Canadian Railroads > Three cowls on one train

CN U730 oil loads from western Canada to Saint John, NB rolled through Montreal today pulled by three cowl units.  Surprisingly, all three units were facing forward.

KG

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No buffer car?

Not needed for deliveries in Canada..

bob

Nice catch.
JB

Great photo!

611

Posted from iPhone

Great shot. For whatever reason, it ends up that this train will sit in Joffre Yard near Quebec City for a few days before heading to New Brunswick.

Michael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/15 17:38 by Mberry.

Mberry Wrote:
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> Great shot. For whatever reason, it ends up that
> this train will sit in Joffre Yard near Quebec
> City for a few days before heading to New
> Brunswick.

They probably don't have any room for it in New Brunswick, either in Moncton, where it gets split up with blocks of cars going west each day to Saint John, or in Saint John itself.  The big yard in Saint John (Island Yard) has been plugged solid with oil cars this winter, and all the extra snow hasn't helped matters.  Pan Am held another train in Massachusetts a few weeks ago for the same reason.

GTD

Nice shot, Ken.

I wonder if anyone ever caught a 3 cowl, 3 builder consist?
(BBD, GMDD, GE)

Brian E

m420 Wrote:
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> Nice shot, Ken.
>
> I wonder if anyone ever caught a 3 cowl, 3 builder
> consist?
> (BBD, GMDD, GE)
>
> Brian E

I've always wondered the same thing. Considering that there was about a 7-8 year period where all three types ran, I would think it would have had to happen at least once.

Michael

The chances of the three builder cowl lashup are smaller than one might think.  During the period when the HR-616's were in service the GMD cowls were assigned to weatern Canada.  The coast to coast use of motive power was uncommon.  Although the GE cowls were initially assigned to Montreal and extensively used on trains to the Maritimes, the SD50F and SD60F units were very rare east of Winnipeg.

The only exception to the rule was the use of the three 9900 series "demo" units around Montreal shortly after their delivery.  I do have shots of them going east from Montreal.