Canadian Railroads > Toronto Agincourt shops in 1968

A family friend arranged a walking tour of CP's Agincourt shops near Toronto ON. in June 1968. We were accompanied by a shop foreman who showed us all around and pointed out the highlights.

A trio of TH&B GP's were present on the ready track.

As it was a weekend, many of the yard engines from around Toronto on the CPR were present. 7401 was significant as it was a hump engine from Agincourt, with cab signals (note the circular antenna in front of the cab) and special MU connections to work with a booster.

CP 6614 was an MLW S-11, 6548 was an MLW S-3.

In 1966, CP started replacing cabooses assigned to a specific train crew to "run through" cabooses which stayed with the train.
The rebuilt cabooses had motor generators to supply electricity and oil stoves for heat. The received a special bright red paint scheme and a distinct "438"xxx number series. Freight train operations out of Toronto were one of the first to receive run through cabooses (called "vans" east of Winnipeg).

Toronto was long home to a fleet of MLW FA's and FB's, shown here on the sanding and ready tracks at Agincourt.

CP introduced fast scheduled 900 series freights in the 1960's, and purchased MLW C424's and GMD GP35's to power them. The 424's provided many years of trouble free service in Eastern Canada. The GP35's were unreliable until CP rebuilt their electrical systems, after that they went on to long careers.

Another class of locomotive that provided decades of service across Canada were the GMD GP7's and 9's.

In September 1968, CP introduced the new red "multimark" paint scheme for locomotives.

Agincourt in the 1960's was hard to get railfan access to, so it was a great privilege to bee given a guided tour.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/22 19:17 by eminence_grise.

It looks like those TH&B Geeps in the 1st two photos had really SMALL fuel tanks.

Topfuel Wrote:
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> It looks like those TH&B Geeps in the 1st two
> photos had really SMALL fuel tanks.

They did, and after CP took over the TH&B and rebuilt the GP's, they retained the tiny fuel tanks.

Isn't TH&B #71 the first loco built in Canada? I recall Wentworth Folkins did a print of it and IIRC it was his last before he passed away.

Rick

TH&B was the first loco delivered by GMD in London, Ontario. It was slated for preservation until it had an untimely coming together with an asphalt truck.

The first production diesels built in Canada for Canadian service were built by MLW, not GMD.

KG

Great stuff Phil. Thanks!!

Dean Purcell
Bracebridge, ON