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Great pic. CN’s 9300 class GP40′s were assigned to move traffic between Sarnia and Pt.Huron in their final days. The Sarnia boys called the “tunnel motors”????????
This appears to be the bunkhouse / roundhouse in “C” yard. I imagine that’s a lot of tunnel and local power but the inclusion of some road power is curious.
Now they park about two to three sets of power for the IOX and Terra jobs here and yard switchers, but the bulk of the road power and local power for A yard is parked by the tower and east end of A yard. CN and LDS share the roundhouse for maintenance and, well, LDS repairs. LDS now does 90 day inspections for CSX Sarnia locomotives instead of CSX sending their power to the states, all at the CN roundhouse.
The bunkhouse is boarded up – when was it last used? Phil do you know?
Back in the steam engine era, electric locomotives known to the railroaders as “tunnel motors” were used to pull trains through the original St Clair River tunnel and Deroit River tunnel. I guess the term lives on.
Tunnel air tends to be bad – for diesel locos in tunnel operations you want to run with the cab ahead of the exhaust, while the cab is at the back with steam engines (exception SP cab-forward) so almost no view in tunnels, a lot of unhealthy fumes and danger of asphyxiation. Apologies Phil if you already know this, you had question marks.
Prior to the mid/late 90s….or whenever…ALL power came to this location, road, yard and tunnel.
And yes the term ” tunnel motors” was applicable both at CN from the earliest days, to NYC/PC at Windsor-Detroit.
@Stephen. When was the last time you were at the roundhouse?
We rarely had to put our power in the shop tracks as most of my assignments to Sarnia/Pt.Huron were all change off jobs.
The few times i was actually inside the roundhouse it was being used for light running repairs for LDS, but that was awhile ago.
@jp4pix, yes i did know all about the term “tunnel motors”. Forgive the question marks. It seems if you want to use a symbol ie thumbs up or certain other smiling faces they won’t go through and come out as ???? after the sentence.
Phil CN mechanical folks, apparently, still use the roundhouse for light maintenance of units assigned to the Sarnia terminal (GP9′s , GMD1′s etc)
I have photos of 1439 being hoisted up for work late last year.
Thanks Bruce for notes. I only started visiting Sarnia in 1999. I’ll be there over Easter.