Postscript: CN GMD-1's

CN GMD-1's covered much of CN's western branchline network, so there were bound to be a few mishaps along the way. On December 4, 1979 an eastbound with 1067-1069 sideswiped a westbound just east of Gladstone, Manitoba. A news photo in the Portage Daily Graphic showed 1067 mired in mud (above). On November 4, 1980, 1065 derailed in Portage, with a Graphic news photo showing a CN auxiliary doing the rerailing honours nocturnally:
In February 1974, here are the home terminal assignments for CN's GMD-1 fleet:
Calder: 1000-1005, 1018, 1024, 1058-1059.

Saskatoon: 1006-1011, 1013-1017, 1019-1023, 1027, 1032-1033, 1040-1041, 1043-1045, 1048-1051, 1053-1055, 1057.

Symington: 1012, 1025-1026, 1028-1031, 1042, 1046-1047, 1052, 1056, 1069-1071, 1073-1076, 1900-1903.

The Pas: 1034, 1036-1039, 1060-1068.

Neebing: 1904-1917.

Here are the consists of the two trains from August 1981 shown in the previous post:

Aug 26/81 WB 1353: 1052-1065-CNWX 108242-ALNX 396054-CNWX 396183-CNWX 100865-CNWX 107116-CNWX 395742-CNWX 107091-79853.

Aug 28/81 0855 EB: 1052-1065-CN boxcars 519991-535201-538674-539800-535456-531818-535902-481631-428515-426129-432838-426409-425488-420067-428899-426672-428867-521485-531762-427285-426451-480793-OTTX flat car 93535-429556-483528-534586-79545.

In April 1985 TRAINS magazine, Greg McDonnell wrote of his pursuit of 1027 across Manitoba, in an effort to photograph the numberboards and extra flags to head the magazine's Running Extra excursion listings. First a fleeting glimpse of a wintry run of the Steep Rock wayfreight in 1981, then finally tracking down the elusive unit (which shared the magazine's street number on North 7th St in Milwaukee) in 1984 in Margaret, the name of then-editor David P Morgan's wife.

Here's a GMDL print ad, published in the February 1959 CN Keeping Track magazine, shared by D.J. Gagnon:

Running Extra...

Not that you'd notice, but I made sure the posting time of these two posts on Ten-Hundreds was adjusted to read 10:00. Bloggero minutiae obsessivo, hogwarts!

Dave commented on CN's setting up the ten-hundreds to run long hood forward, thus ensuring crew safety at level crossings but poor air quality in cab.

Sperry Car SRS 119 OS yesterday eastbound at 1630. Checked the ol' photo file, and it turns out I saw her at the same mileage in 1983, albeit in the classic Sperry paint scheme. And that's not all...also photographed her in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba the same year. Those detector cars put on more mileage than a Budget Rent-a-car.

Ten-Hundreds: CN's GMD-1's

My first encounter with the decidedly Canadian GMD-1 was in the summer of 1976. All night long, the big-trucked brutes dragged transfers of grain boxcars behind the Thunder Bay Holiday Inn in which we were staying, blowing exhaust through their spark arrestors into the night sky. It's oh-dark-thirty and they're barely visible through the 12-inch square bathroom window, but they're RIGHT THERE: 1904, 1913, 1907, 1908, and 1914.

