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About Bill Linley

I am a lifelong railfan having been introduced to trains by my father, Leslie, in the early 1950s during trips to Front Street overlooking the approach to Toronto Union Station. I took my first colour slide of the CPR's Ottawa West station in April 1962 and have been shooting since. After retirement, I have authored four books for Morning sun, my latest Trackside Newfoundland will be released in April 2019. Please contact me if you are interested in my books and prints. bill.linley@gmail.com

Bill Linley's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 57
Total gold: 1025
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Bill Linley's 57 photos on Railpictures.ca:

VIA Train 15 approaches Westchester, Nova Scotia, Mileage 33.3 of CN's Springhill Subdivision at 3.23 p.m. on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. There's only an hour left in the summer of 2021 and Covid restrictions have reduced the service to but once a week. As well, the back-to-back 'F40s' and lack of a Park or Skyline dome car confirm that VIA trains are no longer turned in Halifax prior to returning to Montreal.

Name:	BILL LINLEY
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	09/22/2021
Location:	WESTCHESTER
Province:	Nova Scotia

3 Comments | 7 Favourites

In the late winter of 1976 CP Rail's McAdam to Edmundston line was severed in downtown Woodstock when the bridge over the Meduxnekeag River was dislodged by ice. Repairs took almost a year. During this time, freight trains over the route were detoured via Fredericton, Southampton and Newburg Junction. At Newburg Junction alongside the Saint John River, the train had to reverse direction as there was no direct connection from East to North. <BR> <BR>

On Saturday, October 23, 1976, I followed the detouring train from my home in South Devon taking photographs at various locations. One of my favourites was this image approaching Becaguimec Stream just north of Hartland. The Hartland covered bridge - the longest in the world - appears in the background. The orange car in the centre of the picture shows one of a large number of insulated San Luis Central cars that would be set off for potato loading at many locations between Florenceville and Grand Falls.

Name:	BILL LINLEY
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	10/23/1976
Location:	HARTLAND
Province:	Nova Scotia

Comments | 11 Favourites

MLW RS-18 3840 was one of 225 built for the CNR in the late 1950s. In the summer of 1979, it was one of a trio of just three 3800s including 3841 and 3842 that was assigned to Moncton, New Brunswick.<be> <br>

On Saturday, November 5, 1977, 3840 led a turn to Saint John on CN's Oromocto Subdivision from the South Devon Yard in Fredericton. At this time, an extra was called every other Saturday for the trip to Saint John. <br> <br>

A few years before, Train 726 had run out of South Devon to Saint John's Island Yard, 84.5 miles each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday returning as Train 725 the following morning. Train 725 continued to Centreville, some 26 miles northwest of Woodstock. On the way, it covered 14 miles of trackage rights over CP Rail from Saint John to Westfield Beach. There, the line diverged to continue following the Saint John River to University Avenue in downtown Fredericton. At University Avenue, Train 725 diverged from the original route and crossed the Saint John River to South Devon. The original route had continued north to Woodstock and beyond to Centreville. CN abandoned this line in 1966 with the construction of the Mactaquac dam on the Saint John River. To span the gap, CN acquired trackage rights over the CPR from South Devon to Newburg, 59 miles. At Newburg, CN trains reversed direction and traveled six miles south through Woodstock to Valley where a connection was established with CN's existing bridge over the CPR. Counterpart Train 726 returned to South Devon early on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. <br> <br>

The morning departure made for good light on the southbound chase as seen here at Babbitt, Mileage 49.8, some 20.9 miles from South Devon. Conductor Wade was in charge of the 9-car train that included five empties and Point St. Charles-built van 79712. Under an hour was spent at Island Yard before the train returned to South Devon as a van hop.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	11/05/1977
Location:	Babbitt
Province:	New Brunswick

Comments | 13 Favourites

For five summers in the early part of the century, VIA Rail had an agreement with the provincial government in Nova Scotia to operate a tour train from Halifax to Sydney and return.

The partners ran a trial train in the fall of 2000, and regular service began the following summer. The Bras d'Or used equipment laying over Halifax as VIA's Ocean did not begin its trips on Tuesdays. The consist in this image is typical and includes FPH40-2 6433, baggage car 8618, coaches 8113 and 8131, Skyline dome 8506 and dome observation Banff Park. <br> <br>

Business was reasonably brisk eastbound as several motor coach tour operators allowed travellers to travel on the classy train. Very few passengers travelled on the westbound trip on Wednesday. The fare was set for the tourist market and was prohibitive for point-to-point travel. Port Hawkesbury was the usual 'stop and stretch' location. However, some VIA service managers stopped at the historic railway museum in Orangedale on Cape Breton Island. Travellers were treated to an informal concert by on-board and local entertainers. I particularly enjoyed one afternoon when the engineer gave an impromptu solo. <br> <br>

