Caption: For the first time that I can recall or at least for the past couple decades not only a former Illinois Central unit but an old Illinois Central SD40-3 lead a hotshot CN intermodal (122) into Canada. Quite the combination of events were needed to get to this point, first the original leader of 122 had mechanical issues and was determined to be not a viable leader and the second unit wasn’t able to replace it because it lacked the necessary PTC to run in Canada which led to the Americans grabbing what I’m guessing to be the only other viable unit to lead the train out of the states and into Canada which just happens to be IC 6250. Most Ontario railfans have caught hundreds if not thousands of trains between them but there’s always those few that remain fresh in the memory of the people that saw it, and even fewer are the trains that the entire community remembers and talks about for years after the event and I’d say it’s safe to say this train falls under both of those categories.