Old Time Trains

CPR London Division Gallery 2

Extra 5185 West at Guelph Junction. 4/1959

Westbound trains from Lambton Yard in Toronto destined to Quebec Street Yard in London were normally powered
by either a P1 or P2 class Mikado type 2-8-2 and assisted as far as Orr's Lake by a G1 class Pacific type 4-6-2.
Road freight crews had their home terminal in London while the Assist crews home terminal was Toronto.
Tonnage Ratings Westbound

P2 56% .............................. P1 43% ...........................G1 32% ...............
1695 tons....................... 1300 tons .... ..................965 tons .....ex Lambton
2410 tons ................................1850 tons ..........1375 tons ..........ex Guelph Jct.

"A" rating from Lambton with a P1 and Assist was 2265 tons however, practically, only 1850 tons could be taken unless cars were to be set-off at the Junction or Galt, in which case a further 415 tons could go "free". Tonnage hauled could also be limited by the length of passing tracks (56 cars and the van) beyond the end of second track at Guelph Junction. Some "fast freights" were given a further reduction to maintain a fast schedule. Bad winter weather warranted further tonnage reductions of 5-30% .

Sometimes, a doubleheader would be operated if tonnage was extra heavy. This would require two London road crews on the headend and result in a van crew being deadheaded home on passenger, unless the pool was already short due to tailend men being used on passenger. Their van (caboose) would be sent back to London on another west train.

Assist was the formal term used e.g. "London and Assist", "903 & Assist" etc. however, they were often referred to as a "push", even though they did not actually push the train from the rear. (Yard engines would be used behind the van to push eastward trains out of Quebec Street yard). All push engineers were called from a spare board list (a.k.a. "Cockney pool") and made only one trip to Orr's Lake due to the extreme distance (55 miles) and time involved. North pushes to Bolton sometimes made two trips, and East pushes to Agincourt would make a number of trips due to the short distance. They would lay at Leaside (which was known as "push out" ) for the next East train. Firemen were called from the "B" (B rules card only) spareboard which covered other work as well. If no B board man was available, one would be called from the "A" spareboard whose men had A rule cards and could therefore be called as an engineer if the engineer's spareboard was depleted.

The majority of Galt Sub. freight trains used P-1's as road engines, while bigger, more powerful and newer P-2's handled most of the rest except for an occassional 2800 Royal Hudson. Windsor Sub. trains were almost exclusivley Pacifics, 2300, 2400, 2500 and 2600's, due to the level track. Note: Engines were never referred to by their wheel arrangement (2-8-2 etc.) or by type Mikado, Pacific etc. They were referred to mostly by class, D-10, P-1, P-2 etc. others by number series, Twelve Hundreds, Twenty Two Hundreds, Twenty Four Hundreds, etc. Individual engines would be referred to thus: 2228: Twenty Two Twenty Eight; 2206: Twenty Two Nought Six.

C.P.R. London Division trains in the last years of the steam era looked like the images in this gallery,
although the dates in the sequence are different, the scenes are typical of what you would see any day.

All photos below: Bob Shaw CPR Retired (unless otherwise credited)
Bob Shaw was a brakeman at the time he took these photographs in 1959.

Assist engine 2228 (CPR 8/1911) and road engine 5135 (MLW #52722 8/1913)
at Lambton roundhouse shop track being readied for a West train October 9th.

West train has just left Lambton Yard crossing the Humber River.
2206 (CPR #1486 10/1906) assisting a single road switcher diesel. October 4th.

2206 assisting 8757 (RS-18 MLW #82251 3/1958) takes water at Guelph Junction. October 3rd.

Same train just west of the Junction. Note the two stock cars on the head end. October 3rd.

Push engine turning on the wye at Galt after returning "light" from Orr's Lake.
Note marker light on tender and wires of CP Electric Lines. October 3rd.

2214 (CPR #nil 12/1907) "Light engine" back off an Orr's Lake push. Lambton shop track September 26th.

