Two for Tuesday: Getting CP Heritage, Sort of

Canadian Pacific’s maroon and gray heritage locomotives have been around a while but I’ve had no luck in seeing one, let alone photographing it. When it comes to CP heritage units, my luck has been so bad that I haven’t even had a near miss in getting one.

Everyone and their brother, it seems, has photographed a CP heritage unit, but I haven’t.

My luck changed dramatically last Sunday. I was standing on the platform of a railroad park by the former New York Central depot in Chesterton, Indiana, next to the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern.

An eastbound was approaching, which turned out to be the 34J, a manifest freight that comes off the Indiana Harbor Belt in Blue Island, Illinois, and runs to Elkhart, Indiana.

From a distance I could tell the lead unit was not a run of the mill NS locomotive.

It was a clean Canadian Pacific locomotive. That in and of itself is nothing out of the ordinary. But as the train bore down on me I suddenly noticed there was something different about the trailing unit. It wasn’t run of the mill CP.

It was maroon and gray with block lettering No. 7016. And with that my CP heritage drought abruptly ended. Well, sort of.

My find comes with a few caveats. The 7016 was trailing and not leading. That is at best a consolation prize.

Second, the weather was far from ideal for photography. It was a cloudy day with flat light. Many rail photographers would not have bothered to have gone out under such conditions.

Third, seeing my first CP heritage unit caught me off guard. I’m amazed I was able to get what I did of this unit. But, hey, I got it.

I just hope that I don’t have to wait several years to catch another CP heritage leading in better light and for which I am better prepared.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Winter’s Light

It is late afternoon on Jan. 10, 2015. I’m standing on the bridge carrying Old State Road over the CSX Willard Terminal Subdivision tracks west of Greenwich.

Cresting a grade and heading toward Willard is CSX manifest freight Q351. I had first spotted this train southeast of New London on the New Castle Subdivision but had been out of position to get a decent photograph. I was able to get ahead of it and catch it here.

The attraction of the train was is bright red and clean Canadian Pacific leader which gleams in the late afternoon sunlight while providing some contrast with the snow and drab colors of the slumbering foliage along the tracks.

The image is a reminder of the rewards of winter photography when low sun angles produce warm light on otherwise cold days.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

CP Power Two for Tuesday

Canadian Pacific motive power is not rare in Northeast Ohio, but is uncommon on the CSX New Castle Subdivision.

The images shown here were made in late August 2004. The top image of CP 6037 running westbound was made in Sterling.

The same locomotive is shown with the same second unit heading east in Clinton on another day.

My guess is the two units got to their western destination, were turned, and sent back east.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

CN Returns Standard Cab Units to Mainline Duty

Some standard cab locomotives have been returned to mainline service by Canadian National  after being sidelined or assigned to captive service since early 2021, Trains magazine reported this week on its website.

Some other units, including idled wide cab units, also have returned to service or are being prepared for a return as part of the railroad’s fall and winter surge fleet.

Most of the 134 GE C-40-8 units CN acquired between 2010 and 2012 have been parked or retired since 2020.

The Dash 8s are not expected to be mainstays on CN for long. The Trains report can be read at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/news-photos-canadian-national-returns-dash-8-locomotives-to-service/

This Time I Was Not Upset

Early in November I saw the Canadian Pacific ES44AC No. 8781 was going to be heading east on CSX. It had recently been given an orange Hapag-Lloyd  Saint John Express scheme.

Ursula and I had stops to make in Willoughby. Around 12:30 p.m. it was reported near Cleveland so I decided to wait in Mentor at the parking lot of the restaurant in the former New York Central passenger station.

The sun was shining in the perfect spot for an eastbound. About 1 p.m. a headlight appeared. I did not have my camera but was going to use Ursula’s iPhone.

By not having it ready to shoot, I did not get a photo. The lighting was ideal and the locomotive was spotless. I think I was upset.

Just before Thanksgiving No. 8781 was leading a CSX train again and I saw a post that it was passing through Collinwood yard in Cleveland.

I immediately hopped in the car with my camera to head to Perry. The post on HU was not close to the actual time it was seen since the train passed me on the way. I think I was upset.

About 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday I saw a post that it had passed through LaGrange as the DPU on the I 166. However, its nose was facing west.

There was no sun, but I did not care. I went to Perry and waited. The only train I saw was the one I wanted. I was not upset.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Scenes From RRE 2021 Turkey Shoot

RRE members watch I 166 pass through Berea. That is Marty Surdyk’s silver jeep behind them.

