Steam & Excursion > Scheduled steam passenger service on CN in 1977

On the Canadian board 3/11/19 (MLW Monday 8:37) evidence is presented that in the summer of 1977 there was a Saturday only round trip between Toranto and Niagara Falls shown in the CN's regular schedules that was normally steam-powered.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/19 18:54 by LTCerny.

LTCerny Wrote:
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> On the Canadian board 3/11/19 (MLW Monday 8:37)
> evidence is presented that in the summer of 1977
> there was a Saturday only round trip between
> Toranto and Niagara Falls shown in the CN's
> regular schedules that was normally steam-powered.

Evidence......  This really happened.  I regret not doing them, but I had been
up there in 1973, 1975, and 1976.  Was doing other things in the USA in 1980.
There was good 70 mph running with 6060 on those trips to N. Falls.
Greg Scholl

So does that make 6060 the last steam engine in N. America to be in regularly scheduled main line passenger service?
Didn't CN do the same thing with 4-8-4 6218 previously?
-JH

Panamerican99 Wrote:
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> So does that make 6060 the last steam engine in N.
> America to be in regularly scheduled main line
> passenger service?
> Didn't CN do the same thing with 4-8-4 6218
> previously?
> -JH

I could not find the info on the  Canadian board the original poster talked about, and a link would have been helpful.  All I know is that I remember seeing info on these trips being run regularly I believe for a whole summer.  I remember reading where they were really movie on those trips, and can remember seeing a picture of the engine at the end of one run.  I rode the first trip out of Toronto in 1973 which went to Fort Erie, where they picked up 6218 a half mile from town and then did a dedication of the engine (6218), to the city.  On the way back to Toronto it was late due to all the ceremonies and such at Fort Erie, and we were really moving.  After an in the dark water stop at Hamilton we were passing all the cars on the nearby expressway.  I heard we were doing 80.  I was pretty fond of 6060, and shot pics in 1975, 1976, and went to Jasper in 1986 to see it, and even volunteered working on it as they tried to make Steam Expo in Vancouver(got there, but after Expo).  Also went to Stettler in 1999 to chase a 60 mile excursion, which was the last really long trip it did.  I did a film to video back in the late 90's, and 6060 is in regular service in Manitoba but without the nose-cone, as was the case with many near the end.  Harry Home was the main guy responsible for 6060's being around today!
Greg Scholl

PS....JH...I guess it depends on your definition of regular service regarding the 6060 being the last steam on CN.  It's like the Narrow Gauge.  The last regular scheduled freights on the D&RGW ended in 1968.  However Rio Grande still ran steam on the regularly scheduled Silverton trains through 1980, before they sold it to Bradshaw, and then it became todays Durango and Silverton.  So technically Rio Grande steam lasted to 1980!

It was actually in a different thread, MLW Monday I believe it was.  These are 3 images I posted.  When she got to the falls, she also did a side trip to Yager, which was near Welland where she turned on the wye, and returned to the falls.  Used to run right behind my house, so saw her all the time.

Ken Jones
President - Niagara Railway Museum Inc.
www.nfrm.ca

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Here's a few more from the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. Collection. The first is of course the ticket fo the side trip to Yager, second is sitting at the Niagara Falls Station, and 3rd is coming though the yard on the approach to the bridge at VIctoria Ave, less than a mile from the station.

Ken Jones
President - Niagara Railway Museum Inc.
www.nfrm.ca

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So it really only lasted about 5 weeks, according the the "Last Run" button you posted?  What was the deal with the VIA F-unit on the train?  Most of the trips were without diesel if I recall right.
Here are links to a couple of 6060 shots on my website.
http://www.gregschollvideo.com/gallery/pic17.html
http://www.gregschollvideo.com/gallery/pic8.html

I recently got some cassette audio transferred and it had some 6060 on it.  On those Gravenhurst trips we would chase to Gravenhurst, and they offered a $10.00 side trip to Washago.  Thats where they turned the engine, so they went tender first south to Washago, then tender-first back north to Gravenhurst, so they were pointed in the right direction to Toronto.  A short while after leaving Gravenhurst it would be dark.  Anyway have some recording right next to the nose of the engine on those tender-first side trips to Washago.
Thanks for posting.
Greg Scholl

Did the round trip from Toronto once and another time the Niagara Falls Yager portion. The ticket price for the Niagara-Yager was $5.00 counting in the US-CDN exchange rate at the time put the price lower. Plus you got a run by at the Wye. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/19 08:17 by PCCRNSEngr.

Panamerican99 Wrote:
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> So does that make 6060 the last steam engine in N.
> America to be in regularly scheduled main line
> passenger service?
> Didn't CN do the same thing with 4-8-4 6218
> previously?
> -JH

I would say the Royal Hudson operation would have been the last regularly scheduled mainline steam in North America, running from 1974 until 2001 on BC Rail out of N. Vancouver BC.

Posted from iPhone

CN 6060 operated tourist runs over the CN in the summer of 1977 on Wednesdays too.  Tourists were transported from (I thought Montreal but it could be Toronto) to the Falls and, while they were sightseeing, 6060 operated a short trip for railfans to Yager and back.  The fare was $5.00 and that included two runbys, one enroute and one at the wye at Yager.  I remember that after detraining the tourists and boarding the railfans 6060 backed out of the Niagara Falls depot to a wye and then headed off to Yager, turned there on the wye and headed back to the Falls and wyed again before backing the train into the depot.  The attached photo was taken with the train back at the Falls after the side trip and loading tourists for the trip home.
I was separated from the US Navy in San Diego on Friday, August 12, flew home to Chicago and my father and I headed off to Niagara Falls on Monday morning.  We were in a hotel room in St. Catherines, ON on Tuesday evening, August 16 when the television broke in with the news bulletin that Elvis Presley had died.  The next day we rode behind 6060.    

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