Sunset Of CNR Steam

the sunset of Canadian national steam [Music] in 1952 Canadian National Railways took delivery of over 100 diesel electric locomotives and thus began a transition that would see the end of steam by early 1960 as all classes of power continuously fell victim to the cutting torch Newton Rossiter one of Canada's foremost steam authorities and photographers at the foresight to capture on film these final years of cien steam in a moment Newton will relate along with retired locomotive engineer Steve Rennick what these final years of cien steam were like joining Canadian Pacific in 1946 Newton Rossiter worked in the locomotive shops on the engines and finally the car department until retiring in 1986 Steve Rennick hired on with Siena's a fireman in 1950 and ended his career in 1990 as a locomotive engineer with bol Canada thanks Steve the scenes were a watching show see on steam power in southern Ontario during its last days and hours of operation this is the end of an era few people in a lifetime witnessed such a sudden change in a technology did the railroaders when adapting to the diesel age after a century of steam traction we all recognize of course that progress must prevail however it's hard to reconcile when it occurs in your time as I am talking we have seen passing before us some of the last vestiges of steam action in the bayview area of Hamilton we have with us a retired see an engineer Steve Rennick who experienced both regular steam service and the steam excursion years while Steve against these scenes bring back a lot of memories as they sure do newton the 6,200 engines were called classics they were powerful good writing comfortable ample cab room from engineers standpoint they were easy to operate and from the firemen standpoint these angels were equipped with HD Stoker's exhaust steam injectors and they were a firemen's delight I guess in your time Steve you had quite a bit of experience on assist engines yes we sure did Newton we had helper service between Starr nav Anu and Starbuck port unions Carver and also had this service from Bay View to cloak town and Meriton to lock 25 thoughts up here comes 75 before cities he was a real fast Chavez deve yes these engines were equipped with booster engines installed directly between beneath the cab the booster was used to assist the main drivers my leaving stations only but there was a game played between the engineer and the fireman and easier used to a lot of times unnecessarily just to kill the fireman for steam and water there was always one of those in the crowd to make life miserable for you that's very true Newton this scene is sort of a sad state of affairs that was the beginning of the end for the steam engines and the diesels were taking over yeah that enough Diesel's even take over on the assists this is Sunday March the 29th and we're visiting with Nicole Roundhouse where the last stand of many of CN s famed northern pipe is taking place the general locomotive Foreman bill cave was very friendly to the steam van going out of his way to accommodate here we see the last gas was 62 42 she's going into the house for the last time under steam they will blow it down drain the boiler and remove the main rods preparing her for storage prior to the trip for the reclamation yard at London where the cutting torches will reduce this great engine two pieces of scrap yes Newton is too bad we had to see such wonderful power go to waste Belle kay was a memorable Foreman and he was one of the fast guys who want everyone to work for it I worked there for a while costing engines and so on and just he was a prince of a man yeah he was really nice to the fans and when we enjoyed visits domenico during our days of photography well Steve it looks like the power for number 460 street of Fort Erie is getting ready to go to the train yard [Music] it looks like that second engine was firing up so it's probably cold water Doyle being the fireman on there a lot name speaks for itself I believe HB hotbox Johnson was the engineer on that particular train that day I'll come a double headed that train Steve well there's a little bit of history behind it I suppose we're having coffee at Dixie Plaza the other day and I asked Gord Morgan about this double-header and he said that the only time they double headed for 63 was when they were short of power at Fort Erie they're dead head and hands in over 240 area that's right okay and we hopped in our car here and we drove out the Lorne part to get these two engines on the fly here they come pretty seen two engine at high speeds I'm afraid well it looks like hotbox Johnson is doing all the work we return to Mimico on April 5th for a small gathering of steam photographers are trying to get shots of some of the last engines under steam mr. Kay obligingly rolls 60 