Old Time Trains

Canadian Pacific Railway

Toronto Yard

Yard Engine Gallery 1

1502-1518-1501 shoving a cut over the hump. 8/10/1984 Chuck Zeiler

1501-1518-1502 three unit hump set. 8/10/1984 Chuck Zeiler

Two sets of these rebuilt GP9's worked the two hump jobs around the clock while a third set provided relief.

7401 lead unit working a hump job. Multimark on carbody. Compare to earlier style below.
7/05/1980 Kermit Geary Jr.

7401 never looked better! Sitting outside the diesel shop in this 1969 view.Note original style handrails and headlight.
Phil Mason

7400 with OCS water tender 415565 ex steam engine tender.

This was a familiar sight for many years at Toronto Yard with three units, (here it's 7403, 7400 and 7405)
working on the hump lead. Westbound is 931 the overnight third pig train from Montreal finishing its race
to John Street Piggyback Yard. Wednesday November 29, 1972 David M. More.

There were six GMD SW9 1200 HP switchers (A489-A494 1-3/1953) based on Western Lines since new and working various jobs out of Calgary and Vancouver as well as Field and Revelstoke yard. At 124 tons and 1200 HP there were the biggest yard diesels on the CPR at the time. Re-assigned to Eastern Lines and modified (1-4/1964) at John Street roundhouse for hump service. Units 7400, 7401 and 7402 (later 7403) were equipped with cab signals, slow speed hump control and non-standard M.U. on the rear only. This would permit three sets of two units each, two of which would work the hump each shift.

While waiting for the hump yard to open the 7400's were used on various yard jobs including the Piggyback Transfer where their gearing and truck design allowed them to operate at high speed as they raced from the Queensway Pig Yard to Parkdale Yard to make tight connections with North West symbol trains.

It wasn't long before it was found that two units were not always sufficient to handle the long and heavy hump moves. Four units were equipped with M.U. wiring on the front, permitting use of three units together. 7404 and 7405 remained as trail-only with no M.U. on the front. It was at this time that the units were marshalled in tandem (elephant style) with the engineer positioned in the rear most cab to permit better visibility.

8118 trails 7400 and 74xx March 23, 1975 L.B."Bruce" Chapman

Ten years later further changes came when three more units were assigned to the hump. By this time both jobs were using three units each, leaving no spares. Three GMD SW1200RS 1200 HP units 8112, 8116 and 8118 were equipped with slow speed control at at this time (1-3/1974). The 7400's were modified at John Street with standard M.U. to match the 8100's, and given other modifications to their controls to match the newer units. The 8100's always worked trailing-only, usually in the middle of a consist.

Close-up of the 7400 on the shop track shows the hump signal aparatus mounted on the front of the cab with
the horns relocated to the roof, an easy spotting feature since the two trail-only units, 7404 and 7405 did not
have their horns moved. June 15, 1974 Robbin Rekiel.

One engineer gained the nickname "Sandy" due to his constant sanding to gain traction and reduce slipping. The hump lead looked like the beach! This blowing sand got into the traction motors and everywhere else. Even removing the sanding valve and replacing it with a button mounted on the right side wall didn't stop him. He just placed a cushion up against it and sat on it!

For many years the hump units had a well-worn paint job despite the fact they were in regular view of thousands of people as they crossed over busy streets on the hump leads not to mention daily commuters on the Havelock Budd Car run. Clearly, in those years the CPR had no concern for its public image unlike the many years when their locomotives, both steam and diesel were clean and passenger locomotives were spotless!

Here we see trail-only 7405 photographed on December 2, 1978 by David M. More.

Finally, the units were repainted in the new CP Rail Action Red paint scheme with the Multi-Mark
symbol, first introduced in June 1968. 7400 shown here December 1976 L.B.Chapman

Note the later paint version with Multimark on carbody and number in the more typical cab location.
7401 appears to have lost its hump device off the cab front and is therefore now a trail-only unit.
It is likely it has been applied to either 1500 or 1501, the latter unit released from Ogden shops
on the same day this photograph was taken, December 30, 1980, by L.B. "Bruce" Chapman.

Pulldown

7405 trails 7400 on a Pulldown job. Modernized with twin sealed beam headlight.
Note camera backdrop behind units. October 23, 1981 L.B.Chapman

Here we see 7402 and 7405 working the Pulldown (a.k.a. "Tapscott Turn") June 12, 1974. Robbin Rekiel.

MLW S2 7089 (#75864 2/1949) on the shop track October 8, 1972. Robbin Rekiel

7077 and 7089 were equipped with unique multiple unit controls for afternoon Transfer service between Parkdale and West Toronto. Following abolishment of this job the two units were transferred to Toronto Yard to work pulldown jobs. They
were later modified at John Street with normal yard type mu enabling them to work with 6500's and 7100's likewise equipped.

The rural nature of the area is still evident more than a dozen years after the yard opened.

