Canadian Railroads > MLW Monday - Freshly Shopped C-424 Leading #85 into Walkley

On May 26, 1976, at 1430, C-424 4237 leads RS-18 8785 and FP7A 4036 on the point of #85, the wayfreight from Montreal to Ottawa via the north shore of the Ottawa River. The train has just taken the north connector to access Walkley Yard from CP's Prescott Sub; the brick building in the background is the LCBO on the west side of Bank Street, south of Walkley Road. A few things of interest: the lead unit has clearly been recently shopped, and it's possible this was at the time its single air intake was replaced with the four-filter grid. The 8" stripe scheme was already on the property, with SD40-2 5718-5757 delivered in 10-11/75. The second thing relates to a few photos posted last week. Once yarded, the power would be turned on the wye for the return run as #86, in the evening. By the mid- to late-80s (I'm not sure when; I was away from Ottawa 1979-1984), this train would pull south on the Prescott Sub (near track), across CN's Walkley Line, then back in on the south connector, threading some crossovers between CN's south-side trackage and CP's north side of the yard. I don't know why this move became preferable, to be honest. I guess another project would be to dig out some shots of this to scan and post.

On an unrelated note, would anyone have a date stamp that would allow me to stamp my slides from 1976 and 1977, in particular? Even 1978 would be helpful, as one of the belts on mine has snapped, and I didn't start date-stamping until well into that year. Just send me a Private Message if you wish; thanks.
Fred



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/21 13:20 by feclark.

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Sweet !!

Great photo, keep them coming! For some reason I really neglected Ottawa in those years. 

Brian N.

That's a good one.
JB

briancdn Wrote:
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> Great photo, keep them coming! For some reason I
> really neglected Ottawa in those years. 
>
> Brian N.

On the other hand, I didn't have much choice. It was hometown, and I didn't have a car. Eventually I used bus to get to Smiths Falls and Toronto in 1977 to 1979.
Fred

Sweet a MLW C424 my favorite MLW/Alco model.

Great catch Fred ! Always loved the narrow stripe scheme, and here you've nailed a fresh one- love it !

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

feclark Wrote:
 >The second thing relates to a few
> photos posted last week. Once yarded, the power
> would be turned on the wye for the return run as
> #86, in the evening. By the mid- to late-80s (I'm
> not sure when; I was away from Ottawa 1979-1984),
> this train would pull south on the Prescott Sub
> (near track), across CN's Walkley Line, then back
> in on the south connector, threading some
> crossovers between CN's south-side trackage and
> CP's north side of the yard. I don't know why this
> move became preferable, to be honest. I guess
> another project would be to dig out some shots of
> this to scan and post.
>
Fred I passed on your question to our mutual friend Bruce Chapman.  He replayed to me today (as well as yourself) but I'll post the answer here for the benefit to those who may also be wondering.  OTTAWA/HULL LOSES: In November 1996, the St. Lawrence  & Hudson Railway (CP) lifted several shop tracks, the west runaround track and the wye in Walkley Yard in Ottawa, all industry sidings at Ottawa West, and the wye track at Wamo in Hull.  As well, the concrete station in Hull, built circa 1966, was demolished.   (Raymond Farand and Mike Tessier)

Great photos BTW keep them coming.

Gerry Gaugl
Ottawa ON