The train was a hit with railfans from far and wide as the scenery was spectacular, the speeds low, and the equipment classic. It was a magnet that slotted well with long distant chases of the Budd-equipped Ocean

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	10/05/2004
Location:	Brookfield
Province:	Nova Scotia

1 Comments | 5 Favourites

Here's Train 19 about to leave the old Sydney station on Thursday, October 10, 1968. Friends and I were returning from a successful trip chasing the Caribou in Newfoundland and had breakfast in Sydney following our overnight crossing on the M.V. William Carson.<br> <br> The Ocean would depart at 7.45 a.m. and arrive in Montreal via Moncton and Edmundston, some 996 miles, at 8.30 Friday morning. From June 22 through September 22 it had run on an hour longer schedule, as the Cabot, via Campbellton where CN added a 4-6-4 Green-series sleeper. For the off-season, the consist east of Truro included a reserved coach, a 12-1 dormette, and a River-series 10-6. At Truro, the through cars were added to the Halifax - Montreal Ocean that included a reserved seat coach, 12-1 dormette, Cape-series 2 bedroom, 2 compartment lounge, two Green-series cars, and an ex-Milwaukee Road 8 bedroom Skyview lounge. Passage in a roomette with four meals en route would have been less than $38.50, approximately 275 2020 Canadian dollars.<br> <br> RS-18 3845 (MLW 1959) leads RS-3 3024 and SGU 15417. CN 3845 would become 'RSC-14' 1752 in the mid-1970s. <br> <br? The CN station would be demolished in the early 1970s and replaced by leased space in an Olands brewery warehouse. Passenger service to Sydney ended on January 14, 1990, save for the Bras dOr tourist train. Accordingly, this building has also been demolished in recent times.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	19/19/1968
Location:	Sydney
Province:	Nova Scotia

2 Comments | 13 Favourites

Fifty-four years ago this morning, on Sunday, January 1, 1967, two specially painted FP9s left the shop track at CPR's Ottawa West yard to begin a cross-Canada tour. They would lead a Centennial Train that contained various exhibits celebrating the centennial of a confederation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario as the new Canada. Canada has subsequently prospered and grown from coast to coast to coast. A caravan of Dodge powered tractor-trailers toured Newfoundland and communities remote from rail lines.

The federal government borrowed Canadian Pacific FP9 1411 and Canadian National FP9 6509 for the year-long trans-Canada trip. The lead unit, CPR 1411, became the 1867 and sported Robert Swanson's specially designed horn that played the first few bars of O Canada.

May we all celebrate the coming year in the spirit of that departure all those decades ago.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Other
Date:	01/01/1967
Location:	Ottawa
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 29 Favourites

CN's debuted its heritage locomotive fleet in Montreal in a press release dated Tuesday, November 17, 2020. Initially, CN introduced six units: BCR 3315, EJ&E 3023, IC 3008, CN 8898, GTW 8952, and WC 3069. The specially painted locomotives celebrate the 25th anniversary of CN's $2.25 billion IPO on November 17, 1995.<br><br>Following initial runs from Montreal to Toronto on Vancouver bound Train 105 on November 14, and Train X376 from Toronto to Montreal on November 15, CN assigned 3115 to lead Train 120 to Halifax on November 16. The train attracted legions of photographers in Quebec and the Maritimes. It arrived in Halifax at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, twenty-five years to the day of the IPO.<br><br>My photograph pictures the train yarding its train at Rockingham and passing Fairview Jct., Mileage 5.1 of the Bedford Subdivision. In the background at the Fairview Container Terminal is Atlantic Container Line's Atlantic Sea. It had arrived that day from Liverpool after a nine-day crossing. A Chinese yard built the 100,000 gross ton vessel, one of five similar ones in the ACL fleet, in 2016. Similarly, GE assembled the GT44AC for CN in 2016. The white-roofed cab is immediately noticeable and is a departure from the original red-roofed units painted by the British Columbia Railway. <br><br>This turned out to be the last run of train Q120 as CN initiated a Z series of priority trains permitted a 15-mph speed increase to 65 mph. So Q120 will become Z120.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	11/17/2020
Location:	Halifax
Province:	Nova Scotia

