H1a Hudson No. 2803 with 52 cars, picks up speed
eastbound on fast manifest No. 902, at Cherrywood. In the passing track
is the van of No. 903, westbound, hauled by No. 2807. The date is July
17,1954, and the shot was taken at 12:50 p.m.
No. 2803 was one of ten H1a's (Nos. 2800 to 2809) built by MLW in late
1929. Assigned to the Quebec District for most of her life, she worked
out of the Glen Yard roundhouse in Montreal in passenger service. She
was used on the Montreal to Quebec City run, the transcontinental run
from Montreal to North Bay, and the Montreal to Toronto run, including
the ultra fast Trains No. 19, the Canadian and No. 38, the Royal
York. On June 28,1936, No. 2803 hauled the 50th anniversary train
out of Windsor Station, Montreal, which was Train No. 7, The Dominion,
celebrating 50 years of transcontinental service.
By mid-1956, No. 2803 had left her old territory, the Quebec District,
and had been transferred to the Ontario District, where she rolled her
last miles in freight service. Sent at first to the Trenton Division
where she operated from Lambton Yard, Toronto to Smiths Falls, by 1958
she had been moved to the London Division and operated out of Quebec
Street, London. By the end of 1958 the locomotive was out of service
at London, awaiting her last journey to Angus Shops. On April 27, 1959,
No. 2803 was listed on the company books as scrapped.
The "old 2800's" (H1a and H1b's Nos. 2800 to 2819) gave yeoman
service through the years and in 1931 hauled the world's fastest passenger
trains, Nos. 19 and 38, which ran on a 6 1/4 hour schedule between Toronto
and Montreal. No. 38 covered the 124 miles between Smiths Falls and
Montreal West in 108 minutes, an average speed of 68.9 m.p.h.
No. 2803, which is heading Train No. 903, was assigned to passenger
service at John Street, Toronto, in the late 1940's and early 1950's.
For some time she was pooled with the "Royal Hudsons" on the
west end to Windsor and back, which involved moderate to high speed
running. Engines assigned to trains like No. 21, the "Chicago Express",
and No. 22, the "Overseas", ran up 500 miles a day, week after
week.
Stationed at John Street when the diesel-electrics arrived, No. 2807
hauled the last regularly scheduled steam run of Trains Nos. 21 and
22, on Sunday, March 7,1954. There were five more scattered trips on
these trains with steam when diesel-electrics were unavailable, the
doubleheader on page 12 being one example.
Another "old Hudson" on the Windsor run was No. 2816. This
engine ran as an oddity for a while, sporting two different crossheads
at the same time. On the left side she had a Laird single guide type,
and on the right, the double guide Alligator type, standard to these
engines, but later she appeared in her original form with Alligator
crossheads on both sides.