This was my all-time favourite steam locomotive of my favourite class. Its valves were set perfectly "square" producing four identical sharp exhausts. Its overall appearance well-proportioned. The feedwater heater bundle in front of the stack made all the difference. Just look at the previous image of 2206. I did not like the 2200's without the FWH. The 75 inch diameter drivers added to their appeal over the similar G2 class engines with 70" drivers. Referred to as "Twenty Two Hundreds" these G1 class 4-6-2 Pacific type engines were easily hand-fired, well-liked and quite capable engines in spite of their age. The trailing truck gave a smooth ride compared to the other classes of push engines, 4-6-0 D-10's and 2-8-0 "Mudhens." and the enclosed vestibule cab protected the crew from bad weather. R.L.Kennedy

Coaled up, ashes dumped, the 2206 takes a spin on the table to head into the house for a rest and its inspection. Sept. 28th.
Note: In this instance 2206 is actually coming in off the Havelock Way Freight. It was also regularly assigned to the Trenton Pick-Up for some time in the late 1950's. There were 10 out of 39 of these 2200's assigned to Lambton Locomotive Dept.

2203 and 5147 off their train and taking water at the Junction. July 16th. Above and below.

Extra 5147 West, P-1 class 2-8-2 Mikado (MLW #52722 8/1913).
These old engines were not well-liked by the London crews.

Extra 5375 West P-2 class 2-8-2 (CLC #1789 11/1926) is assisted by 2228,
shown here, and below, at the Junction on July 16th.

Note the train order signals are both displayed at yellow (caution) to deliver orders to trains in both directions.

When the dispatcher had orders to give to the crew he would tell the operator, "19Y West copy 4" e.g. make four copies, one for each engineer, one for the conductor and an office copy for the operator. The operator would set the train order signal at yellow and respond, "SDY West", signal displayed at yellow for westbound trains. The operator would write out the order and the signal would remain in that position until the orders had been delivered to the crew.

Eastbound operations (below) on the Galt Sub. were a lot simpler. Road engines were un-assisted and could handle higher tonnages due to the grades. A P2 was rated at 2735 tons ex Quebec Street yard in London (325 tons more than a westbound), 3190 tons ex Galt and 3905 tons ex Guelph Junction. Therefore, many eastbound trains lifted tonnage enroute.

1/92 (First Ninety Two) engine 5406 (MLW #69276 7/1940) eastbound at the Junction July 16th.
This engine was the second semi-streamlined P2, part of an order for 12 engines (5405-5416)
with 275 pounds boiler pressure, equipped with HT stokers and rated at 57,500 pounds tractive effort.

Gallery 3

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Old Time Trains © 2009 2020

CPR London Division Gallery 2

Extra 5185 West at Guelph Junction. 4/1959

Westbound trains from Lambton Yard in Toronto destined to Quebec Street Yard in London were normally powered
by either a P1 or P2 class Mikado type 2-8-2 and assisted as far as Orr's Lake by a G1 class Pacific type 4-6-2.
Road freight crews had their home terminal in London while the Assist crews home terminal was Toronto.

Tonnage Ratings Westbound

P2 56% .............................. P1 43% ...........................G1 32% ...............
1695 tons....................... 1300 tons .... ..................965 tons .....ex Lambton
2410 tons ................................1850 tons ..........1375 tons ..........ex Guelph Jct.

"A" rating from Lambton with a P1 and Assist was 2265 tons however, practically, only 1850 tons could be taken unless cars were to be set-off at the Junction or Galt, in which case a further 415 tons could go "free". Tonnage hauled could also be limited by the length of passing tracks (56 cars and the van) beyond the end of second track at Guelph Junction. Some "fast freights" were given a further reduction to maintain a fast schedule. Bad winter weather warranted further tonnage reductions of 5-30% .

Sometimes, a doubleheader would be operated if tonnage was extra heavy. This would require two London road crews on the headend and result in a van crew being deadheaded home on passenger, unless the pool was already short due to tailend men being used on passenger. Their van (caboose) would be sent back to London on another west train.

Assist was the formal term used e.g. "London and Assist", "903 & Assist" etc. however, they were often referred to as a "push", even though they did not actually push the train from the rear. (Yard engines would be used behind the van to push eastward trains out of Quebec Street yard). All push engineers were called from a spare board list (a.k.a. "Cockney pool") and made only one trip to Orr's Lake due to the extreme distance (55 miles) and time involved. North pushes to Bolton sometimes made two trips, and East pushes to Agincourt would make a number of trips due to the short distance. They would lay at Leaside (which was known as "push out" ) for the next East train. Firemen were called from the "B" (B rules card only) spareboard which covered other work as well. If no B board man was available, one would be called from the "A" spareboard whose men had A rule cards and could therefore be called as an engineer if the engineer's spareboard was depleted.

