CN 6765 in August 1975

Here's a slide I've been meaning to scan for a while. It shows CN 6765 and CN 6633 in Toronto at Union Station at an unknown location on August 9, 1975. The photographer is unknown to me.


I've been trying to nail down when CN 6765 was repainted into VIA colours, and also when it lost the CN on the nose and gained the VIA. I'm slowly narrowing it down.

1. 1972/06/13 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
2. 1976/07/24 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
3. 1977/01/26 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
4. 1979/11/20 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
5. 1980/04/27 - VIA blue and yellow with red VIA on yellow nose
6. 1981/07 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
7. 1988/10/16 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
8. 2001/08/30 - CN green and gold
9. 2005 - CN green and gold

EDIT: Thanks for the location information!

EDIT2: I found a reference to VIA 6765 on Railpictures.ca where it says 6765 had a yellow pilot in November 1976. See the comment to this photo. There's also a reference here that says 6765 was the last FPA4 in green and gold, in 1965.

This Day, 20 Years Ago

CN 1910 looked great in this slide by "JB" dated July 10, 1992. This GMD1 was shot in Moncton, New Brunswick.

This Day, 23 Years Ago

CP 1201 and the Atlantic


I saw this slide on eBay and had to have it. This great slide by W.A. Gleason features CP 1201 on its eastern tour in McAdam, with the eastbound VIA Atlantic on the right. The date was June 4, 1989.

CP 1201 did a tour of the eastern provinces in 1989... the last time it was in the Maritimes.

This Day, 32 Years Ago

Gary Zuters shot GMD1 CN 1912 (and CN 1914) in Thunder Bay, Ontario on a nice May 16, 1980.

This Day, 32 Years Ago

CN 3104 (and I think CN 3112) were shot in Toronto on April 6, 1980. Presumably this is at the Spadina shops downtown, as a VIA "B" unit is clearly visible as well. The photographer is unknown.

CN 3104 was an MLW RS-18.

Slides for Sale

I have some surplus slides in my collection for sale. The complete gallery is here. I'm offering them here first to ye faithful blog readers. What doesn't sell is going on eBay.

I did not take any of these slides. I bought them quite a few years ago. I'm selling these because I already have slides of the same units from a similar angle. They were taken in the Maritimes in the 1980s. The names in the gallery show when and where the slide was shot.

The slides were scanned "as is" with no attempt to correct for exposure, composition, etc. A few of the scans show that the slides weren't mounted exactly straight in the scanner!

I'm asking $3 per slide, shipping extra. Buy 3, get 1 free.

They are going on a first-come, first-served basis... email me at steve@theboykos.com.

This Day, 37 Years Ago

CN 1912 looked good in its CN noodle in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Ken Annett shot this slide on March 6, 1975.

CN 1913

This slide by Gary Zuters features CN 1913 (and CN 1901) in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was shot in September 1979.

CN 1913 was a GMD1 built in the late 1950s. At the time it was built with four-wheel trucks and it was equipped with a steam generator in the short hood for passenger service.

In 1989, CN 1913 was rebuilt into CN 1402 and is still working for CN.

CN 1901 had the same origin, but it was not rebuilt. It was sold to National Railway Equipment and I believe it is still being leased out for industrial use.

This Day, 23 Years Ago

Here's a nice slide of CN 1757 in Halifax, NS by Glenn Courtney. This was shot on December 27, 1988, 23 years ago. It looks like it is in the Rockingham yard. Notice the Newfoundland container visible on the left side of the slide, which is interesting since the railway was officially shut down in Newfoundland on September 1, 1988.

CN 1757 was originally built as RS-18 CN 3852 in 1960. It was rebuilt in 1975 as part of the RSC-14 conversion project by replacing the 4-wheel trucks with 6-wheel trucks (center truck unpowered) and reducing the horsepower from 1800 to 1400 HP. She was retired a few years after this slide, on September 30, 1993.

It was converted back to an RS-18 using the trucks from CN 3615 and renumbered back to 3852. It was first leased, then sold, to the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway in 1994. It was named Sir J.S.D. Thompson while on the CBCNS. She was scrapped in March 1998.

