The End of CP 8131

The end has come for ex-CP SW1200 #8131 in Winnipeg. If you recall, it arrived in Winnipeg in mid October 2009. The photo above shows it in Symington Yard. It ended up along Chevrier Boulevard near the old Manitoba Sugar building. It has been moved a couple of times but always in the same area near Manitoba Hydro.

I shot it in early September and it looked intact and essentially undisturbed after almost a year in Winnipeg.




I drove on Chevrier Boulevard on Wednesday morning and I saw that the engine had been moved. I took a bit closer look and I could see that people were working on it, and I saw the front and side panels were off the engine. There were sparks coming from the nose.

I came back a while later with my camera and took this one shot with my long lens. It has been moved back and it is not as accessible as it was last month.

As you can see, pieces have been removed from the engine. The horn, plow, MU hoses, and some handrails are gone, and obviously the panels are off. It looks very much like the other engines that were scrapped at this location in the summer of 2009. Too bad.

Another SOO 4203 Update

I mentioned back in early October that SOO 4203 was saved from the scrapper, to be renumbered to SVGX 8625 and sold to the Savage Rail Services Group. Well, it was renumbered but it is still in Winnipeg, two months later.

Note the painted-over 4203.

A few weeks after I talked about 4203's new life, I saw SW1200RS CP 8131 in CN's Symington Yard in Winnipeg. In late October it was moved over to Chevrier Boulevard and coupled up to SVGX 8625.

Since then, they have been moved a few times along the former Manitoba Sugar spur but they are still there today. I wonder why they haven't been shipped out?

On a related note, I found a few photos of the same units I was watching the scrappers dismantle all summer, here.

Oddities in Winnipeg

I drove by CN's Symington Yard just before noon today, and I saw two unusual sights in the yard just south of the hump.

Ex-CP SW1200 8131 was sitting there by itself. I understand 8131 has been dead for quite some time.


GO Transit bilevel car 2499 was very near 8131. This is probably the same GO car I saw yesterday on the end of a freight. The last time I saw I saw a GO car in Winnipeg (Boxing Day 2007), it was coming from the Bombardier plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario.


A more normal sight was a freight at the south end of the yard, presumably getting ready to head out on the Sprague subdivision. CN 5776 and 2648 were at the head of a container train.

Note the ubiquitous Canada geese in the field. They are everywhere in Winnipeg!