4 Comments | 29 Favourites

On Tuesday, March 7, 2005, VIA's OCEAN, Train 14, departs Matapedia, Quebec en route from Montreal, Quebec to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The train is just about to cross the Restigouche River and enter the province of New Brunswick.<br><br>F40PH-2 locomotives 6416 and 6426 lead baggage 8619, coaches 8139 and 8127, Skyline 8505, diner Louise, Chateau sleepers Laval, Marquette, Papineau, Viger, Radisson, Jolliet and Laurentide Park. During the station stop at Matapedia, the crew had separated the CHALEUR from the head end of the OCEAN. Gaspe-bound Train 16 included engine 6427 and cars 8618 8108 8527 Chateau Iberville and Chateau Montcalm.<br><br>Railfan friend and future son-in-law, Steven Dickie, and I had driven from his home in Fredericton to capture this view as it would usually be dark as the OCEAN departed Matapedia. The train departed in the early afternoon as it had been restricted to 10 mph on sections of the Montmagny and Mont Joli Subdivisions due to a minor earthquake. We elected to chase the eastbound OCEAN so the Gaspe chase culminating in a delightful meal at the Adams Restaurant would have to wait for another day.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	03/07/2005
Location:	Matapedia
Province:	Quebec

Comments | 7 Favourites

On Thursday, October 13, 1994, I began a drive from Halifax to Ottawa. I chased VIA's ATLANTIC as far as Moncton, New Brunswick. This image shows it nearing Fort Lawrence, less than a mile from the New Brunswick border. The town of Amherst, Nova Scotia is in the background of this view near Mileage 79.5 of CN's Springhill Subdivision.<br> <br>

The tri-weekly ATLANTIC would only travel via Saint John, N.B. on its way to Montreal for just over two more months. It would then be replaced by three additional round trips of the OCEAN via Campbellton. This day it's consist included F40PH-2s 6427 6435 baggage 8621 coaches 8139 8146 Skyline 8511 coach 8147 diner ACADIAN Chateau sleepers PAPINEAU BRULE MONTCALM MAISONNEUVE DENONVILLE CLOSSE DOLLARD and dome lounge sleeper REVELSTOKE PARK.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	10/13/1994
Location:	Amherst
Province:	Nova Scotia

1 Comments | 14 Favourites

Marilynn Linley's image shows CN local 519 heading west at Moirs Mills in suburban Halifax. Moirs Pond is in the foreground. The train was outbound from Rockingham Yard to Milford with a cut of gondolas for gypsum loading at the National Gypsum mine at Mileage 36.6 of the Bedford Subdivision. Marilynn shot with her cellphone at 3.53 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, 2020. It was our first train sighting in over three months since we saw CSX GE 5355 on a local in North Carolina. <br> <br>

I did not expect that our trip to our grandaughter's drive-by birthday parade would include a train, so the Nikon stayed in Port Lorne. We did make planned stops at Costco and Starbucks. <br> <br>

The local featured two classic CN locomotives, both remanufactured GMDL GP9s from the late 1950s. The CNR bought the leader, 4135, as GR-17h class 4528 in 1957 and remanufactured it at their Point St. Charles Shops in Montreal in 1991. Designed for road switcher service, in class GR-418f, it's driving position was reversed to a short-hood-forward orientation. CN rebuilt forty-four similar units between March 1984 and May 1991. Between September 1981 and 1984, CN similarly rebuilt thirty-seven other GP9s in the 4000 series. The earlier rebuilt units were 9,000 pounds heavier. The trailing unit, 4115, was formerly GR-17u 4322 of 1959. CN assigned it to class GR-418d.

Name:	Marilynn Linley
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	06/18/2020
Location:	Halifax
Province:	Nova Scotia

Comments | 7 Favourites

Ninety Years of Service <br> <br>

CPR E8A 1802 graces the headend of Train 41, The ATLANTIC LIMITED, at McAdam, New Brunswick, at 10 p.m. on Sunday, June 3, 1979. <br> <br>

The westbound Saint John to Montreal train had covered the 84.4 miles of the McAdam Sub and will depart at 10.10 p.m. It will follow the Canadian Pacific's "Short Line" through northern Maine that had opened to passenger service exactly ninety years before. Note the ninety affixed to the anticlimber. The opening of the 479-mile Short Line made the CPR a line from sea to sea across North America. It was not so until December 1974 when CP Rail purchased the Maine Central line from Mattawamkeag, 56.1 miles to Vanceboro, Maine. Previously, they had enjoyed trackage rights. <br> <br>

E8A 1802 was one of three ordered by the CPR in September 1948 as an E7A to match the diesels of the Boston & Maine on their shared service between Montreal and Boston. The CPR changed the order, so EMD delivered the E8 in December 1949 after E7 production had ended. When RDCs replaced conventionally powered trains on the Boston run in 1959, the CPR transferred the E8s to other routes. Some of these included Toronto - Windsor, Toronto or Montreal to Sudbury and, later, Montreal to Quebec City and Ottawa. As these services wound down and following the demise of 1801 in a collision, the two remaining units found a home for most of the 1970s on the ATLANTIC LIMITED. Their twin boilers and prime movers provided a desirable reserve and ended the usual practice of assigning two units during winter. <br> <br>