In successive trips to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, I saw braces of GMD-1's in action, still moving grain, but in daylight and at speed. Forget the 1900's, those steam generator-equipped, four-wheeled Flexicoil-trucked passenger units. Nevermind the Northern Alberta's five, which due to CP's influence operated short-hood forward, and were obtained by CN in the 1981 acquisition of NAR. Not yet time for the rebuilt 1100's, 1400's and 1600's - those latter-day, new and improved GMD-1's. On May 16, 1980 at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, 1076 basks in the morning sunshine (top). Back in 1976, 1074-1068 face the setting sun at Portage (above).
These were the original, as-built ten-hundreds - turned out by GMDL in 1958-60, ninety-six in number - purely Canadian. Described variously as ugly, ungainly, light-footed and lightweight, or a cross between an NW5 and an SW1200RS. 1070-1076-1071 plod past Portage station on August 17, 1978 (above), and 1017-1005 are at speed at West Tower in August, 1981:
Shrouding a 1200-horsepower, V-12 567C with a nominal axle loading of 40,000 pounds per axle, these unique units tiptoed, toiled and travelled CN's lightweight Western branchlines. The ones with equipment restrictions definitively described in CN employee timetables as "Only units in series 1000-1076 permitted": the majority of subdivisions in CN's 1979 Saskatchewan Division, and five subdivisions in southern Manitoba in 1984, then only Saskatchewan's Lewvan Sub in 1998.
Debuting in CN's olive-green scheme, the units spent much of their life in the 'black widow' all-black. With a couple of exceptions - 1063 was still green in 1980. Olive 1052 and 1025 switch Portage in August, 1978.
Known for their out-and-back branchline turns, here 1052-1065 have a few new cylindrical grain cars ahead of 79853 to spot in Portage on August 26, 1981 before heading west:
Returning two days later with a 26-car train of loaded grain boxcars and 79545, resplendent in the red cab paint the GMD-1's later received:
The following summer, 1052 was still hard at it, with the last of 18 axles clumping of the West Tower diamond behing 1026 and 1057, with 97 grain empties and caboose 79617 on June 18, 1982.
Another similar grain turn behind 1067-1012 arrives in CN's Portage yard with 15 grain cars on September 18, 1985:

Heading west light power, they return a couple of days later with 1012 in the lead at Eighth Street hauling boxcars:

Tying onto the cars they dropped earlier in the yard, the duo prepares to head east to Winnipeg.

Saskatoon's diesel shop on an overcast June day in 1986 finds GMD-1's slumbering by the shop. 1080 is ex-NAR.

CN engineer Mark Perry from Winnipeg remembers,

"The GMD-1's were a favourite of mine to photograph. But to work on them was another story entirely. They bounced a lot at any speed and rode like a rough old mule. If it was raining, or there was grain dust or fresh green weeds on the tracks, they could hardly pull themselves, let alone their train. I spent a lot of time riding on the front footboards, pouring sand from a bag onto the rails ahead of the unit. They smoked quite a bit, and the smoke seemed to end up in the cab, choking the crew. But they did the job they were built to do."

VIA's LRC in Service

VIA's LRC trains debuted in the summer of 1981 with fanfare. The Canadian-developed train was intended to speed travellers along the Windsor-Quebec City corridor at speeds exceeding 100 mph. The trains entered service more slowly than expected, in part due to a strike at Bombardier. LRC's are still a novelty as 6910 pulls my first photographed LRC train into Kingston station in December 1981 with a long Christmas consist (top photo). Conductor and trainman, with enough gold bars on their sleeves to recall the steam era, operate controls in the vestibule. Power-opening traps and steps would later be replaced by less troublesome, but clunkier manual operation.

