2424
Heading a fast time freight No. 2424 is seen speeding
through Cobourg in May 1954. J.Walder/J.Riddell collection
Closeup of the low profile feedwater heater on top of
smokebox ahead of stack.
No. 2424 was one of 20 engines in the G3h class of 4-6-2's which were
equipped with the Worthington feedwater heater instead of the Elesco
version fitted to the remaining 25 G3h's. The former had a square box-like
shape unlike the round drum style of the latter but both were mounted
in front of the stack. The Worthington heater was an open type where
the exhaust steam came into direct contact with the feedwater and two
pumps were needed, one for the cold water and the other for the heated
water. The Elesco version which predominated in Canadian Pacific's steam
fleet, was a closed type. The exhaust steam passed through a bundle
of copper tubes heating the feedwater which surrounded them in the drum
and only one pump was necessary. The Worthington equipped engines were
Nos. 2418 to 2437, most of which were assigned to the Western Lines
with a few allotted to the Algoma District in Northern Ontario. The
Elesco equipped G3h's were Nos. 2438 to 2462.
No. 2424, constructed by CLC in September 1944, was assigned to Brandon,
Manitoba until early 1954 when it suddenly turned up at Toronto, allocated
to the Lambton roundhouse. It put in a brief appearance at John Street
one night and was utilized on a passenger extra to the east but this
was the only instance I remember of this locomotive working a passenger
train in the Toronto area.
During its days in the West, it sported a grey graphite smoke-box, standard
on many Western engines but on arrival in Toronto, the locomotive was
painted black as were many of the class. However there were a few G3h's
finished in passenger maroon including Nos. 2418, 2420 and 2422; No.
2421 which ran out of North Bay was black with a blue-grey boiler. Throughout
its stay in the Toronto area, No. 2424 was mostly assigned to the Trenton
Division, in Lambton to Smith's Falls freight service but in late 1957
it was transferred to the Algoma District and assigned to North Bay,
running to Cartier and the Soo. Remaining in service into 1959, it was
eventually scrapped at Angus on April 25,1961.