This Day, 30 Years Ago

Here's a little slide showing CN 1758 in Moncton, NB by Gary Zuters. I'm guessing this is in Gordon Yard but I could be wrong.

This Day, 27 Years Ago

Greg Brewer took this slide of CN 2338 in Moncton, NB on June 17, 1984.

CN 2338 has had a bit of a charmed life. It is an MLW M-636 (class MF-36b) built in 1971. It was retired on June 4, 1996 but unbelievably was un-retired twice in 1996 before finally being retired on January 23, 1998.

It was configured in 1999 to be an emergency generator for the MacMillan Yard diesel shop in Toronto, Ontario as part of CN's Y2K preparations. It was not needed, but remained in the yard for years afterward. There was a lot of railfan discussion about what would be done with CN's last big MLW unit.

Amazingly, CN 2338 was sold in late 2010. It was sold to Railroad Power Leasing and became RRPX 2338. It arrived in Buffalo, New York on November 9, 2010. RRPX already had three other M636s among other Alco products. I believe RRPX 2338 is going to the Claremond Concord Railroad in New Hampshire but I could be mistaken.

The new CN 2338 is a GE ES44DC. I haven't had the pleasure of shooting it yet, as it is pretty much brand new. Here is the new CN 2338, photographed on July 31, 2012.

Winnipeg Slide Night

Don't forget - the next Winnipeg slide night is coming up fast - April 6 at 7 PM.

The four presenters are:

• John Morris – CPR in the Rockies [35mm slides]
• Fred Headon – CNR [35mm slides]
• Warren Froese – Motor Cars [Digital]
• Jeff Keddy - CEMR [Digital]

Next Wednesday's show is in room B126 in the north campus of the Canadian Mennonite University at the corner of Grant Avenue and Shaftesbury Boulevard - here. The H-shaped building housing the day-care is the building that B126 is in.

After that, the next slide nights are May 4 in room B132, and June 1 in room B126.

EDIT: Mark Perry is unable to attend so Jeff Keddy will be showing his CEMR photos instead.

Winnipeg Slide Night

The next Winnipeg slide night is coming up fast - March 2 at 6:30 PM.

At present there are three presenters lined up:

• Felix Lesiuk - VIA's HUDSON BAY in 1995 (slides)
• Ross Harrison - Ottawa, Montreal, Ontario in the 1990s (slides)
• Steve Boyko - NB Southern Railway (digital)

Hopefully a fourth presenter will be found soon.

Next Wednesday's show is in room B126 in the north campus of the Canadian Mennonite University at the corner of Grant Avenue and Shaftesbury Boulevard - here.  The H-shaped building housing the day-care is the building that B126 is in.

After that, the next slide nights are April 6 in room B126, May 4 in room B132, and June 1 in room B126.

CP 8743

In honour of the cold day outside here in Winnipeg, here's a shot of CP 8743 on a cold day in Fredericton, NB. This slide was shot by Greg Brewer in January 1984. You can just imagine the crisp snow crunching underfoot. There are a few long icicles dangling from the former shoe factory in the background.

CP 8743 was built in May 1957 for CP by the Montreal Locomotive Works. In 1989, a few years after this slide was taken, she was rebuilt with a chop nose and renumbered to CP 1865. 1865 soldiered on for a few more years until she was sold to the Ottawa Central Railway in December 1998.

She was captured in OCR livery in May 2008 at Ottawa Central's Walkley Yard by Mark Chouinard.


Anyone know what the eventual disposition of Ottawa Central 1865 was?

The current CP 8743 is a GE ES44AC built in late 2005.

CP 1814 Revisited

I wrote about CP 1814 back in December 2008. I found another slide of 1814 that I wanted to share. Here's a slide by Greg Brewer showing CP 1814 in Fredericton, NB in the Canadian Pacific yard, back in January 1984.

Clearly it is late in the day, as the sun is low and in the west. CP 1814 is wearing the white flags of an extra. In fact, it looks like the white classification light above the number board is lit as well. A crewman is visible on the other side of the short hood.

I like this slide, because readers know I love MLW/Alco units, but I also like the slide because of what is on the left side of the slide - a glimpse at the yard itself. Here's that portion of the slide.

