Canadian Railroads > F-Unit Friday - CP's Canadian on a Shoo Fly in Ottawa

With apologies to those who saw this a while ago on LBC's group, this is the WB Canadian, #3 by this date, at 1451 on September 2, 1978. The consist is 1403, 4478, and behind the baggage car, RDC-5 9302 (1991 TSG indicates former RDC-2 9199; if I have this right - it turns out I didn't, so see kgmontreal's reply to set things straight - , engine removed, no controls, just carrying passengers). I'm standing on the Beachburg Sub in Ottawa, with Woodroffe Ave. the crossing in the distance. The point of the shoo fly was to allow them to construct the underpass to get Woodroffe below grade. I can't remember how long this project took, but I got a few shots of trains on it. How would something like this look on a layout?
Fred



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 08:49 by feclark.

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Neat shot. I'm not sure why you say the RDC had engines etc removed. CP had a procedure for hauling RDC's in a regular train and in earlier years it was common to do so.

KG

Seeing the RDC in the consist makes me wonder about the steam line. Although it was summer, the steam would be necessary for hot water throughout the train, especially in the dining and Skyline cars for washing dishes. Any time I saw an RDC or two on a standard consist, they were at the rear of the train. I have seen photos of a late-1950s CPR Toronto-Windsor train with an RDC (maybe two) between the steam locomotive and the regular coaches. I assume there was no hot water available in the coaches. The RDCs could have hot water if their engines were operating.

Some railroads had their RDCs fitted with steam lines so they could pass steam to trailing cars. These lines provided no steam heat to the RDC, itself.

kgmontreal Wrote:
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> Neat shot. I'm not sure why you say the RDC had
> engines etc removed. CP had a procedure for
> hauling RDC's in a regular train and in earlier
> years it was common to do so.
>
> KG

I said engines removed because I was wrong, evidently! A second look at my going-away shot shows an exhaust stack. I was never sure exactly what the deal was with the RDC-5; I guess it's the RDC-2 but only with the small baggage section converted to seating . Its door is filled in with a smooth plate without fluting. So still an RDC in every respect, then? These things often ended up within the consist of the Canadian when there was an airline strike and they needed more passenger-carrying capacity than the regular consist could provide. Any chance you have shots of a stand-alone RDC-5 on a run?
Fred

So, the Beachburg Sub. was the former Canadian Northern (later CN) west from Ottawa toward Algonquin Park, Brent and North Bay.

Track changes around Ottawa bought about by relocating the passenger station out of the city centre resulted in many routing changes close to Ottawa.

I'm not sure when routing changes took place west of Ottawa, but wouldn't the "Canadian" have travelled over the Carleton Place Sub. to Carleton Place and then join the Chalk River Sub. to Chalk River and the west.

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> So, the Beachburg Sub. was the former Canadian
> Northern (later CN) west from Ottawa toward
> Algonquin Park, Brent and North Bay.
>
> Track changes around Ottawa bought about by
> relocating the passenger station out of the city
> centre resulted in many routing changes close to
> Ottawa.
>
> I'm not sure when routing changes took place west
> of Ottawa, but wouldn't the "Canadian" have
> travelled over the Carleton Place Sub. to Carleton
> Place and then join the Chalk River Sub. to Chalk
> River and the west.

Phil,
The Canadian departed the new station on the passenger line, connected with the freight line out of Walkley Yard at CN Wass, on the east side of the Rideau River. Once over the river, at CN Federal, the Smiths Falls Sub went south, and the Beachburg continued west. At Bells Junction, in Bells Corners, CP's Carleton Place Sub took off from there, eventually connecting with the Chalk River Sub at Carleton Place, to points north. In the old days, before my time, the Carleton Place Sub went under the Beachburg near Bells Junction, rather than connecting with the Beachburg. The plate girder bridge was still in place when I started shooting in 1976; they eventually filled the gap, I think, with a lot of material. Some day (right) I'll try to post a shot showing this.
Fred

eminence_grise Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, the Beachburg Sub. was the former Canadian
> Northern (later CN) west from Ottawa toward
> Algonquin Park, Brent and North Bay.
>
> Track changes around Ottawa bought about by
> relocating the passenger station out of the city
> centre resulted in many routing changes close to
> Ottawa.

>
> I'm not sure when routing changes took place west
> of Ottawa, but wouldn't the "Canadian" have
> travelled over the Carleton Place Sub. to Carleton
> Place and then join the Chalk River Sub. to Chalk
> River and the west.

Phil, the changes were made in July of 1966. Fred's answer is correct about the routing. The RDCs from the Sudbury-White River, Sudbury-Sault Ste Marie services transferred back to Montréal through Ottawa on The Canadian. The few times I saw this happen, the RDC was behind the locomotives.

The photo that I have included is from a trip back from Vancouver, The Canadian has been split into the Ottawa section(on the right) and the Toronto section (on the left). The RDC has been added to the consist of the Ottawa section so it can be transferred to Montréal. I believe that in 1976 the "Glen" looked after the RDCs. My photo was taken on November 2nd, 1976, and my roomette was warm and comfy for the rest of the journey to Ottawa so I can only surmise that this RDC had a steam line.

Gerry Gaugl
Ottawa ON

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