CGMX Covered Hoppers

CN Toronto-Riviere des Prairies trains 376-377 often include short cuts of grey, cylindrical covered hoppers. These cars are notable not only for their (until recently) clean, no-logo and un-graffiti'd appearance, but also their uniqu red hatches with plastic lining flapping in the breeze. This car series was created from unknown origin between circa 1998 to 2004. Until mid-2014, these cars had CGMX reporting marks, now lettered LATX retaining the same car numbers in the 7000-7049 series with some now up to 7060. LATX 7040 is on CN train No 376 at Kingston (top photo)  on April 11, 2015 in the company of three others even more heavily graffiti'd, with only 7016's number readable (right of photo - below):

Occasionally these cars are handled on other freights operating through Montreal. Before trains 376-377 began running, they were often on Montreal-Senneterre trains 365-366. Up to 12 cars can be on one train, in groups of one to four cars. Similarly-graffiti'd LATX 7010 is bringing up the TIBS on CN No 371 at Belleville, ON on April 18, 2015:

A still photo from Rapido Trains' newsletter profiling the test run of  TRHA-preserved VIA LRC locomotive 6917 (below) caught my eye. See those plain-jane covered hoppers at right? They're LATX. A Googlemaps search of the location near VIA's Toronto Maintenance Centre netted Toronto's Lantic Sugar operation at 230 New Toronto Road. It's a sugar blending facility switched by CN. A visit to the operation in April, 2017.

I believe the cars are handled from Toronto to Montreal's Taschereau Yard thence Sucre Lantic's cane refinery (formerly Rogers Sugar until 1984) on Notre-Dame Street East in Montreal East. Michael Berry photographed two CN Geeps hauling some LATX cars from the refinery towards Pointe St Charles in August, 2015. In CN's car trace system, the cars were destined Montreal Wharf or MONWHARF. Salco Products manufactures vented hatch covers to protect the valuable sugar loads these cars carry. Dan Dell'Unto kindly shared this car-top view of CGMX 7058's hatch detail.

CGMX-then-LATX 7000-series observations from the years 2000-2015, showing date, car number, CN train that car was on:
Sep 28/99 7048 at Don Yard, Toronto
Oct 2/99 7016-7043 308
Jan 3/00 7025-7032 Dest. Saint John NB on tailend of No 306
Mar 13/00 7012-7023 and three others Dest. Saint John NB
May 20/00 7025 306
Jul 23/00 7027-7045 Dest. Montreal Wharf on No 366
Aug 24/00 7032 and two others 365
Aug 24/00 7047 366
May 4/01 7044 366
Aug 4/01 7012-7021-7022 366
Aug 30/01 7018-7013 366
Oct 10/01 7037 366
Apr 26/02 7005 366
May 15/02 7027 366?
May 18/02 7029 365?
Jul 1/02 7004 363?
Sep 21/02 7041 366
Aug 12/05 7026 376?
Aug 16/05 7054 377?
Aug 19/05 7036 ?377
Aug 24/05 7028 376?
Apr 23/07 7019-7019-7021-7024?-7025 376?
Apr 30/07 7017 376?
May 2/07 7031 377
Jun 14/07 7002 377
Jul 31/07 7057
Oct 3/07 7033 376?
Aug 18/08 7020 7035 377?
Mar 17/09 7032-7058 376?
Jun 20/09 7022-7003-7001 376?
Apr 17/10 7020-7007-7045 377
Jun 15/10 7014-7012-7053 377
Sep 27/12 7055-7043 372? (reporting marks CGMX up to here)
Jun 27/14 7000 (reporting marks LATX from here on)
Aug 7/14 7060-7052 369?
Apr 11/15 7016
Apr 18/15 7040-7010 371

The above observations show the most recent sighting of a particular car. Earlier sightings of each car not shown. The car series may not be complete. I may have seen but haven't recorded the following cars: 7006-7008-7011-7013-7015-7018-7030-7037-7038-7039-7042-7044-7046-7049-7050-7051-7056-7059.  

It's getting more difficult to garner the numbers trackside due to grudgingly grappling with gratuitously growing graffiti!

