Caption: A light plume of exhaust drifts across the Oldman River as CP SD40-2 5614 leads BN B32-8 "B-Boats" 5499, 5498 and 5497 on a freight across the famed Lethbridge Viaduct, a very large steel trestle (apparently the largest in the world) that was originally built in 1907-1909 and continues to see freight service today, over 100 years since it was originally constricted.

The three "BN" B32-8's were actually pre-production GE Test bed/demo units built in 1984 that were just painted for Burlington Northern. They demonstrated on CP in 1985, but inevitably produced no orders for these high-horsepower 4-motor units (CP had just finished bulking up on 6-axle GMD SD40-2 units for mainline service, and was still taking delivery of scads of 4-motor GP38-2's for prairie branchline service at the time). After their demo stint they were leased by BN until being returned to owner GE in 1991. Research suggests unit 5497 was scrapped in the mid-90's, and 5498/99 lingered in a derelict state at GE in Erie PA until the early 2010's. In the end, the only roads to opt for the B32-8 model were Norfolk Southern and Amtrak.

Doug Wingfield photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide (with some colour correction/editing).