The makeup of this train was the same as it had been for most of the 1970s. The four cars included baggage 2767, 4-5-1-4 sleeper GRANT MANOR, Skyline dome 505 and coach 123. On this trip, GRANT MANOR had replaced DRAPER MANOR, which ran with regularly with 505 and 123. Senior conductor George Draper out of Montreal reportedly often arranged its reinstatement when 'his car' was not in the consist. On the other set of equipment was CAMERON MANOR, long associated with baggageman Dave Cameron. This sleeper usually ran eastbound on the rear behind Skyline 515 and coach 119. <br> <br>

The two dome cars were specially fitted with walkover seats in the dome section so that passengers would not have to ride backwards. On the other hand, crews switched, not turned, the cars so that the sleeper ran backwards behind the baggage car on the westbound trip with the coach on the rear. As CP became disenchanted with passenger service in the 1960s, it is remarkable that they did not discontinue the train nor replace it with a Rail Diesel Car. Despite often very low revenue passenger counts, it continued as a full-featured daily train until VIA upgraded it and extended it to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sunday, October 28, 1979 as their ATLANTIC. <br> <br>

Behind the train, W. H. Painter's Chateau style station-hotel of 1901 dominates the scene. The station supported the intense traffic generated at the junction of CPR lines to St. Andrews and St. Stephen to the south, and Edmundston to the north. It featured a 20-room hotel on the second floor, station services on the ground floor including a restaurant and coffee shop behind the E8. The Canadian government designated the station as a National Historic Site in 1976 and a Heritage Railway Station in 1990.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	06/03/1979
Location:	McAdam
Province:	New Brunswick

1 Comments | 14 Favourites

At the border town of Vanceboro, Maine, it was pouring rain and gloomy even at 6.30 a.m. thirty-five years ago on Saturday, June 1, 1985, as a headlight appeared in the distance. I had returned to New Brunswick from my new home in Halifax to join friends David Morris and Fred Angus in welcoming VIA Rail's re-incarnated ATLANTIC to Atlantic Canada. <br> <br>

We were not disappointed. The headlight evolved into a pair of gleaming MLW passenger cab units led by FPA-4 6777. <br> <br>

A full-featured 11 car train trailed behind punctuated by sleek Budd dome observation lounge BANFF PARK. The new ATLANTIC introduced Park car service to Halifax for the first time. VIA reduced the OCEAN to a Montreal – Moncton service as the ATLANTIC became the primary train serving the Maritimes. <br> <br>

The revival of the ATLANTIC on CP Rail's Sherbrooke to Saint John route marked a significant reversal in VIA's service to Atlantic Canada. With the Liberal Government's cuts to passenger service across the country on November 15, 1981, they abandoned the shortest Montreal – Halifax route through northern Maine. Introduced by the same government in late October 1979, it had been immensely popular running 19 car trains at peak times. A Fredericton – Halifax RDC Dayliner replaced it. <br> <br>

Sherbrooke, Quebec and Saint John, New Brunswick, were the on-line communities most impacted by the cuts of November 1981. In due course, Canadians elected a new Conservative federal government in September 1984, including former Saint John mayor Elsie Wayne and Jean Charest from Sherbrooke. They campaigned on restoring through passenger service, and several months later, they realized their vision. VIA ran a seven-car promotional train in late May 1985 that was displayed in on-line communities as far as Moncton, N.B. It's consist showcased BANFF PARK. <br> <br>

My photograph of the inaugural train was taken near Hampton, New Brunswick, alongside Highway 100 around noon, again in a downpour. Train 12 included locomotives 6777 and 6871, baggage car 9668, coaches 5545, 5499, 5623, café lounge 750, 56-seat daynighter 5749, 4-8-4 sleepers GREENPOINT and GREENING, diner 1341, 4-3-1-8 sleeper CHATEAU LEMOYNE, and BANFF PARK. <br> <br>

The Conservative government's disenchantment grew as the 1980s wore on, and they cut the ATLANTIC to a tri-weekly service balanced by an extension of the OCEAN to Halifax on January 15, 1990. At the same time, the Conservatives cut all other services in the Maritimes permanently despite their popularity. <br> <br>

The new majority Liberal government in Canada's election of October 1993 foreshadowed trouble for the ATLANTIC. Ironically perhaps, just two Conservative members were returned to Parliament: Elsie Wayne and Jean Charest, the train's saviours in an earlier era. CP Rail's announcement of their intention to withdraw from lines east of Farnham, Quebec in early 1995, created an opportunity for the federal government to axe the ATLANTIC. Although the interruption of rail service proved to be only a matter of days, the governing Liberals summarily cancelled the ATLANTIC effective December 15, 1994, shifting its trainset to the OCEAN's route. <br> <br>