Michael Berry of Montreal West kindly shared two shots of CN Pointe St Charles-Taschereau train 500 lugging at least one cut of LATX hoppers westward on August 9, 2015, including LATX 7061:

On October 8, 2015 a westbound CN freight was taking four LATX covered hoppers to Toronto, including a rusted, graffiti'd LATX 7033 and a clean LATX 7001:

A demi-graffiti'd LATX 7056 on CN No 376, Janary 14, 2017:

 LATX 7045 and 7005 on CN No 369 at Belleville on August 11, 2017

December 2019 update: Rusted and graffiti'd LATX 7048 through Belleville, ON on the 2nd: 

SEPTEMBER 2025 UPDATE - On Sept. 26, a weary-looking LATX 7035 was solo on No 368:

JANUARY 26 UPDATE - in the company of EAMX 6 and 8, WFRX and TILX cars, and LATX 7006, here's LATX 7036 on likely CN No 369 through Belleville on January 13 (image courtesy Railstream, LLC):

 Running extra...

Speaking of interesting freight cars...on May 8, CN No 518 lifted a bad-ordered single well-car with container load that was set out at Queens by CN No 186. The catch was that 518 lugged the car down the Cataraqui Spur when it switched the Invista plant. Possibly a first for that type of car. Malcolm Peakman shared two photos he took of the train at Bath Road. Thanks, Malcolm!

CN Geeps 4116-7082 lead a few cars back up to the Kingston Sub mainline. The offending well car was DTTX 475475 and was lifted by CN No 372 four days later.

Back in December, I photographed CN No 518 at the same location. Quite a climatic contrast! Speaking of contrasts, feast your eyes on GO cab car 302 at Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant (Metrolinx Twitter feed photo). To wallow in cab car nostalgia, click here.

Time to say goodbye: American Idol - several years too late! David Letterman - still a gentleman and going out with class after 33 years entertaining America!

Springtime in Belleville, April 2015

A serenely seasonal spring day was the reason for a drive to Belleville on Saturday, April 18. From the south side of Airport Parkway, VIA 6425 hustles four cars westbound at 1013 with Ren-painted 3332 on the tail end.

Cresting the rise, CN No 371 approaches Mitchell Road at 1020 with 2235-2605:

Passing in review (above) and undulating into Belleville:

Six-pack:

Winchester & Western WWUX covered hoppers 4750-4768-4592-4510-4350-4369 may be heading to Havelock's Kawartha Lakes Railway to take on another load of precious nepheline syenite. The taggers encountered them before I did.

LATX 7010 and red CNLX www.cn.ca-scheme covered hoppers 10190, 9012, 8926 on the tail end. Watch for an upcoming post on the LATX Lantic Sugar cylindrical covered hoppers, brought to you by Rapido Trains!

On the east end of a recent set-out in Belleville yard, this Hyster fork lift reposes aboard HTTX 92037 - I'm not sure if it ended up in Kingston or in Belleville.

GP9RM yard power 7068-4141 would soon disappear from Belleville East after being wyed and readied to run westward.

At OMG Chemicals on Dussek Street, TEIX tank cars 25124 and 2423 wait in the shadow of the building. OMG!

At the IKO roofing-granule transload facility north of the yard, short covered hoppers are still being loaded, though some of the traffic reportedly has gone to CP transloading in Havelock. I visited this facility previously in August, 2014.

Yellow USLX 1718 is ex-Green Bay & Western, coupled to MWCX 300651:

Switching two cuts to make CN No 517, the conductor is adding the TIBS. The now-wyed yard power needs headroom at the Belleville station. It appears the 517 train symbol is an as required round-up of local traffic for furtherance to Oshawa or on to Toronto MacMillan Yard, as well as allowing the Belleville yard power to go in for servicing or periodic replacement. Hadn't heard of it before, but then again I live east of Belleville, not west!

Interestingly, loyal Trackside Treasure reader and blog partner Robert McDonald photographed 4141 when she was still 4241 back in June, 1958! Since this is the year of photographing the mundane, I did a photo summary of the traffic on CN No 517: ITLX 441541, one of ten such ITLX, NAHX and EAMX covered hoppers, either carrying cement from Bath Lafarge or roofing granules loaded in Belleville:

Ex-Boston & Maine AEQX 3020, one of three such cars in the train:

ACFX 44717, one of two short ACF covered hoppers in the train:

Old-school reporting marks-only cylindrical NCHX 38825, one of two in the train; the other was 38830:

NS 245078, probably in kaolin service to Belleville industry:

One of these things is not like the other: CN 618149, newly-repainted. Perhaps set out by CN No 369:

ACTX 210040, hydrogen fluoride tank from Cameco, Port Hope. Then followed unphotographed TEIX 2425, ten PROX tanks from Coco Paving, Millhaven, and five ACFX/PROX/NATX tank cars from Gibson Gas at Millhaven

Kingston Invista INVX 38293, one of thirteen DBUX, TILX and GATX tanks and INVX covered hoppers from Kingston Invista. Subconsciously, I must have considered the tank cars TOO mundane to photograph, since I didn't take any photos of them!

