Canadian Railroads > MLW Monday - CN C-424 Quartet Headed for BCR

Two weeks ago, briancdn posted some CN C-424 shots, and asked if anyone had shot a trio of them. Last week at https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4909156 I posted up such a series. This week follows on that, with a quartet running through Bells Corners.
1. It's early morning on April 23, 1977, and I'm set up to shoot hotshot #201 as it crosses the road just east of Bells Junction. The usual fare is a pair of GP40-2L(W), so what I was going for you see in the second photo. As per arwye's comment for today's Miserable Monday, this was blind shooting, show up and see what you get. So my eyes bugged out when I realized this intermodal train had a quartet of C-424s on the point! The pole was an unintended photo element, forced by where I was set up. At 0645, 3222, 3224, 3218, and 3219 tore across, with enough light to use 1/500 and f5 on Tri-X.
2. This is the photo I was going to shoot with the usual mind-numbing consist; had I known, I'd have been east of the crossing, where the passing track would have afforded a beautiful, open view of the quartet. There are 66 cars, mostly intermodal, with about a dozen boxcars to fill it out. My memory says this was Cedarview Road, though it's reconfigured since then.
3. Not the best shot, but it's the only living quartet of these I ever shot. The only reason CN entrusted this train to this lash-up was they were trying to hustle them the heck off the property, having landed a sucker in BCR, for lease purposes. Maybe hoggerdoug had the "pleasure" of running some of these. CN also unloaded a batch of these to Mexico, where they got severely abused. Note the "spare no expense" OC Transpo bus stop, maybe the route was the 77, which passed my house and got me to the tracks unless I hoofed it.
Fred

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/19 19:44 by feclark.

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First-rate black and white photos.
Bob

"Maybe hoggerdoug had the "pleasure" of running some of these"
No Fred, all those leased units were "trail only" account cab conditions etc. I have attached 3222 on BC Rail at Quesnel BC, May 11, 1977. If I recall we had more of these units on lease in 1980.
Fred's black and white image sure are nice and add to the mood of long ago.

Doug

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Great photos; thanks for posting! Wish I had spent more time chasing these.

Brian N.