Caption:

one of two of a kind – times two

one of two MLW FPA-2u's on the roster, 6759 rebuilt 1958 – replacing the 244 engine for a 251 – renumbered from 6751 ( FPA-2 built 1955)

one of two ex Reading Crusader round end observation – coach on the roster, of CN Champlain train fame

that FPA-2u is eighteen years junior to that 1937 built Crusader observation - coach

VIA CN train #76 powered by 6759 – 6620 at Hamilton West Junction, January 17, 1978 Kodak Tri X negative by S. Danko

what's interesting

the five car Budd built all stainless steel Reading Crusader train, two round end observation – coach, two coach, one tavern – restaurant plied the Reading Company's New York Liberty Street station to Philadelphia Reading Terminal from 1937 to 1962,

CN bought the train set in 1962 and after refurbishment introduced the Champlain Train dedicated to the Montreal – Quebec City service. By the seventies the train set was broken up with the coaches and obs cars frequently on the Windsor trains. By 1990 VIA retired the cars. The obs cars survive, one at the Strasburg rail museum the other is privately owned.

Those Crusader cars are 14 years older than the building in the photo's upper right, the Sisters of St. Joseph convent constructed 1951 and sold in 2020 to a private school.

more Hamilton West

CN 4585