More trainsets were eventually available, and 6913-6 cars-6914 arrive at Kingston eastbound in early 1985. That white thing is a wooden whistle post for the Counter Street crossing. Welded rail lies trackside:
To quote Rapido Trains' Jason Shron, "They've had maintenance headaches in the last few years. In their prime, they were saviours of the Corridor". VIA's Diane Graham confided to Jason in the mid-90's, "Thank goodness we have the LRC. I don't know where we would be without it. " 6904 with 6913 on the rear on March 16, 1985 speeds along near Mi 183 Kingston Sub:
Once released from the factory, train riders often occupied a seat on each LRC train, ready to respond to calls for assistance with a minor (or major) problem. Even VIA's 1982 annual report mentioned: "During this introductory phase, a number of technological problems related to the train systems were encountered which were addressed jointly by VIA and the manufacturer, and refinements effected gradually." In December, 1983 VIA removed its 50 LRC cars from service, for inspection by Bombardier and replacement of wheel bearings. 6915 brings up the rear of a 6-car train headed by 6916 on January 1, 1985 past cedar scrub near Mi 185 Kingston Sub:
In April 1986, 50% of the LRC coach fleet was shopped. Then, electrical problems in April 1988 meant that LRC locomotives couldn't run solo, instead requiring a 'B' unit or steam generator unit. From March-May 1992, axle problems at tolerances greater than 2/1000 of an inch brought back blue & yellow conventional consists and SGU's. 6930 and 4 cars head east at Napanee on April 30, 1985:
LRC consists usually ran with an LRC locomotive and 4-6 cars. Trains of 6-10 cars required locomotives on both the head-end and tail-end. Rarely did the locomotives operate elephant-style. 6912 smokes it up out of Kingston in mid-1985:
Most of the LRC locomotive fleet was stored by 1991, except for 6902, 6903, 6905, 6916, 6919, 6920 and 6921. Some units may have been temporarily brought out of retirement though, as I saw 6907 and 6914 in 1993, and 6909 and 6917 in 1995. The last few units were retired by 2001. Until retirement, complete LRC consists with a locomotive at each end were in use on morning and evening Montreal-Toronto non-stop service. It was awesome to see them rip through Kingston station, on the only VIA trains that didn't stop here. 6912 burbles away alongside other LRC equipment at Toronto Union Station, seen from the dome of Stratchcona Park in May, 1985:
Even though LRC cars had racked up their first million miles each by 1991, they are soldiering on, currently undergoing major refurbishing at IRSI in Moncton. 6930 leads an evening westbound over the just-refurbished Collins Creek bridge near Mi 180 Kingston Sub on November 15, 1987:

The LRC locomotives have since met their stopblocks, with only 6921 preserved at Delson and 6917 in Toronto. 6916 leads 8 cars and 6926 through Napanee, Ontario on March 31, 1986. More on the LRC's early years in this post.

The LRC car fleet rolls on into the foreseeable future, now pulled by 6400's and 900's. Witness these cars rolling into Kingston on VIA train 46 on May 4, 2009, complete with Canada logos and large Canadian flags on their flanks:

Running extra...

Check out the right sidebar for updates on my upcoming VIA book, or go direct to the blog here. Lots of chat recently on Yahoogroups about the 101 uses for an LRC locomotive, before the F40's arrived, hauling Tempo, conventional, even ONR cars, the Canadian in the Corridor, yard switching, teamed with F's and SGU's and who-knows-what-else. I remember many of these trains and they'll definitely be included in my book.

Preserved LRC's. Who ever thought those words would form a phrase? Read about the Toronto Railway Historical Association's efforts with 6917 here , plus a photo of 6921 at Delson here . Can't preserve a coach because they're still running. Thanks to Jakob Mueller for the idea of rotation of retired units post-1991. It seems the official retired unit list of the time did not take into account some units returning to service subsequently.

Those little bags of potato chips intended for crunch..crunch Hallowe'en sure are tasty. Only about 7 chips per bag though...chomp chomp. Sure cuts down on dip intake scoop..scoop.

An Afternoon on the Millhaven Spur, 1997

December 21, 1997 found me at the Celanese plant on CN's Millhaven Spur, climbing into the cab of former LV/CR SW-8m 78, an A.A. Merrilees industrial locomotive operated by Cando Contracting. I was invited and accompanied by Corey, a Celanese plant operator at the time. Once in the engine, we headed north from the plant with Cando crewmen Al and Nigel and several cars. The route, not to scale and omitting the full length of our route beyond the runaround track on the spur, is shown below with other all-time Millhaven Spur trackage:
Engine 78 paused in the curve (above) before starting to kick the cars it brought north into CN's lift/setout tracks KN03, KN04, KN05 (at right, below), and the storage-in-transit yard (at left, below). Both Al and Nigel wisely reminded us not to disembark on the north side of the covered hopper cars shown, as it was directly adjacent to CN's double-track Kingston Sub.