6560 and 6561 (MLW 660 HP S3) were especially built (#81547-8 6/1956) for the CPR subsidiary Dominion Atlantic where they hauled small gypsum unit trains. Equipped for road service with non-standard M.U. combination pilots, classification lights, slanted front illuminated number boards and chime air horns, they were also ballasted to 212,000 lbs.
(106 tons) compared to the normal 196,000 lbs. (98 tons). These units were found to be too light for the heavy gypsum trains and were replaced by a pair of versatile GMD SW1200RS (the modern day D-10!). They had been lettered for DAR and were relettered July 1959. Transferred to West Toronto they worked singly on various local jobs where their heavy weight proved them equal to the bigger 1000 HP S2. They were transferred to Toronto Yard to work the Pulldown in tandem where they remained until 1974 when they were replaced by a second pair of 1000 HP units, 7107 and 7108 which joined 7077
and 7089.

In April 1976 another pair of modified S3's 6576 and 6594 arrived for the Pulldown giving three sets of units. Also ballasted and M.U. 'able these units stayed to themselves. It was not until later on the units were actually mixed with each other.

NOTE: All of the Alco and MLW yard units for all yards in Toronto were maintained at John Street roundhouse which was exclusively Alco to the end in 1986. All GMD yard units for Toronto and elsewhere were maintained at Toronto Yard.

At one time the Pulldown jobs were assigned pairs of MLW RS-23 units.

6560-6561 working the Pulldown on February 18, 1967. L.B.Chapman

6576-6594 at the Pulldown on February 20, 1980. 6594 had been modernized with roller bearings.
The other set working that day was 7089-7077 (see below). L.B.Chapman

7089-7077 pulldown units on the shop track. Black smoke in left background is coming from the sand house.
December 3, 1966 L.B.Chapman

7077 was the first diesel delivered by Montreal Locomotive Works in June 1948 following two weeks of display at the CNE in Toronto. It was retired 36 years later in August 1984 and donated in October to the Canadian Railway Museum in Delson, Quebec, now Exporail. September 2005. Yves Cloutier

7089-7077 thirteen years later, still working the Pulldown. By this time 7089 had been modernized
with roller bearing trucks off a retired MLW S3. Note the two variations of Multimark paint scheme.
February 20, 1980. L.B.Chapman

Proof that S2 and S3 model units could work in m.u. 6594 and 7077 at North Bay, May 21, 1983
Helmut Ostermann.

6576, 6594, 7107 and 7108 had been transferred to Sudbury. 7077-7089 to North Bay.

6560-6561 Moose Jaw

In 1980 a system-wide program of remanufacturing road switchers into yard switchers was begun utilizing a surplus of medium horsepower old GMD GP7 and GP9 road switchers no longer adequate for the heavier freight trains being operated across the system. This was done to deal with the need for more powerful yard switchers to handle increased train lengths and weights at yards. 660 and 800 horsepower units just didn't cut it any longer and with the pending retirement of all Alco and MLW yard units (some of them approaching forty years old) that made up the majority of yard engines, something had to be done. They were to be remanufactured in-house at Ogden and Angus Main Shops.

The first three units GP7's 1500, 1501 and GP9 1516, were outshopped at Ogden in December 1980 and sent to Toronto Yard to be used in a three unit set. Four more units (1517, 1518, 1519 and 1502) followed in January, February, March and March 1981 to provide a second set plus a spare unit. Later, in February and March 1982 two more rebuilt units 1534 and 1537, were added. 1500, 1501 and 1502 were lead units. This finally resulted in three sets of three units with two sets in hump service and a third as spare to allow for maintenance. Likewise there were now three sets of two 7400's for the Pulldown, one set being spare.

number	ex number built	remanufactured
1500	8412 1/53	12/80
1501	8409 2/52	12/80
1502	8421 5/53	. 3/81

1516	8509 11/54	12/80
1517	8486 9/54	. 1/81
1518	8539 6/55	. 2/81
1519	8489 10/54	. 3/81
1534	8538 6/55	. 2/82
1537	8495 1/55	. 3/82

1501-1519-15xx working on hump lead by Agincourt Station. March 23, 1982 David M. More

1500-1518-15xx a typical hump consist of GP's. December 23, 1984 L.B.Chapman
Un-typical was this era of dirty units that lasted too long.

Changes came about in 1991 with 1500 and 1517 wrecked in a head-on collision with another movement in heavy fog resulting in their eventual retirement in August 1994. The other movement came to stop upon seeing the approaching engine movement coming from the shop with the Herder crew operating it. Luckily there were no serious injuries or deaths.

Wrecked in May 1991, shown on shop track October 1991 L.B.Chapman

The second change in 1991 came about with the failure of 1534 (renumbered 1025 in 1996) whereupon it was converted into a slug and mated to 1518. This resulted in a reduction of one prime mover while still maintaining twelve traction motors per hump set. This arrangement was successful enough that a formal program of paired units was begun. These pairs were called Mother and Daughter, the latter being a slug (engineless). Soon they were modified for Pitch and Catch remote control.

1025 ex 1534 (nee 8538) Only GP slug, with 1518. May 9, 1996 L.B.Chapman
Note: the Multimark is gone but the Action Red paint remains.

Yard Engine Gallery part 2