306 out of the house and gave a little demonstration of the majesty of steam by working 63 or 6 against the partial brake that's right Newton the engine brakes are applied so as to enable local motor to work steam power and have complete control of the engine thereby making the engine look wordpower naturally in the foreground receive a late dick George with his trusty Graflex giving hands signals a spot 60 306 with rods down dick was the founder of the noted Patterson George team photo archives and co-author of the fine book steamer Oakville [Music] the 6300 engines were assigned to Sonia and a lot of them were the Grand Trunk engines and they were powerful but nothing like the 6,200 they came over the original you know 3/8 class came over here during the war 1942 when the Grand Trunk got their new u3 beat type engines and these engines stayed here all but from then on that's a little bit of history I was rapidly running out for steam in the Toronto area streamline 6402 put in a brief appearance in mid-april on Hamilton commuter trains number 76 and 79 the 6,400 local motors were the hottest thing on the road this the hot air came through the rib on top of the boiler and right into the cab and it was a literal steam bath moving to the Clarkson lawn Park area we see two successive sequences of number 76 was 62 19 on April of 21st and 22nd two more days are left for steam on this run when 62 34 does the final honors on April the 24th winding up see n steam operations in the east that's a pretty sight a Stephen yes it sure is Newton and it's sad to see them go yeah just think there were only two days left and that was the end of steam in Ontario Eastern Canada in fact it's too bad that we didn't have the foresight to preserve more of them we now moved to Western Canada well the last concentration of steam power was centered out of Winnipeg all engines being oiled fired steam continued through the summer and fall slowly winding down during the winter until April of 2015 60 when train number 76 from the part of Winnipeg with engine 60 43 and its steam operations system-wide [Music] the first views of Western steam operations show five sequences of the h6 class ten-wheeler a versatile branch and main line engine engine 1389 is shown on trains 47 and 48 running between Winnipeg and Russell Manitoba 224 miles two days a week in each direction these attend wheelers they were thorough centered in two or three areas here in Ontario want a yes the word Newton as a matter of fact I was talking to Bill sprawl he's an original Lindsey man and he said they had a few of them assigned to Lindsay at Barry Galveston and Stratford and this power was using branch line service here we see the 1357 entering for cruise yards on a short freight form Emerson the gentleman by the name of dirty Nick Wilson was the conductor many a railroader had a nickname some not too flattering I myself answered to the name of slim when I was working on steam at John Street years ago yes I know what you mean Newton we had quite a few of them on a CN well known and there was HB hotbox Johnson and his namesake bill agony Johnson and we also had a fella by the name of crapper Jun's they always like to shoot dice and Bill Crawley making nickname crawl because that's all he ever did was crawl and also had a fella by the name of Coldwater Doyle he died first team didn't matter what terminal he worked out of well we had two or three-year chaps with odd names too one was Golden Arm Atkinson he was noted for pulling drawbars and knuckles and kept them out on the road a lot longer and it made a lot of overtime so they nicknamed him the man with the Golden Arm then we had silent George Simmons he hardly spoke a word on the Buffalo run they tell me all the way from Toronto to Hamilton never said anything that's about all I can think of there were others of course engine 21:29 is seen here at Whitman Tower and she crosses the CPR main line on her way up to steep walk she's pulling a train load a train of the empty high-sided drop bottom hopper cars for stone service I don't know we go back to Pacific Junction we see the 2174 both Pacific junction and st. Norbert those two sequences this was an ex Canadian northern engine built by Canadian Lokomotiva 1912 I guess you never saw this this class of engine in Ontario did you Steve no we didn't I believe they were all out west but I believe that we like the CPR we had enough leaky roof engines here that we didn't need anymore she's coming across a small Trussell bridge near st. Norbit you know firemen give us away there they always like to see the camera boys out I get through all the oil burners boy yes they're all our burners Ryan okay here's the Esk to class mikado which we see passing our camera well there's the Jordan spreader and to operate the wings and required