The covered hoppers were a mix of AMCX empties for lifting, and UNPX/CELX loads, either for lifting or storage until sold. The CHiP resin pellets in the loaded cars were processed by being melted, poured into molds, inflated with pressurized hot air to form 2-litre pop bottles, at plastics plants. In 1997, CHiP pop bottle resin was selling for 52 cents per pound, making a fully-loaded 199,000 pound capacity car's cargo worth $100,000!

Inbound ethylene glycol tank cars from Alberta were stored on the shortest north yard track:
As the sun dropped from the late-December sky, the crew continued past the tank cars to record the car numbers of all cars in the north yard. This task was usually done on Sundays. Corey is standing alongside the new yard, built only two years before:

The car numbers could either be gathered by the crew from inside the cab, or for the adventurous, by walking the roofwalks. CN's main line can be seen at left:

Then it was time for us guest engineers to take the throttle - fortunately for the safety of all concerned, this was limited to the long north-south tangent. From idle to notches 1, 2 and finally 8, I then stopped well short of the Taylor-Kidd Boulevard crossing using the engine brake. In the deepening darkness, we stopped at the resin tracks: loading at right, TA-unloading at left. A third track out of sight to left received "green-belt" AMCX covered hoppers. The Celanese Trackmobile, Corey's usual job, is just visible by its red lights:

Then it was down to the glycol tracks to place a couple of cars and record the numbers of those already placed for unloading. It's a safe bet that engine 78 was tucked in for the night at the shop soon after our tour ended. Disembarking marked the end of a great two-hour exposure to the nitty-gritty of car movements on the Millhaven Spur.

Running extra:

Just finished listening to Does this Clutter make my Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh. Interesting facts: Boeing has increased the assumed weight of each passenger by 20%, portion sizes have tripled in the last 25 years, and average waistline has increased by over 4 inches in less than 10 years. Want fries with that?

Celine Dion had twins. Do you call that a double-C.D. set? Her Titanic song left me with a sinking feeling. Did you hear about the ship load of yo-yo's that sank in Vancouver harbour? It sank fourteen times.

A derailment on CN near Cornwall this past week caused delays in CN and VIA traffic, and Ottawa-Montreal-Toronto VIA detours. On to Ottawa! Whether you want to go or not. An upcoming post will detail CP detours over CN's Kingston Sub, plus the derailment of empty flat cars for a military movement from Kingston to Wainwright in 1987.

Canadian Forces move by rail

Canada's railways are sometimes called upon to transport Canadian Forces (CF) military vehicles between major bases at Wainwright AB , Shilo MB, Borden ON, Valcartier QC, Gagetown NB and even Kingston. Armoured, mechanized infantry, artillery, engineer and signals units are transported for operations, exercises and embarkation overseas. This is in addition to British Army and Deutsches Heer military vehicles being transported to training bases at CFB Suffield, Alberta and CFB Shilo, Manitoba respectively. Railway and CF personnel work together to ensure vehicles are chocked and chained properly for movement, and transported safely and securely to their destinations. CN or Trailer Train (60-foot OTTX and HTTX) heavy equipment flatcars equipped with chain tie-downs are used in this service.
Major movements from CFB Kingston included Rendez-Vous 87 (RV87) at CFB Wainwright, one of the CF's biennial division-level manoeuvre exercises, since curtailed for budgetary reasons. CFB Kingston's 1st Canadian Signal Reginent (1 CSR) provided communications capability. Vehicle loading was shown in the above Kingston Whig-Standard news photo at Counter Street in 1987, and below in 1992 as the loaded train is assembled at Queens.

