SOO 4203 Update

SOO 4203, Winnipeg, October 5 2009

Geoff Sockett has discovered that SOO 4203 (mentioned here) has been saved from the scrapper, and purchased by the Savage Rail Services Group. It will be renumbered to SVGX 8625. Savage is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Here is some roster information on SOO 4203. She was a GP9, built for the New York Central as NYC 5949, renumbered to Penn Central 7349, then Conrail 7349. CP acquired and rebuilt her in March 1991 and she became SOO 4203.

CEMR 4012 and 4013

I mentioned that I saw CEMR 4013 at the CEMR shops a week ago. Geoff Sockett sent me a photo he took of CEMR 4013 and 4012 in Hantsport, Nova Scotia back on snowy January 16, 2006.

They were working the gypsum train at that time, I see.

CEMR's units 4011-4014 were built for CN as GP9s, numbered 4594, 4597, 4494 and 4567 respectively. They were rebuilt to GP9RM specifications with chopped noses and 1800 horsepower, and renumbered to 4011/4008/4013/4001.

CEMR sent 4011 through 4014 to the Windsor & Hantsport Railway in Nova Scotia in the summer of 2005. 4012 and 4014 came first, followed by 4011. 4013 was the last to arrive, in late August. They displaced the ex-CP MLW RS-23s that were working on the W&H.

4013 had a major failure on April 11, 2008 that wrecked the engine and main generator. 4012 was still operational in June 2008 but suffered a main generator failure soon afterward.

CEMR 4012 and 4013 left the Windsor & Hantsport Railway on March 5, 2009. They were in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for a day or two, then arrived in Toronto on March 13. They finally arrived in Winnipeg on March 21. I do not know the present condition of the units.

Thanks for the photo, Geoff!