Caption: In the 60's, 70's and early 80's prior to the invasion of rebuilt GP7 and GP9's, hump operations at Canadian Pacific's large Toronto Yard in Agincourt (a neighborhood in Scarborough, which was a borough in Toronto) were handled with pairs and later trios of GMD SW9's. Three are shown here near the General Yard Office: CP 7405, 7403 and 7400, between humping duties.

CP only ordered six of the 1200 horsepower SW9 switchers numbered 7400-7405 (later buying 72 of the upgraded SW1200RS road switcher model), and they remained the largest of CP's switcher fleet compared to other 660, 800, 900 and 1000 hp units. Initially the six were used in switching service out west, but migrated to the east for use at the hump in the newly opened Toronto Yard in the 60's (three SW1200RS units would later be used on the hump with them). Units 7400-7403 were equipped with cab signal gear and slow speed hump control (note the repositioned horns and signal gear installed on the cabs of 7400 & 7403), while units 7404 and 7405 were just equipped with rear MU to be operated trail-only. The engineer would operate the set out of the rearmost cab, in this case, unit 7400. At the time, all 3 here are wearing the later version of the multimark livery with the logo on the hood instead of the cab, and all have been modernized with dual-sealed beam headlights and full side handrails (also note the additional numberboards they received). They would be rebuilt as 1200 series units in two or three years for general switching duties, and 3-packs of more powerful rebuilt GP7u/GP9u's would take over hump duties here.

In the background is a whole bunch of classic CP Rail 1970's rolling stock: action red 52' mill gondolas, red 40' boxcars, 50' double door boxcars (that were actually rebuilt by CP from 40' single door boxes), an insulated-heated yellow 40' box, open autoracks, and a pair of 40' boxes in the older script and stacked lettering schemes. A few customer sidings, long gone today, can be seen in the background at the south end of the yard along Nugget Avenue.

For further reading on Toronto Yard, there is an excellent writeup on Ray Kennedy's Old Time Trains website here.