Bob Todten takes shelter from the rain in his vehicle.

Here comes the I 166 as NS train 20T passes nearby.

An eastbound NS manifest freight with Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific motive power passes through Berea.

Despite the cool temperatures and steady rain, a few brave Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts members still made it to Berea for the 46th Annual Turkey Shoot on Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25, 2021.

Marty Surdyk and Bob Todten arrived first, followed by another five members.

Both CSX and Norfolk Southern ran a few trains, including the I 166, the Canadian Pacific run through train on CSX with a 1+1 pair of CP GE’s which looked like they had previously been in coal train service, given their coating of what looked like coal dust on their car bodies.

In the photographs above, that is Marty’s  silver Jeep behind the group and Bob Todten, sitting in his SUV, avoiding the then-steady downpour. 

Back in 1975, Bob and I started what has become this annual tradition.

Article and Photographs by Mark Demaline

CP ‘Orange Crush’ Cruises Through Cleveland

On Friday Canadian Pacific ES44AC No. 8781, the Hapag-Lloyd unit – already nicknamed “Orange Crush” by railfans (for the REM song) – came through Cleveland leading the I166 which was formerly Q166.  I caught it at Berea in late morning and at East 361st Street in Willoughby in early afternoon.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

CPKC to Retain CP Beaver, Shield

Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel said last week that the CP Beaver will figure prominently in the identity of Canadian Pacific Kansas City, but would not reveal details of what the locomotive livery will be.

Creel said during an interview with Trains magazine that he has some ideas about how to protect the identities of CP and its merger partner Kansas City Southern.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves or send the wrong signal to the STB (Surface Transportation Board),” he said. “That being said, the answer would be I’ve got some ideas. We’re going to try to protect both companies’ proud histories. That matters.”

Upon becoming CP’s CEO in 2013, Creel brought back the iconic CP beaver and shield.

“Obviously the beaver is near and dear to our hearts,” Creel said. “The beaver will be part of that when it’s finalized; there’s no doubt in my mind.

“So it won’t be a huge retooling of our logo. It will be an enhancement that will honor the KCS team and I think we’ll make them proud to be a part of it. When it comes to locomotives, we haven’t gotten that far yet. That’s something when the time’s appropriate we’ll take a look at.”

Creel also said during the interview that once the merger is completed CPKC will put its 4-6-4 steam locomotive No. 2816 on a business train that will conduct a nearly 3,800-mile tour from Calgary to Mexico City.

Known as the Empress, the H1B Hudson was built in 1930 by Montreal Locomotive Works. Restored in 2001, it last operated in main line service in 2013.

As for the CPKC name, Creel said he chose that name as a way to honor the employees of both railroads.

“To me it’s about honoring our employees and honoring our histories,” he said adding that he understand some have been critical of the name.

In looking ahead to how CPKC will operate, Creel said traffic moving from KCS to Detroit and points in eastern Canada will continue to operate via Chicago.

Once that traffic arrives in Chicago it will move east on trackage rights on Norfolk Southern to Detroit via the NS Chicago Line to Butler, Indiana, and then to Detroit over the former Wabash mainline.

Creel said he envisions traffic growing to the point that a new tunnel will need to be built between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, to handle double-stacked container trains.

CP owns the current Detroit River tunnel between those points but it cannot handle double-stacks.

Therefore the double-stacked traffic now moves and will continue to move for now via haulage rights on CSX between Chicago and Buffalo, New York, via Cleveland.

Happy 4th of July

Old glory waves in the breeze from a bridge in Paxton, Illinois, over the Chicago Subdivision of Canadian National, formerly the Illinois Central.

Shown is a southbound CN auto rack train whose consist also had a few boxcars of, perhaps, auto parts.

The train was captured on July 3, 2021, during a holiday weekend. The train had slowed here for a possible meet with a northbound, but the dispatcher elected to move the meet to the next siding to the south at Rantoul.

Good Way to Start the 2021 Railfan Year

Railfans and their cameras were out in force on Saturday in Northeast Ohio as CSX train 166 came through the Canadian Pacific No. 6644 on the point.

The SD70ACU is adorned in a special livery paying tribute to World War II veterans.

It is shown above passing through Perry at 12:24 p.m. on the CSX Erie West Subdivision. On the rear of the train was a distributed power unit with its nose facing outward, a bonus for photographers.

Catching the 166 with something out of the ordinary was the highlight of the photographer’s first railfan photography trip of 2021

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas