Canadian Railroads > CP 7023 West (235)

It didn't take long to nail this morning's target. CP 7023 wears a two-tone gray paint scheme designed after the livery applied to Canadian and American fighter jets. Here 235 flies up the grade between Wolverton and Drumbo, Ontario.
 

Bill Miller
Galt, ON

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Was there actually anything to the posts awhile back on here about CP's SD70ace rebuilds not being able to lead trains (I guess this was supposed to be something in BC?)?

Great catch Mr. Miller...:):):)

There was a railfan rumor (unsubstantiated by anything official from CP) that they were banned from the Mountain Sub. There were a couple weeks where no ACus were out west of Calgary, but I've seen a couple in the last 2 weeks (including yesterday) so it appears that even if there's a ban, it's not being rigidly enforced.

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Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

sarailfan Wrote:
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> There was a railfan rumor (unsubstantiated by
> anything official from CP) that they were banned
> from the Mountain Sub. There were a couple weeks
> where no ACus were out west of Calgary, but I've
> seen a couple in the last 2 weeks (including
> yesterday) so it appears that even if there's a
> ban, it's not being rigidly enforced.

People with internal CP sources were able to get that "ban" confirmed informally, and I have seen such confirmation myself. It wasn't specifically the Mountain Sub. -- CP didn't want them going west of Calgary and getting too far away from possible warranty work by the manufacturer. That didn't stop them from reaching the west coast of the U.S., however, and there were sightings between Portland and Seattle, and points north.

There have been a couple of examples of these units arriving in Vancouver (specifically New Westminster) on BNSF trains from the US.  CP 7049 arrived that way on June 9, was interchanged to CP and left in Train 400, isolated, on June 17, destined to Alyth. CP 7014 arrived in the same manner on June 25, was interchanged within a couple of days, but was still in Coquitlam as of  today (Tuesday, June 30).

That aside, two units arrived Tuesday on trains running via Kamloops. CP 7054 arrived on 401-29 and 7051 is arriving as I type on 301-278. I saw it less than 90 minutes ago en route.

So it would appear the ban is indeed over.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/20 00:49 by railsmith.

Perfect farmland pastoral in warm light; really nice.
Fred

They aren't supposed to go west of Calgary but there are always exceptions to every "rule".

They are flocking around Southern Ontario in droves.  This morning of 4 trains early, 3 had pairs of ACU's.

Bill Miller
Galt, ON



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/20 16:45 by CCMF.

So has anybody actually seen this "rule" in print? And has a reason ever been given for the "rule"?

PHall Wrote:
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> So has anybody actually seen this "rule" in print?
> And has a reason ever been given for the "rule"?

I have seen an informal explanation from a CP insider. These units are/were suffering from a number of defects (electrical) which CP feels are the manufacturer's problem to solve and wanted to keep them reasonably close to the manufacturer's premises in the US.

railsmith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So has anybody actually seen this "rule" in
> print?
> > And has a reason ever been given for the
> "rule"?
>
> I have seen an informal explanation from a CP
> insider. These units are/were suffering from a
> number of defects (electrical) which CP feels are
> the manufacturer's problem to solve and wanted to
> keep them reasonably close to the manufacturer's
> premises in the US.

Thank you for the info.  Maybe they should've sent these to the NS to do the rebuild, they SEEM to love theirs.  If it's electrical, hopefully, they replaced the wiring in these old SD90MAC's since they've been in storage for years!