The majority of Galt Sub. freight trains used P-1's as road engines, while bigger, more powerful and newer P-2's handled most of the rest except for an occassional 2800 Royal Hudson. Windsor Sub. trains were almost exclusivley Pacifics, 2300, 2400, 2500 and 2600's, due to the level track. Note: Engines were never referred to by their wheel arrangement (2-8-2 etc.) or by type Mikado, Pacific etc. They were referred to mostly by class, D-10, P-1, P-2 etc. others by number series, Twelve Hundreds, Twenty Two Hundreds, Twenty Four Hundreds, etc. Individual engines would be referred to thus: 2228: Twenty Two Twenty Eight; 2206: Twenty Two Nought Six.

C.P.R. London Division trains in the last years of the steam era looked like the images in this gallery,
although the dates in the sequence are different, the scenes are typical of what you would see any day.

All photos below: Bob Shaw CPR Retired (unless otherwise credited)
Bob Shaw was a brakeman at the time he took these photographs in 1959.

Assist engine 2228 (CPR 8/1911) and road engine 5135 (MLW #52722 8/1913)
at Lambton roundhouse shop track being readied for a West train October 9th.

West train has just left Lambton Yard crossing the Humber River.
2206 (CPR #1486 10/1906) assisting a single road switcher diesel. October 4th.

2206 assisting 8757 (RS-18 MLW #82251 3/1958) takes water at Guelph Junction. October 3rd.

Same train just west of the Junction. Note the two stock cars on the head end. October 3rd.

Push engine turning on the wye at Galt after returning "light" from Orr's Lake.
Note marker light on tender and wires of CP Electric Lines. October 3rd.

2214 (CPR #nil 12/1907) "Light engine" back off an Orr's Lake push. Lambton shop track September 26th.

This was my all-time favourite steam locomotive of my favourite class. Its valves were set perfectly "square" producing four identical sharp exhausts. Its overall appearance well-proportioned. The feedwater heater bundle in front of the stack made all the difference. Just look at the previous image of 2206. I did not like the 2200's without the FWH. The 75 inch diameter drivers added to their appeal over the similar G2 class engines with 70" drivers. Referred to as "Twenty Two Hundreds" these G1 class 4-6-2 Pacific type engines were easily hand-fired, well-liked and quite capable engines in spite of their age. The trailing truck gave a smooth ride compared to the other classes of push engines, 4-6-0 D-10's and 2-8-0 "Mudhens." and the enclosed vestibule cab protected the crew from bad weather. R.L.Kennedy

Coaled up, ashes dumped, the 2206 takes a spin on the table to head into the house for a rest and its inspection. Sept. 28th.
Note: In this instance 2206 is actually coming in off the Havelock Way Freight. It was also regularly assigned to the Trenton Pick-Up for some time in the late 1950's. There were 10 out of 39 of these 2200's assigned to Lambton Locomotive Dept.

2203 and 5147 off their train and taking water at the Junction. July 16th. Above and below.

Extra 5147 West, P-1 class 2-8-2 Mikado (MLW #52722 8/1913).
These old engines were not well-liked by the London crews.

Extra 5375 West P-2 class 2-8-2 (CLC #1789 11/1926) is assisted by 2228,
shown here, and below, at the Junction on July 16th.

Note the train order signals are both displayed at yellow (caution) to deliver orders to trains in both directions.

When the dispatcher had orders to give to the crew he would tell the operator, "19Y West copy 4" e.g. make four copies, one for each engineer, one for the conductor and an office copy for the operator. The operator would set the train order signal at yellow and respond, "SDY West", signal displayed at yellow for westbound trains. The operator would write out the order and the signal would remain in that position until the orders had been delivered to the crew.

Eastbound operations (below) on the Galt Sub. were a lot simpler. Road engines were un-assisted and could handle higher tonnages due to the grades. A P2 was rated at 2735 tons ex Quebec Street yard in London (325 tons more than a westbound), 3190 tons ex Galt and 3905 tons ex Guelph Junction. Therefore, many eastbound trains lifted tonnage enroute.

1/92 (First Ninety Two) engine 5406 (MLW #69276 7/1940) eastbound at the Junction July 16th.
This engine was the second semi-streamlined P2, part of an order for 12 engines (5405-5416)
with 275 pounds boiler pressure, equipped with HT stokers and rated at 57,500 pounds tractive effort.

Gallery 3