Letourneauand Bryan Fons are working to produce a limited run of the large “FARINE – FIVE ROSES – FLOUR” lighted sign at the Port of Montreal. The sign is known to many as a Montreal landmark, and has flashed its large red letters for over half a century on top of the grain towers for all to se. The model version is expected to be scaled e half way between HO and N for both markets with a suggested price of $30 to $35. Your feedback on this project is important. Please contact Louis Létourneau at:

Below is a video showing the light sequence, and photo of the actual sign, with the red letters about 15 feet high:

CANADIAN RAILWAY HISTORY

Douglas Leffler found a couple of photos that he took of CNR steam locomotive no. 6167 on an Upper Canada Railway Society excursion on May 4, 1963. He was 16 years old at the time and photographed this marvelous locomotive with a 120-size, roll-film folding camera. The location of the photo run-by is Watford, Ontario where he clicked a close-up of the locomotive’s smokebox, feedwater heater, markers, headlight, number plate and angled numberboard.

CNR #6060: “ Inside the Cab - with HarryHome"

Harry Home is a former locomotive Engineer working out of Jasper, Alberta, and has been involved directly in the preservation of #6060. It was used on steam train excursion runs by CN in the 1970’s, and now operates on the Alberta Prairie Railway excursion trains between Stettler and Big Valley in central Alberta. HarryHome remains actively involved and here are a few clips of the #6060 inside the cab, and on excursions.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER

ON THE ROAD

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Will:

I see you had a pic of the wrecked TH&B 71 in the January CRO news letter. I thought your readers may like to see it happier times working the local Agincourt switch in November 19, 1966. I took the photo. Used to frequent Agincourt at that time.

John Vincent

Lindsay, ON

Hi Will,

I just wanted to correct a slight error and give an update to the item about the Wabash painted engines at Woodcrest Shops. The city they are heading to is actually Columbia, MO. The railroad is the Columbia Terminal Railroad (COLT). My uncle is an engineer for them and I contacted him to confirm it was Columbia and the COLT that was the destination. The reason for the engines being at Woodcrest was that they were damaged while being switched in Chicago. The train is now heading to St. Louis to another, unknown carshop for further upgrades. Once done, they will head to the COLT. The name of the train will be the Columbia Star Dinner Train and their website is The plan is to run Friday and Saturday night and Sunday for brunch. My uncle is excited that he will get to run F-units on occasions. If you are interested in finding out more about the COLT, the website is

Anyways, just wanted to provide a little more information on this. I know it's not really Canadian, but I appreciated the information. Especially since my uncle hadn't told me anything earlier. He said this has been in the works for about 18 months and is old news to him.

Jason Bucknell

Shellbrook, SK.

The Last Word:

In February, Atlantic Report Editor David Othen decided to end writing his column in CRO, and asked me to accept his resignation as Atlantic News Editor. David will continue to submit CRO news photos.

Our good friends Bill Linley and George Pitarys have each announced their newest book releases:

Canadian Pacific in Color, Vol. 2 Western Lines.

To order a copy, please contact Bill Linley at

George Pitarys new book is Seasons of Trains, and features beautiful colour images of MEC, NBS etc

See my new book Seasons of Trains :

To order your copy, contact “Mike” at:

Cheers,

Will

Contact William Baird – CRO Editor:

THANK YOU:

Jesse Acorn, Murray D. Adams,Jonathan Matthew Angeles, Guy-Pascal Arcouette, Bernard Babin, Wm Beecher Jr., Michael Berry, Christopher Bodkin, Dan Braun,Terry Brennan, Guilio Capuano, Andy Cassidy, Saul Camargo, Clayton Chaloner, Bruce Chapman,Anthony Clark (SOLRS-W), Patrick DeLarue, Daniel Dell’Unto, Tim Dryden, Rob Eull, Joe Ferguson, Brendan Frisina, Dan Garcia, Mike Garza, Sean Graham-White, Tim Hayman, Doug Hately, Bob Heathorn, Jason Jongen, Jeff Keddy, Gary Knapp, Massey F. Jones, Ken Lanovich, Luc Lanthier, Jacques Leroux, Bill Linley, Roman Litarchuk, Richard Marchi, Phil Mason, Peter McGough,Ken McCutcheon, Don McQueen (Froth), Bruce Mercer, Russ Milland (TRHA), Arnold Mooney, Jody Moore, Glen Mounk, Deane Motis, Terry Muirhead, Peter Murphy (CRHA) Jason Noe (Railpace), Henry Nye, Nick O’Dell, Mark Perry, Donna Peters, Kevin Piper, George Pitarys, Walter Pfefferle, John Read “GR17f”, Earl Roberts (Branchline), George Redmond, Bill Sanderson,Bob Schoneman, Peter Skretting, Jon Snook, Wilco van Schoonhoven, Cor van Steenis, David Stowe, Brian Thompson,Jean-François Turcotte, Marc Vallieres, Ron Visockis, Craig Walker, Ed Weisensel, Christian White, Chris Wilson, Peter J Wilson, The Bridge Line Historical Society, and The Canadian Trackside Guide. Un grand merci a Mike, James, John, Michel, Tony, Denis, Mohammed et tous mes amis au St-Luc Diesel Shop.

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