CP 4563 Video

mygirl22ward posted a video of a CP freight with CP 4563 and 4573 (trailing CP 5627) in Grand Rapids, Michigan in September 1994. CP 4563 definitely looked the worse for wear here.

CP 4563 at Work

CP 4563 is preserved at the Canadian Railway Museum in Delson, Quebec. I had the privilege of seeing her back in 2005, and again in 2007 when she was run to McAdam for the CP Pensioners gathering.

mygirl22ward posted a video of a CP single-stack container train near Chicago featuring 4563 as the second unit (and MLW C424 CP 4215 as the third unit). Enjoy.


The same user posted a video of the big Alco units that CP ran. This video was shot on May 26, 1993, as the MLW units were fast being retired from CP. Great Alco sights and sounds!

Branchline and Canadian Rail

I was pleased that I was asked to provide a photo of CP 4563 for Branchline, Canada's Rail News Magazine. It ran in last month's Branchline, together with great photos by fellow Maritimers Bill Linley and David Othen.

It was this photo, by the way:


Canadian Rail, the magazine of the national CRHA, just ran the same photo, unfortunately without attribution. I was happy to see it there! :)

OK, enough tooting my own horn. ;)

By the way, if you are a Canadian railfan and you don't subscribe to Branchline, why NOT?? It is an excellent source of news specific to Canada. Go here to subscribe!

CP 4563 at night in McAdam

Isaac Greenlaw and a few other people from Maine came up to photograph CP 4563 when it was at McAdam. He was kind enough to send me a shot... quite remarkable.

CP 4563 idling

Here's a quick little video of CP 4563 idling in McAdam, for you Alco-philes.

NB Southern and CP 4563

Despite the warnings of rainy weather, I decided to head to McAdam to see 4563. How often does an MLW visit the southern lines? With my two youngest kids in the van, we set off. My game plan was to meet the eastbound excursion train at Prince William Station, get a few quick shots of the runaround at Harvey, then get the westbound at Harvey Lake before proceeding to McAdam.

We arrived at Prince William Station at 10:00. I fully expected to see the excursion train by 10:20, but that time came and went without any train. It was a bit of a challenge to entertain two kids by the side of a track, but we found some anthills and flowers and did some jumping to pass the time. Finally I had to break the snacks out.

Around 10:50 I heard some rumbling in the distance, and at 10:56 we saw a distant headlight. Prince William Station is a very long piece of straight track, and it wasn't until 10:59 that the train passed us. It had NBSR 2610 and 2317 pulling the three passenger cars (5537, 5448 and 5471, all ex-VIA, ex-CN) and caboose NBSR 422990.


We packed up and went to Harvey. The two engines uncoupled and ran down the main line out of sight, then came back up the siding.


They were ready to roll by 11:37.


We left and went to Harvey Lake. As I was walking toward the point with a tripod in one hand and my toddler in the other, I heard the rumble of the engines. Darn it! I gently set my loads down and brought my camera out to take this one picture.

I'm glad it turned out OK.

We arrived at McAdam and saw quite a few cars parked by the McAdam station. The CP 29 model was parked in front of the station and NB Southern had parked a number of their MOW machines by the shop building. CP 4563 was still in the main yard, so I drove down there with my sleeping kids. I took a few shots and ended up in the cab talking with the gentleman who came down from the Canadian Railway Museum to look after the engine. Quite a nice fellow.




The excursion train arrived at McAdam at 12:25 and unloaded. I talked with a few people I knew (hi Art, Wendell, Danny, Gary) and met a few people I had only known online or by reputation (hi Mike, Ron).

I took the kids for lunch at the Family Restaurant, and when we returned for a quick look, 4563 had been moved over beside the station.

CP 4563 by the McAdam, NB train station

The excursion train was turned on the wye, and at 14:16 they left McAdam. The conductor on the tail end, Gary, told me they had 175 passengers for the Harvey trip.

At 14:20 the NBSR eastbound freight arrived at McAdam, with NBSR 2318, 2612 and 9802. I'm not sure, but I don't believe they made any setoffs or pickups.

Here's a shot of CP 29 by the station. The gentleman in the photo is the fellow from Delson.


We went and had some ice cream, and when we were done, the eastbound freight was ready to go. They had pulled up to near the highway crossing and were waiting to find out where the passenger train was before they could leave. They pulled out at 15:00 with 9 boxcars, 9 autoracks, 3 tank cars, 5 loaded wood chip cars, and 3 empty NBSR log cars (29 cars).

They made good time to Harvey, and passed through there at 15:34.

We headed home at the end of a long but good day. Kudos to NB Southern for being such a good host railway, and to the McAdam crew for hosting the event at their beautiful station.

Walkaround of CP 4563

Gary from McAdam has uploaded a walk-around tour of CP 4563, starting from looking into the cab.

CP 4563 McAdam photos

Brian Barchard got my "heads up" and caught 4563 coming into McAdam today behind NBSR 9801, 2612 and 2317.







Thanks for sharing those, Brian!

CP 4563 shunting McAdam

My man Gary shot some video of 4563 shunting McAdam today! OK, so it wasn't running, but it was right behind the engines doing the work.




Great catch, Gary!

CP 4563 coming to New Brunswick today

CP 4563, the MLW unit coming to McAdam for this coming Saturday's event, is on the NB Southern eastbound freight. It is currently in Mattawamkeag and should be in McAdam by 15:00. I'm told it will probably be stored on the stub track by the dam until Saturday.

CP 4563 on the move

Frank Jolin shot CP 4563 in an MM&A train going east into Maine today.

Through Foster, Quebec
East of Foster
On the Eastman trestle



Thanks, Frank!

CPR Gathering at McAdam September 15

There will be a railway event at McAdam on Saturday, September 15. I understand there are events planned for the afternoon, with registration starting at noon. The highlight for railfans will be former CPR M-630 #4563 on display. This is a public event.

NB Southern will run their passenger excursion train from McAdam to Harvey from around 10:00 to noon, for employees and their families only.

I understand there is going to be a notice in the Daily Gleaner, so keep your eyes open for that.

I have a family event in the late afternoon but I expect I will be in McAdam for the morning and early afternoon. Can't miss the rare CP unit!

EDIT: Thanks to Danny McCracken for the details.

EDIT: CP 4563 is now at Farnham, Quebec as of Sunday September 9. Photo by Frank Jolin

Here's a photo I took of CP 4563 at the Canadian Railway Museum (Exporail) on July 6, 2005.