at least 110 pounds main reservoir pressure or train line pressure I should say yeah I guess they were pretty heavy to move and especially when they're pushing a load of stolen or snow or something yes and didn't have to worry about the brakes because the operator to drop the wings and that was our braking power yeah I could imagine that would be some break all right these asked for to Mikado's they were built with a bellperre boiler firebox and they were among the first large orders for new power placed by the fledgling CNR 1923-24 they were numbered 35 25 to 35 99 the bellperre firebox was the invention of a Belgian mechanical engineer of the same name dude it's rectangular design it had an increased steam and water capacity over the conventional radio stayed type this modern group of engines were the largest in Canada fitted with the ball peristyle firebox only one of this class operated in southern Ontario the 35:47 which was stationed at Stratford London and Fort Erie in the last years of steam I as I said there was only one of this class operating in southern Ontario but I guess you had experience with the other engines of the one 32 33 34 hundredths well the 34 and 37 hundredths were more common around this area and I was talking to Bill scroll from Lindsey and the 3,700 class angels were used between Lindsey and and Belleville and and Midland very shortly after that they used 61 hundreds for about a month and that didn't plan out because of the grade so the extent the 6100 back to Toronto and they stuck with a 3700 these huge scenes we've been watching here are the 35 Horner's was taken a Pacific junction just west of Winnipeg this is where the Gladstone and Hart subdivisions divided one went the rivers the other two dolphin here we come with the another 3,500 s coming across the Assiniboine River Bridge makes kind of a pretty sight of bridge girders he didn't have any floods no here's the 50 97 which is on crane number 33 nursing Norbert this Port Arthur to Winnipeg train has been rerouted from the Sprague st. Boniface line due to bad track conditions and is running by Emerson this engine is fitted as an international engine for operations across Minnesota the 5620 showing up here at wooden Tower is returning from steep rock and she looks to be in a fairly nice shape but we hasn't been long out of the shop that tried new it and it's in excellent shape I like to comment on an engine 50 62 assigned to a delta wave Freight 50 31 under Whitby wave Freight we had 50 100 50 to 53 55 and 56 under steer engine 5303 was assigned to number 94 Toronto to Belleville via Lindsay engine 55 75 was assigned to Toronto Midland job number 45 my memorable memorable trip was a number engine 5600 Liverpool to London and to the boneyard sounds like a sad trip Steve / here's 6000 the granddaddy of the CN dual service power the 6000 stands out from the rest of the class where the deep running board trim she's at West our forties the Prairie in this scene I know she is again on her river's drag near Pacific junction you'll note the cab windows on these engines were changed the front cab window that are placed on the corner for better vision that was strictly a Western lines innovation yes well that is interesting Newton we had a few 6000 series agents here and the one that comes to mind is 6028 assigned to Train number 46 and 47 of the Toronto North Bay run I fired quite a few times for engineer by the name of Andy Manson and he booked a way just to be set up every trip and that engine rode like a Cadillac so there's another nickname for you his name was wedges that's pretty out the pole here's the 6030 she had her moment of glory when she headed the pilot train of the 1939 royal tour now here's the 6001 and who also had a shining hour when she hauled the royal train of the then Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh from Vancouver to Kamloops Junction in 1951 now here's 60 30 again as I mentioned she was on the pilot train of the 1939 royal tour while she was paired with a 60 28 which Steve was mentioning 60 28 was assigned to the Royal train and the pair of those engines called their train between Armstrong Ontario and Toronto and from Joffrey Co back to Saint John New Brunswick and Halifax 4cn engines they rolled up quite a bit of mileage on the Royal train of the year the so-called bullet knows Betty's ran most of their lives on the central region before transferring West some having a bullet nose removed and some creating around the built tanks for rectangular tenders removed from scrapped 43 hundreds since the diesel ization program took over on the eastern region the CND cited transfer some steam engines to Western Canada these were properly abruptly converted to oil burners engine sixty sixty was one of them the CNR decided to use this engine and