Although the rain was a major distraction it was a great day for a railfan in Atlantic Canada.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	06/01/1985
Location:	Hampton
Province:	New Brunswick

Comments | 15 Favourites

Thirty-three years ago, on Saturday, May 30, 1987, VIA Rail ran its first, and so far, only excursion train in Nova Scotia. The special left the Halifax Station early in the day and travelled to the Apple Blossom Festival in Kentville, some 72 miles away. It arrived in ample time for the passengers to enjoy the parade before returning to Halifax late in the afternoon. <br> <br>

Sadly, after a run of 87 years, the Apple Blossom Festival twice named one of the top 100 festivals in North America, has been deferred this year to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, Kentville’s mayor will be touring neighbourhood communities on Saturday, May 30, 2020, on a self-driving float to bring some fun to residents.
VIA’s excursion train was powered by FPA-4 6781, one of several equipped with ditch-lights and special glazing to meet FRA requirements as it regularly travelled through northern Maine on the point of the ATLANTIC. The 1,800 hp unit was built by for the CNR by MLW in 1959 and retired by VIA 30 years later. Unlike 18 of the 34 FPA-4s constructed exclusively for the CNR, the 6781 did not survive in preservation or operation by a subsequent owner. Although a rare visitor to the Annapolis Valley, the 6781 was not a pioneer as decades earlier, another FPA-4 had led the Royal Train of HRH Princess Margaret from Yarmouth to Halifax. Unfortunately, this excursion’s consist is unknown to me, but an E-class sleeper is visible in the five-car consist. <br> <br>

The excursion is passing Falmouth, Mileage 32.9 of the former Dominion Atlantic Railway’s Halifax Subdivision. The track to Kentville and thence to Annapolis was completed by the Windsor and Annapolis Railway beyond the original Nova Scotia Railway’s Windsor terminus, Mileage 31.6, on Saturday, December 18, 1869. The DAR was formed in 1894 and leased by the CPR on Monday, November 13, 1911. <br> <br>

The DAR assumed the lease of the Windsor Junction to Windsor portion opened on Thursday, June 3, 1858, by the Nova Scotia Railway. The latter was organized by the Nova Scotia Government to construct the first railways to Truro and Windsor. The Railway passed to the federal government with Confederation in 1867, ultimately being owned by Canadian National. When CP Rail abandoned operations in Nova Scotia in August 1994, the remaining lines were operated by the Windsor and Hantsport, an Iron Road Railways subsidiary until November 2011. <br> <br>

In the background are examples of the apple warehouses which were once common along the railway in the Annapolis Valley. The Valley famously exported apples, primarily to Great Britain, for decades before World War II. Some apple-based traffic lingered on until the 1970s.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	05/30/1987
Location:	Falmouth
Province:	Nova Scotia

2 Comments | 21 Favourites

Tuesday, April 29, 1969, saw my friend Ken McCutcheon and I on hand to see CN Train 70 arrive at 5.30 a.m. in Chambord, Quebec, from Montreal. At the time, business was brisk on the daily service, and CN offered a range of accommodations on the train from coach seats to a drawing-room. I did not record the consist of Train 70 as it departed at 5.50 for the last 51.3 miles of its 317.8-mile, 13-hour trip to Chicoutimi, but the trailing car was Windigo. Departing CN FP9 6539 led an F9B with four baggage cars, two coaches, a buffet lounge and sleeping car 1700, WINDIGO. In 1954, Pullman Standard built 4 section, 4 roomette, 1 compartment, 5 double bedroom lightweight sleeper for the Florida East Coast. Originally named SCOTT M. LOFTIN for a U.S. Senator (D) and FEC trustee from Florida, it became the NASSAU for the FEC, who sold it to CN in January 1967. VIA acquired the car in March 1978 and retired it forty-eight months later. Herron Rail Services in Tampa, Florida, bought it in January 1983. The previous morning we had seen its similar configured running-mate MANITOU, formerly FEC's JAMAICA. For many years the pair ran on the NORTHLAND from Toronto to Kapuskasing. <br> <br> The FP9 operates today as Ontario Southland 1400. After serving CN since June 1958 (serial #A1399), it ran as VIA 6539 from April 1978 through February 1984. VIA had CN rebuilt it with a 16 cylinder 645C GM prime mover, and it returned as 6303. With no steam generator, VIA assigned it to Winnipeg for use on trains to Churchill. It was sold to RailAmerica, going to the Mackenzie Northern in Alberta as Railink 1400 in 1998 and then to the Goderich and Exeter in Ontario in September 2003. It went to Ontario Southland in August 2012. <br> <br> Connecting Train 183 for the three hour and fifteen-minute run to Dolbeau, 57.4 miles away on the far side of Lac St. Jean, included a steam generator unit, two baggage cars, a coach and through sleeping car WAINWRIGHT. The car built by Canadian Car & Foundry in the fall of 1923 was a heavyweight 12 section, 1 drawing-room car. CN installed ice air conditioning with a roof-mounted duct in 1939 and rebuilt the car as an 8-1-2 in February 1949 by replacing 4 sections with 2 compartments. It became CN work car 54959 in January 1980, and CN scrapped it in December 1992. <br> <br>At 6.05 a.m., Train 183 would also pull east from the Chambord station but then take traverse the west leg of the wye and exit the tail track heading straight for Dolbeau on the Roberval sub. A pair of MLW RS-18s, 3736 and 3684, powered the departing train. 3736 (MLW 1958, 82499) ran the 29.5 miles to St. Felicien, where the crew set it off for local service and continued with the 3684 alone. CN retired 3736 on Thursday, December 8, 1988. CN sold it for scrap to Sidbec Feruni in March 1991; it vanished in their steel mill in Contrecoeur, Quebec. January 1958-built MLW (#82226) 3684 went to Exporail in St-Constant, Quebec, in 1993 as an operating example of the 352 RS-18s. It well represents MLW's all-time most successful diesel model.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	04/29/1969
Location:	Chambord
Province:	Quebec

1 Comments | 22 Favourites

Birthday Puller <br> <br>

CPR S-2 7020 (serial 72855) celebrates its 23rd birthday by pulling by CN S-4 8142 on Saturday, October 7, 1967. The pair are immediately west of Spadina Avenue in downtown Toronto as the CPR switcher handles a transfer from Lambton Yard to downtown. At the same time, the CN switcher waits to access Union Station. <br> <br>

Front Street is off to the right of the picture and it was here that my father introduced me to train watching in the early 1950s. <br> <br>

The CPR rostered 45 Alco of the 1,000 horsepower switchers in five orders from the first in 1943 through 7064 in 1947. (Alco delivered three more for service in New England in 1949.) Beginning in late 1948, the railway purchased an additional twenty S-2s from MLW. Starting in 1950 and continuing through 1959, they acquired 124 660hp MLW switchers, which, at the time, were deemed adequate for industrial switching and smaller yards. Hence, MLW delivered just twenty S-4s in three orders between 1949 and 1953. CPR 7020, class DS-10b from the second-order, was assigned initially to Toronto and, I believe, remained there throughout its service life. Retired in January 1986, it's now honourably displayed at the Toronto Railway Museum at the former CPR roundhouse. <br> <br>

CN 8142 is noteworthy as it was the CNR's first S-4 and one of the earliest of that model. The S-4 evolved in Canada a year ahead of the transition at Alco in Schenectady as railways standardized on the GSC truck. CNR's order followed the one from the CPR. The Montreal Locomotive Works outshopped the 8142 in August 1949 (serial 76481) as the 7995, and the CNR renumbered it in 1956. 8142 was one of the last Canadian units to house a 539T engine manufactured in Auburn, New York, as MLW transitioned to engines made by Dominion Engineering Works in Montreal. <br> <br>

CNR had acquired 20 S-2 switchers from Alco in 1947 and a further ten from MLW in early 1949. The CNR bought 105 S-4s between 1949 and January 1957. After that, they received 89 more turbocharged S-7, S-12 and S-13 models from MLW. CNR also dabbled in the S-3 model, buying 49, 8450 to 8498, between November 1951 and August 1954. S-4 8142 was retired on Tuesday, June 11, 1974, and scrapped at the reclamation yard in London, Ontario.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	10/07/1967
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 22 Favourites

A Canadian National eastbound off the Prince George line is about to enter the Albreda subdivision at Mileage 70.6 Spicer, British Columbia, on September 26, 1997, and continue east towards Jasper. <br> <br>

Before the construction of new connecting lines in this area, the train would have continued east on the Tete Jaune sub, joining the Montreal - Vancouver line at Red Pass Junction, Mileage 43.7 of the Albreda sub.
New construction eased gradients and allowed movements from west to south. The new Robson Sub from Taverna, twenty miles west of Red Pass Jct on the Prince George line to Charles, Mileage 71.6 of the Albreda sub effectively created almost 28 miles of bi-directional double-track. CN also doubled-tracked the Albreda sub for an additional 1.7 miles, almost to the town of Valemount. <br> <br>

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway opened the Jasper - Prince George Prince Rupert line in 1914. The Canadian Northern Railway's line from Edmonton to Vancouver also used the Yellowhead Pass west of Jasper. This line opened in January 1915. Their consolidation into the Canadian National Railways led to the early removal of considerable duplicate trackage between Edmonton and Red Pass Junction. Traffic growth in resource-rich Western Canada led to the installation of lengthened sidings, double track and the new lines near Mount Robson. <br> <br>

GMDD in London, Ontario, delivered 5712 (#956616-87) as one of 105 SD75Is in 1996 in CN class GF-643a. Repeat orders in 1997 and 1999 brought the total of these units to 175. They feature a 16 cylinder 710 series diesel rated at 4,300 horsepower. The "I" in the model designation indicates the optional "Whisper Cab" that isolated the crew from much track and engine-related vibration. This feature makes them still popular with trains crews. The SD75Is were the first units purchased by the newly privatized CN.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	09/26/1997
Location:	Spicer
Province:	British Columbia

3 Comments | 10 Favourites

MLW on a Misty Matapedia Morning <br> <br>

Via Train 16, the Chaleur is beyond Routhierville, Quebec and is nearing Glen Emma, Mileage 28.69 of CN's Mont Joli Subdivision. Running alongside the Matapedia River, a world-class salmon fishing stream, the train will turn east at Matapedia, Mileage 12.81. It's 9 a.m. Sunday, August 28, 1983, and the Chaleur is nine and a half hours into its almost 17-hour, 654-mile run from Montreal to Gaspe. <br> <br>

The Intercolonial Railway completed the rails through the scenic Matapedia Valley on July 1, 1876, finishing the link between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Quebec and beyond to Ontario. The railway was one of the terms of confederation that brought these first four colonies together to form the new Canada on July 1, 1867. <br> <br>

CNR 6760 (10-1958 #82269) was the first of 34 A and 12 B units in a new model, the FPA/B-18 introduced by MLW in 1958. Fortunately, MLW underbid GMDL's offer for additional FP9s by a mere $500 per unit to secure the order in July 1958. MLW delivered the A units in two subclasses MPA-18a and 18b, between October 1958 and May 1959. Each locomotive featured MLW's 12-cylinder 251 series diesel producing 1,800 horsepower, GE-752 traction motors and a GT-581 main generator. They had a long service life, notably in Eastern Canada, lasting for the most part until March 1989 when they did not receive the federally mandated Reset Safety Control feature. By this time, the arrival of 59 GMDL F40-PH2s and pending massive service cuts rendered them redundant. Sixteen of the FPA-4s and five FPB-4s went on to Canadian and American museums or second careers on tourist lines in the U.S.A. VIA acquired 6760 from CN in March 1978, and ten years later, it went to the Napa Valley Wine Train as their 70.<br> <br>

The train's consist included baggage dormitory 9480, which had 14 of its 22 roomettes remaining after its rebuilding in 1973. CNR had acquired NYC's former Delaware Bay (Budd 8-1948) in January 1959 and renamed it Valpoy. Greenwood (P-S 1954) a 6 section, 6 roomette, 4 dbl bedroom sleeper, Dayniter 5711 converted from CC&F 1954-built coach 5484 in 1973, coach-cafe-lounge 759 formerly the 3020 built as coach 5451 and coaches 5584 and 5652.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/28/1983
Location:	Routhierville
Province:	Quebec

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Moncton bound Via Train 613 is about to scoot under the overpass on Mumford Road in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It had just left the Armdale station in the background at 5.25 p.m. in late March 1989. At the time, Acadian [bus] Lines was on strike so VIA allocated the customarily assigned RDC's to augment their Yarmouth and Sydney services. The trailing RDC would be cutoff in Truro and continue to Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia as Train 606. VIA employed conventional equipment on the Moncton route powered by GMD and MLW cab units. The FPA-4s ended their service at the end of the month as they were not retrofitted with Reset Safety Control as mandated by Canada's National Transportation Agency. <br> <br> CNR 6505 (GMDL 11-1954 #A-635) was part of the railway's initial order for passenger units, 28 A-B pairs in early 1954. It became VIA 6505 on Friday, March 31, 1978. Later, VIA sold it on Wednesday, March 8, 1995, for use on the Conway Scenic Railway. Pan Am Railways bought the unit for its executive train and renumbered it PAR 1. <br> <br>Much has vanished from this scene in the last thirty years. The rail-served Sears distribution centre has become a Walmart on the lower level and a Sobeys supermarket on the upper level of the West End Mall. Sears, formerly, the Simpsons store in the background, has been transformed into an office complex while Sears has withdrawn from retailing throughout Canada. The Sears siding formerly gave access to the Scotia Railroad Museum just to the left of the fencing. Also, CN removed the inbound double main track in the 1990s. With all the changes around the city, the vantage point remains one of only a handful in Halifax, where one may easily get a photograph of an entire passenger train coming and going.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	03/1989
Location:	Halifax
Province:	Nova Scotia

