Canadian Railroads > Brothers From Different Mothers

An interesting pair of GP38-2s was working in Halifax's Rockingham Yard last week.  CN 4727 is the former CN 5527, built in late 1972/early 1973 by GMD in London. Ontario.  GTW 6226 took a longer route to CN ownership.  It was built in July of 1975 by EMD at La Grange for the Detroit Toledo & Ironton as number 226.  When DT&I became part of Grand Trunk Western in 1984, they simply added a "6" on the front of the road number.  At some point more recently it got the CN paint job, but retains GTW reporting marks.  These two views show some of the differences between the US and Canadian versions of the same model: front headlight over the windshield and horizontal rear headlight on the EMD instead of nose-mounted headlight and vertical rear on the GMD.  6226 has a ratchet for the hand brake, while 4727 has a brake wheel.  Both examples have Blomberg trucks however, unlike the Type-Ms found on many Dash-2 B-B diesels.

4727's paint job may also be unique.  The hood has the same design that it was originally delivered in, with the large CN noodle, however the cab is all-orange, adopted in the 1973 "stripes" scheme, although there is no logo on the nose.  Because of the condition of the paint on the hood, I think it must have been repainted at some time, but only the cab got the current livery.  It's been running around like this for over 20 years, and I haven't seen another similar one.

In the first image, 6226 and 4727 were working as train 522, a Rockingham switch job, taking headroom on the Transfer Track to shove a string of well cars to the Fairview Cove container pier.  Meanwhile, Z120 had arrived across the cove, and was waiting on the same track, to get into the yard as soon as 522 was out of the way.  The next image shows the pair shoving back, with the Bedford Basin, MacKay Bridge and Tufts Cove power plant in the background.

A few minutes later Z120 was on the move again, heading east into the yard, with three relatively new GEs in charge.

GTD

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