With 2700 feet and a 45 mph speed restriction, CN No 517 would soon head westward after some VIA trains cleared. 

Running extra...

Don't be concerned about why someone in BC is modelling Flin Flon MB in HO. Not anymore than you would be concerned about why someone in Kingston is modelling Vancouver. Enjoy Marc Simpson's Hudson Bay Railway Flin Flon Sub in HO, now a right sidebar blog partner. Welcome, Mark. Keep up the great blogging and modelling of CN ballast pits, grain trains and HBR oddities!

Some recent reading:

FOUNDERS - James Wesley, Rawles' futurist view of a (more-)armed America after a banking collapse. It's every man (and woman) for himself, including protagonists walking on the train tracks. Author spends a lot of time on gun nomenclature. Purchased this one in the U.S.

CALL OF THE NORTHLAND - Thomas Blampied's easy-to-read story of the Ontario Northland's passenger trains including his amusing trip account. It's difficult to be 'new in town' in Cochrane! Bought my copy at the Toronto Railway Museum.

LIVING WITH HONOR - inspirational account of America's newest Congressional Medal of Honor winner. After receiving the call from President Obama about the upcoming medal presentation, Sal Giunta replies "Roger, Mr President!" Also an American purchase...hooo-ah!                                    

                         

CN Billboard Cars, 1971

CN posed a train of newly-painted billboard cars across from its station in Belleville, Ontario during the Countdown 6218 fantrips to Anson Junction on July 3-4, 1971 (L.C. Gagnon photos - above and below). The billboard train was led by new M-636 2335 with caboose 79460 on the tail-end. CN painted the cars at Pointe St Charles shops in late 1970, denoted by their stencilled shop dates of H-Q 9-70.
The train was part of a marketing effort to show that CN freight service was an innovative developer of resources in the Canadian economy, including photos of the cars in a marketing brochure (below). This post will tell you everything you want to know about these cars, their unique paint schemes, their travels, and a personal connection with the train as we observed it in Belleville. Notice that the cars shown in the brochure have no numbers, dimensional data nor ACI labels applied as shown in the brochure. To include reporting marks, a brown band was applied to the newsprint car, obscuring some letters of the mastheads:

CN 401527 is a cushion underframe-equipped newsprint boxcar built in December, 1966. Each Canadian city newspaper masthead image on the car side was reproduced two feet high. Notice how the modernistic French-language mastheads near the car door really stand out among the largely Gothic-lettered mastheads. One of my not-so-great moments in railfanning (subject of a future post!) was seeing this car coming around the bend out of CN's Hamilton yard in 1981, me waiting at Bayview Junction to photograph it, and it never appearing. BECAUSE THE BILLBOARD SCHEMES WERE ON ONE SIDE ONLY! Ouch.

Cylindrical covered hopper CN 370708 was also built in December, 1966. Decorated with a rainbow (ROYGBIV) spectrum of colours representing different chemicals, the car was adorned with the chemical formula for hexamethylene di-isocyanate.

CN 283032 was built in April, 1965. 

An insulated boxcar intended for shipping of foodstuffs, the especially eye-catching apple scheme would catch my eye on February 17, 1992, while it was awaiting to ignominious conversion to MoW storage car CN 73728 again at Belleville, 21 years later!

Earlier, I'd seen the apple car during a visit to Winnipeg's CN Symington Yard in 1979, in the company of a freshly-painted mechanical reefer CN 235242.

Mechanical reefer CN 235091 was the youngest billboard car, built in August, 1969 and equipped with meat rails.