excursion trips virtually no one knew beans about firing an oil burner and a Saudi Peter wallchuck who hails from Melville Saskatchewan transferred to Toronto was a well versed on oil burners and was asked to instruct firemen that were interested in these assignments instructions such as these were well worth the average for the future my first trip on 60 60 from Toronto to Stratford as engineer was fired by Peter wallchuck air canada piracy bradley was our pilot at the controls of a Cessna and he was taking aerial pictures one thing amused me about this engine was the fact that periodically sun-sin was deposited in the firebox to clean out the boiler fluid this exercise caused a lot of black smoke a few years later the 60 60 was brought back for more excursion services to be scheduled between Toronto Niagara Falls and port Robinson I gladly accepted this assignment arranged by master mechanic Bruce Kearney on the very last trip we had an unusual experience an engine meant from Western Canada by the name of bucks car cowboy from Jasper Alberta fire the 60 60 the next day he harnessed it and it was on its way to Edmonton there he refurbished 6064 further runs my career was complete from coal to diesel to terrible lrc oil burner the latter added some nostalgia but it was time to move on Wow they were interesting memory Steve [Music] now here comes a 60 43 at Pacific junction this engine had the honor of course of pulling the last steam haul train on the system April the 25th 1961 were 76 from a part of Winnipeg and she now resides in a cinebulle Park Winnipeg a very dilapidated condition I must say in the Toronto area a move was afoot to resurrect steam operation by running steam excursions on a limited scale the Upper Canada Railway Society was the prime mover in this effort at the end of steam operations in Toronto to serviceable northern type engines were still available sixty one sixty seven and sixty to forty five engine 61 67 was the lucky one to be chosen making its first excursion trip on July the 10th 1960 tronto to Niagara Falls and return this engine continued an excursion service until the weekend of September 26th 27th 1964 when it was teamed up with freshly shopped 60 to 18 on a doubleheader weekend 60 to 80 making its first trips and 61 67 retire the 60 to 18 carried on until 1971 on its place was taken by a newcomer from the West oil-burning mountain type 60 60 which had undergone a heavy shopping at points in Charles Montreal this engine carried on the excursion tradition out of Toronto until 1980 when it was returned to the west on these excursions Steve how did they select the engine crew the senior men or just anybody office to spare board that could handle steam well originally we were called off the spirit board but as time went on there weren't too many dedicated men that were willing to work those jobs so we were more or less a sign asked to protect assignments well I see so you were more or less wrong call anytime at Durant an excursion name that's right in the firing of these like during one pass and everything did you have much trouble with the fire I mean a stop and on the starting did it clinker up on you at all or nothing no I was very fortunate I had some real good engineers that understood what firing was all about and they were very very helpful and they sort of we worked together kept the water level at a proper level there and there was no such a thing as getting there the screens wet and soggy you know and therefore it had made the job very very easy I remember one trip I made with Bob Cole one time available too I rode the injured in Belleville to Foxborough and I remember we had a stop about half way as the fireman on there evidently it had very limited experience with firing and the fire was in a heck of a mess so we had to stop and clean the fire and dump the you know dumpy and cinders out on the track enough to where we could proceed I suppose at times you did get fire and I guess it had very limited experience well you can't expect too much from Belleville there's just a bunch of rubber boots oh that's what they called me yeah now we get we had a lot of coal but in from Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia and a Nova Scotia Paul was no good at that cause a lot of clinking well thanks rose interesting memory Steve did sure brings a tear to the eye while we excursion engines the three Experion engines were preserved along with many others were scattered across count of various parks and and of course the majority of them went to the boneyard were scrapped and the Sun finally set on CN steam

Channel: DungeonStudio

Views: 31,334

Keywords: Canadian, National, Railway, CNR, Steam, Bayview, Junction, Toronto

Id: 3Q-S2KWyrX8

Length: 29min 7sec (1747 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 31 2019