An April 1989 Whig photo of truck loading for RV89 at CFB Wainwright: 

By RV92, the unit's designation had been changed to 1st Canadian Division Headquarters and Signal Regiment (1 CDHSR) but plenty of vehicles, including new 5-tonne HLVW's were still needed. With the move to computers and increased use of technology, paper exercises would become more frequent. CN 5115-leased GATX 3702 were switching flatcars at Queens East on May 12, 1992:
In 1986, a westbound CN military movement passed through Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The power was 5519-4243 and two more Geeps. M109 self-propelled and towed C1 105 mm howitzers (top photo and below):

M113 armoured personnel carriers and M548 ammo carriers:

M578 recovery vehicles and many of the other vehicles were emblazoned with red stars, perhaps representing Opposing Forces (OPFOR). One of the last trains moved out of Kingston on the CP line north was a military movement. Also, on June 5, 1986 an eastbound military movement through Kingston behind 9456-9531-4349-9196-5047 comprised 27 flatcars-9 auto racks-8 flat cars, cabooses 79563-79500-79682, with the 44 cars loaded with Jeeps, 5/4-ton trucks, ambulances and recovery vehicles. Miscellaneous CF vehicles were occasionally loaded at Kingston's Counter Street team track, such as this bucket truck, cable trailer, and other equipment on the evening of May 28, 1991:

Two Leopard tanks and two MLVW's were on CN train 335 at Kingston on October 4, 1997 billed to Wainwright:

At Walkley Yard in Ottawa on a chilly February 7, 1994 the cabbie slowed down so I could take a photo of three of over 2,800 LSVW trucks built by Western Star of Kelowna BC, with caboose 79374:

CN 9528-9556-4115 are hauling 70 cars of CF vehicles on May 23, 1997 eastbound through Kingston to Quebec or the Maritimes following Op Assistance, the Manitoba flood relief operation:

CN 5094 led a two-unit military train west through Kingston in this undated Tim Reid photo:

Today, Canadian units deploying to Afghanistan move by rail to Fort Irwin, California for workup training in a desert environment, sometimes accompanied by a privately-owned caboose or passenger car, used as a rider/escort car.

Running extra...

Check out this new blog. I've been considering this VIA Rail book project for some time now, and it's time to get it rolling. The blog tells the story, and will be the single source for updates on this book project. I'll include it in my right sidebar for easy access. If you're a VIAphile of any era of VIA, this book will interest you!

CN's Millhaven Spur

Ten miles west of Kingston, CN's 1.5-mile long Millhaven Spur branches off the south track at Mi 186.6 Kingston Sub. Loyalist Township has posted a 2013 map of the industrial park and a 1960s aerial photo:

For years, the spur only served the terylene and ammonia plants built by England's Imperial Chemical industries, opened by Canadian Industries Limited in 1954, and later known as Millhaven Fibres Limited. Once Canada's third-largest producer of polyester, and the Kingston area's sixth-largest employer in 1970, by 1992 it was the only Canadian producer of polyester fibre for clothing, carpets and tires. The plant location was chosen for its excellent road, rail and lake transportation links and access to large quantities of cooling water from Lake Ontario.
The continuous polymerization staple line was added in 1967, and the Heavy Decitex plant in 1968. Sold to Celanese, then KoSa, ultimately re-sold to Invista, the plant closed in 2009, after latterly producing PET plastic for pop bottles, and is being demolished in mid-2013. A dock, built by Liquifuels for ship-to-shore transfer of bunker C oil for the C-I-L power house and ammonia plant, is still available for liquid asphalt transfer to the Ashwarren then Lafarge, now CoCo Paving operation. The Enerchem Refiner is docked here on October 12/97:
As the plant grew, CN handed plant switching over to Cando Contracting of Brandon, Manitoba. Douglas J. Fear visited the plant trackage in November, 1996, photographing SW-1200 1003 and SW-8M 78 in the CANDO blue scheme:

Various switchers were stationed at the plant engine house, and their single-chime, US-style airhorns could be heard hooting miles to the east as they switched across Taylor-Kidd Boulevard. Cando's ex-PRR SW-1200 1003 is switching on July 31/97 (top) and had been joined by 1002 nose-to-nose in July/02 (below). Cando 1002 was the last switcher to leave the property in January 2010, billed by Total Track to the National Research Council in Ottawa.