Here's a fascinating sidelight to the billboard train at Belleville...in the typewritten account of the day's fantrip at Belleville that my Mom had written: "Laurie had picked up from the ground, the train orders of the billboard train that had come up the night before." Indeed, my Dad's meticulously-filed train orders revealed this to be true:

OK'd at 1939 on July 2, Extra 2335 West was cleared at Brockville to Belleville with train order 554 by dispatcher JJM noting "extreme caution when approaching and passing through Belleville and be prepared to stop if necessary account Countdown 6218 steam special train passengers and other people who may be standing on or near tracks" copied by Operator Gagnon at 1912:

Interestingly, CN Brockville operator Philippe Gagnon has recently confirmed that it was he that copied the order, and that the Dispatcher was Johnny Marshall, from Napanee! A bulletin attached to the orders to Extra 2335 West: "Deliver [sic - delier] Unit 2335 to shop on arrival at Belleville" perhaps for cleaning prior to display the next day.

The cars formed a backdrop of interest for photographers waiting around Belleville station between fantrips, even if they were not steam-era vintage. Here are a couple of photos credited to Derek Henderson that offer some nice views of the billboard cars:

CNR 6218 pulls in to steal the cars' limelight:

It appears the cars stayed together throughout July, making a stopover in Winnipeg's Polo Park neighbourhood, then being photographed in Calgary on July 17, 1971 and a prior visit to Hamilton, ON in April 1971 (see below). Interestingly, the CNRHA included a photo of 2335 at Belleville on the cover of the second book in their incomparable CN diesel series. In Jim Shaughnessy's photo, the opposite side of CN 283032 is just visible - the photo must have been taken later in the day. 

The four colour individual car photos (starting with third photo from top - above) were taken by Peter Macdonald, purchased from Liz Reid in March 2015. Peter's photos also appear to have been taken late in the day when the sun had passed to the other side of the cars.

While at Belleville, the cars were also photographed by Jim Shaughnessy, John Thompson, Bob Sandusky, Tom Hood, Dave More, Gary Zuters, Paul Tatham, Phil Mason and John Reay:

Made available online through the CSTM Picturing the Past collection, here are Aubry Mattingly photos of the billboard train (CSTM Collection photos MAT007312-MAT007319)

Dave Pottinger kindly shared his stellar set of scanned slides of the billboard cars in two locations...at Belleville and Hamilton. Is it obvious that I cannot get enough photos of these cars? I really like the way the lines of CN's James Street station in Hamilton highlight the lines of the cars, even in the fading evening light when Dave photographed them. Later, this station was relegated to RIP track repairs in the 1980's. Interestingly, the Hamilton photos show snow! Hmmmm.

CN 283032 (above and CN 235091 (below):

CN 401527 (above) and CN 370708 (below):

Hamilton in April! Months before Belleville in July. More of Dave's photos, taken during the Countdown 6218 weekend at Belleville are unique, because they were taken from aboard 6218's train, including that infamous 370708-blocking semaphore signal!

And here is the best part of Dave's photos...the top and opposite side of the billboard cars are clearly shown at Hamilton, from the station over-track walkway:

...oh, and a Burro crane...

Someone else ventured to the 'dark side' of the billboard consist at Belleville in 1971 - online auction site heavily-unwatermarked photo:

Here's another, via Tim Reid from the same vantage point and in colour:

Michael de Soi Sr posted a March 1978 photo of CN 401527 in Philadelphia to the Freight Cars Photos Facebook group. Surrounded by Amtrak!

CN 401527 was eastbound in a CN freight Mi 183 Kingston Sub in early 1985. (D.J. Gagnon photo):

This concludes the Countdown 6218 three-part series...at least for now :) Previous posts covered the Countdown 6218 fantrips and a family account of the fantrip we rode.

Running extra...

I say, check this out, old boy! This Tri-Ang page contains some interesting photos - a British prototype car with the newspaper mastheads and cow graphic, and a rare 1971 photo of newsprint car CN 401527's  OTHER side. The one I saw at Bayview Jct! Also the other side of 235091. Life-Like even applied the mastheads to their unusual 'all-door' boxcar.

From 'ville to 'ville...the Friendly City to the City of the Thousand Islands, that is. Brockville's VIA station has recently been renovated. Here's my 'before' photo from June 2013:

Ottawa's Henk van Zijl kindly sent a couple of photos of Prestige Class Prince Albert Park trimly trailing VIA No 65 on April 25, destined for Prestige Class on the Canadian west of Toronto. Thanks, Henk!