You can see an engine house? just peeking out on the left side of the image. The foundation of the engine house was just broken up last year when the station was being refurbished. I was told the workers couldn't believe how thick the concrete was.

Next is a small building, purpose unknown, with what looks like a snowplow roughly in the middle of the image. There are a few other tracks back there, including one that goes to what appears to be a loading ramp just to the left of the engine railing.

The large building in the back was the Palmer-McLellan Shoe Company, and the building still exists today as a general purpose office building, facing on Aberdeen Street. A major tenant is the Grand & Toy office supply company, and it holds a Salvation Army thrift store as well.

EDIT: Peter Gough told me what the large building in the back of the slide was.

This Day, 27 Years Ago

This slide was taken in Fredericton, NB 27 years ago today (January 17, 1984) by Greg Brewer. CP 4221 is in front of the Devon station just north of the train bridge linking the south and north sides of Fredericton.

There are a few things to note. CP 4221 is flying white flags indicating that it is an extra. Based on Greg's slides it seems that the C424s were around Fredericton during this time, prior to the arrival of the RS18s and later the RS23s.

Also note the block signals behind the unit, which appear to be turned parallel to the tracks. I wonder what they were protecting, pointing that way?

CP 4221 was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works as a C-424 in 1965 and was owned by Canadian Pacific for its entire career. It was retired in March 1997 and scrapped.

There is a really interesting photo of it on Railpictures.net showing it leading a picnic train on my birthday in 1991 in New York state, with some passenger cars and RDCs trailing.

CN 1765

Happy new year!

This slide from Greg Brewer shows CN 1765 and the rest of a plow train in the Devon yard in Fredericton, NB in January 1984. You can see that the plow is on the long hood end, which is the Front of an RSC-14.

Like many RSC-14s, CN 1765 noodled around the Maritimes on various branch lines. It did a stint in Newfoundland at the Port-aux-Basques standard gauge yard. As you can see, it was in Fredericton in 1984 and I have a Bill Linley shot of it in Millville near Nackawic in 1983. I also have a record of it in Halifax in September 1990.

CN 1765 holds the distinction of being the power for the last CN train to Woodstock, NB on March 26, 1987. It had just a caboose on the way to Woodstock, and came back with two empty flour cars from Karnes Bakery and a covered hopper. CN service to Woodstock ended on April 1 of that year when ice from the spring flood took out the east span of CP's bridge at Upper Woodstock (credit to Brian Barchard, I think, for this information).

The CN Cyclopedia shows that CN 1765 was built as RS-18 3864 in 1960. It was rebuilt and renumbered in 1975 by replacing the 4-axle trucks with 6-axle (middle un-powered) trucks and reducing the horsepower from 1800 to 1400. She was retired on September 30, 1993 but served a short second life with the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway before being retired again in late 1995. CN Lines says she was used for parts, and presumably she has been scrapped.

Next Winnipeg Slide Night

The next Winnipeg Slide Show is scheduled for January 5, 2011 starting at 7 PM, at the Canadian Mennonite University here at the corner of Shaftesbury Boulevard and Grant Avenue.

If you are interested in attending, and if you would like to present your photos / slides / video, please contact Mark Perry.

Backgrounds

I received my scans back from ScanCafe yesterday, so expect a batch of old photos to start appearing here soon.

I am starting to rename the files with meaningful names, and I noticed something interesting in the background of this otherwise normal slide of CN 2531 in Moncton (by Greg Brewer).

Notice the passenger cars in the background? Here's the relevant part of the slide:

The scan didn't quite work out for this slide. The cars really don't have a big bend in them!

I thought, "yellow cars, yellow cars, I've seen those before."

Then I remembered - a couple of the Salem & Hillsborough passenger cars were painted yellow when they were received. Here's a bad scan of an Al Howland picture:

This makes a lot of sense, because Greg's slide was shot on June 17, 1984, just prior to the start up of operations for the Salem & Hillsborough Railway.

Moral: Keep an eye on the backgrounds!

Scanning...

I received notice yesterday that my slides are being scanned at ScanCafe. I hope to start posting the scans very soon now...