Jim Snow Drive makes viewing of plant switching easier. Named for Ontario's transportation minister (1975-84), it links Highway 33/Bath Road with Taylor-Kidd Boulevard and the UTDC-Bombardier mass transit plant. The Bombardier plant was once served by the Millhaven Spur. And it is again. The plant was taken over by international transportation giant Alstom. Originally, polyester plant trackage comprised a tank farm on the east side of the plant, staple unloading at the west side, as well as boxcar unloading. CN crane 50472 and two flatcars were adding trackage on July 8/96. With plant expansion, a Trackmobile operated by KoSa employees was added to move cars at the PET resin plant expansion.

The Trackmobile supplemented twice-daily Cando switcher runs to the multi-track North storage-in-transit yard, parallel to CN's Kingston Sub. In 1982, a spike's-eye view looking west shows CN ballast cars stored on the lift/setout tracks at the North yard, with the County Road 4 overpass and Ernestown interlocking in the distance:

The asphalt operation added rail service in 2006. A two-track unloading area, including heating pipes to facilitate high-temperature product transfer, brought an end to trucking the product from the top of the Cataraqui Spur, an eight mile drive to the east. Branching off the spur north of Taylor-Kidd Blvd., then crossing it, the asphalt lead hosts tank cars for unloading during winter-spring months. Awaiting cars, freshly graded and ballasted looking south:

Looking north at the new spur:

With grass now growing in the Invista staff parking lot, and plans for a Millhaven ethanol plant still fermenting, CoCo is the sole customer on the Millhaven Spur. As of 2013, the Invista plant has been demolished, while wind and solar hydro projects have sprouted north of the CoCo property, across Taylor-Kidd Blvd. and slightly east. Interestingly, Bombardier recently built a 1 mile-long linear test track visible from County Road 4:

On June 27/94, 4119-4121-79549 hustle seven cars west through Napanee: the first two from Norcom and the last five from Celanese. Ault Foods' milk processing plant in the background later closed due to a strike.

Lone engine 4116 muscles 25 cars east out of Belleville yard as CN train 519 to Celanese on a snowy but sunny morning, March 1/01:

At the top of the Bath Spur on June 26/02, train 519 has only run as far east as KoSa, and is now entering the east leg of the wye to turn its train before returning to Belleville. KoSa cars are in evidence in the consist, as is a single ATSF boxcar for the Napanee Goodyear plant, now without rail service.

4122 and 4124 have just cleared the Kingston Sub:

With work in Kingston, train 519 has run around its train at Queens on August 30/02. After hooking on the TIBS, it's got the light at the home signal and is now hauling 18 cars uphill out of Queens on the south track behind 4132-4121. Next stop: Belleville.

Andre Gerow posted this awesome drone photo to social media taken at the top of the Millhaven Spur showing a VIA Venture at the switch to the CN Kingston Sub in July, 2025:

Running Extra...

Tonight's train 519 leaving the Cataraqui Spur is still Geep-powered. Train can make track speed to Belleville, even though the warranty on lead engine 4131 ran out in 1961.

Historically, Millhaven (on Lake Ontario) and Ernestown (a small hamlet on the CN line) were economically eclipsed by their neighbour Bath, which became the regional commercial and shipbuilding centre. The Bath Spur is actually west of Bath, and doesn't serve Bath at all. Not even the confusingly-named Bath Water Filtration Plant. Think about that.

Just listened to The Worry Cure by Robert Leahy. He suggests distinguishing productive worry from unproductive worry. So don't worry, it's OK to worry. No worries.