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Caption: Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 "Royal Hudson" 2839, in freight service, is seen by the Lambton Yard coaling tower in February of 1960, close to the end of regular Canadian steam service.
Toronto newspapers had a photo of "The last mainline steam train out of Toronto," CP 2-8-2 5411 on December 31st 1959. Indeed this is what I thought was the end. However on February 20th 1960, a friend and I were checking around Mimico when we heard a steam whistle from the north, so we headed up to CPR's Lambton Yard in time to see Royal Hudson 2839 arriving back from a push to Orrs Lake, as seen here. We were told that 2414 had been used earlier that day. Apparently this was common for a few months in 1960. Elsewhere, Port McNicoll saw the final end for CPR on April 30th 1960 with 3722. In Eastern Ontario, apparently G5s were used on occasion Smiths Falls to Kingston up until April. And of course, there were several steam fan trips in 1960.
Rather than being scrapped, Royal Hudson 2839 was held for a museum, but later sold to a group in the US. After restoration, she did some steam excursions on the Southern Railway. Today, cosmetically-restored 2839 can be found on display in Sylmar California, as part of the Nethercutt Collection.
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Wonderful piece of history.
Fascinating… thank you for sharing!
Hi Bill, beautiful picture of 2839. Actually, the Toronto news paper article was correct in that 5411 departing for Smiths Falls and Montreal on the afternoon of Dec 31, 1959, was the last steam powered main line freight train to depart from Toronto. Jim Brown was alerted by Fred Feeny (CPR) about this departure and Fred arranged for the diesel assist engine to run light to Leaside about 1/2 hour earlier so that Jim could photograph 5411 alone with the east bound freight, which he did late afternoon just east of Mt Pleasant Ave. As far as I know, all the 1960 CPR steam engine operation out of Toronto was in helper service to Orr’s Lake, fan trips and a couple of times on the Havelock way freight. 3722 and her fellow Port McNicoll steam engines, in addition to switching the grain elevator at Port McNicoll, powered freight trains back and forth to Midland, and a couple of way freights to Medonte/Orillia until the end of April 1960. CPR 2839 was an “ old friend” and I was fortunate enough to ride behind her when she was part of the Southern Railway’s steam program, from Alexandria Va to Lynchburg on the first leg of the NRHS Independence Limited on its way to the 1980 NRHS Convention in Toronto. Thanks very much for posting, John
Nethercutt Collection in California is a long way from home for 2839. Hopefully one day she maybe repatriated and wouldn’t it be great if she were returned home in operating condition,