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Train 204 pulls up to the station in Clarenville to change crews for the final time as it crosses Newfoundland from Port Aux Basques to St. John’s. On Thursday morning, August 26, 1982, the train is running some four hours late. Perhaps the delay led employees in Bishops Falls, the previous division point, to overlook setting off coach 760. The coach had travelled overnight next to van 6069 from Corner Brook, the next division point to the west. The car provided accommodation for passengers wanting to experience the Gaff Topsails, a vast wilderness area in central Newfoundland. <br> <br>

Train 204 is powered by NF210 units 940, 941 and 921. The CNR, in collaboration with their manufacturer, GMDL, in London, Ontario, specially designed these 1200hp units and their NF110 precursors for service in Newfoundland. With a 567 series V12 diesel, outside frames and C-C trucks, they proved a reliable and economical replacement for steam power on the 3’6” gauged system. The two leading units were from the final order delivered in January 1960, while the 921 was from the first order delivered in August 1956. A museum has preserved class GR-12x 940 at Whitbourne, 54.5 miles west of St. John’s. The two other units found homes on the Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia in Chile as their 1425 and 1419. Exporail, in St-Constant, Quebec has preserved coach 6069 (CC&F 1949), and van 6069 (NSC/CN 1-1967) found a home in Lewisporte, Newfoundland and Labrador. <br> <br>

The station at Clarenville, 131 miles west of St. John’s on the 548-mile line to Port aux Basques opened in 1898. Operator Lindo Palmer formally closed the station for Terra Transport, CN’s successor in Newfoundland, on Tuesday, October 18, 1988. It has since reopened as part of a museum that includes NF110, 900, 176, the last diner built in Canada by National Steel Car in 1958 and caboose 6061.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	98/24/1982
Location:	Clarenville
Province:	Newfoundland and …

1 Comments | 22 Favourites

At 11.10 a.m., Sunday, August 20, 1967, the eastbound Canadian, Train 2, rolled into town behind units 1406, 8567 and 1407. The schedule allowed thirty-five minutes for the splitting of the train into sections for Montreal and Toronto. They would depart on time with 1407 removed from the consist of Train 2 with FPA-2 4083 and RS-10 8561 leading Train 12 to Toronto. All units were steam generator equipped. 1407 would turn back west on the next Train 1 at 12.10 a.m. the following morning. <br> <br>With the power pulled well east of the station, S-2 7091 (MLW 2-1949 #75866) went to work. Train 2 had arrived on the track closest to the station and the crew would rebuild it there. Train 12 would be readied for departure on the adjacent track. The usual three lightweight head-end cars, including two dormitory baggage cars, arrived on Train 2. Each outbound train had one dorm, and 7091 added a car behind the power on Train 2 and two behind the power on Train 12. Meanwhile, either 7090 or 7092 worked the other end of the Canadian. <br> <br> Using the line numbers from the CPR's folder 62-28, the S-2 marshalled the following equipment into each train. The Toronto section included Sudbury - Toronto coach 223, coach 221 from Vancouver, Skyline cafe dome 222 from Sudbury. The following cars came from Vancouver: Manor cars 213, 212, Chateau 211, a diner, Manor 210, and Manor 202 from Regina and Park dome observation 200 from Sudbury. The Montreal section included coaches 226, 224, a Skyline, Chateaux 208 and 207, Manor 206, Chateau 205, a diner, Manor 204 and Park 201. Each of the 42 Manor cars from Budd's large order of 1954 included 4 roomettes, 5 double bedrooms, 1 compartment and 4 open sections. CPR's 29 Chateau sleepers featured 8 duplex roomettes, a drawing room with three berths, 3 double bedrooms and 4 open sections. <br> <br> The Sunbury Star newspaper pictured the arrival of S-2s, 7090 through 7093 in 1949 not long after their construction and original assignment in Montreal. The 7090 through 7093 were soon assigned to Sudbury, but the latter soon moved on. By 1968, 7093 was in Toronto having worked in Smiths Falls. Reports vary on the assignment of 7094. Newspapers suggest that it was assigned to Smiths Falls with 7095 in late March 1949 but it is reported to have also come to Sudbury before moving to the Sault and then, by 1968, to Winnipeg. <br> <br>The 1,000 horsepower, turbocharged 6-cylinder 539T diesel was first delivered as the S-2 model by Alco in September 1940. It came to MLW in Canada as CPR 7077 in May 1948 and it is preserved at Exporail near Montreal as Canada's first production diesel locomotive. Variations continued in production through April 1957, allowing it and the similarly powered S-4 and S-7 to come within a hair of besting EMD's SW7/9/1200 as North America's most numerous switcher. CP Rail sold 7091 to nearby Inco for use in its nickel production facility on Monday, June 16, 1986. It left their roster for scrapping in 2000 wearing number 204.

Name:	Bill Linley
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	08/20/1967
Location:	Sudbury
Province:	Ontario

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