Caption: Have you read the children’s book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”? It is the humorous story of a young fellow who climbs out of bed only to have everything go wrong. That pretty much describes my day on June 6th, 1976. I was 15 at the time, and had recently joined the Ontario Rail Association. This was during the final restoration phase of CPR #1201. I had quickly become quite fascinated and attached to this locomotive. The guys at John Street were kind enough to invite me to join them for the last upcoming turntable picture before it departed for Ottawa. I was so excited that I had trouble sleeping the night before. I overslept and arrived five minutes late for the photograph. My new friends then invited me to spend the day chasing the locomotive. At our first stop, this consist stormed by at an extremely high rate of knots. We were shocked to see a diesel protecting the front end. Further ruining the shot, the snout door of FP7-A, #4038, was wide open. The idea of further pursuit was quickly abandoned. I’m sure I went home in a funk, climbed back into bed and pulled the covers over my head. Fast forward 38 years and I’m looking at this image - and thinking it is kind of interesting. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad day after all!Internet research shows #4038 was built by GMD in London, Ontario, in 1951. It was retired in 12/82. It is on static display in Minnedosa, Manitoba.I’ve tagged the GPS co-ordinates at John Street. This is obviously incorrect – I have no idea where I snagged this photograph – but it was somewhere outside of downtown Toronto.
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Awesome shot and a great story as well Peter! I can relate to sleeping in and missing chances many times!
If anyone knows where this photo was taken send a contact request through the site or add it here.
So that’s how the door is hinged on an F unit to accommodate the angle!