Caption: Fresh red candy-cane striped SD40-2's never looked better: brand new CP SD40-2's 5819 and 5818 trail eastbound train #904 out of London, Ontario, on what was likely their first trip on CP rails. While CP's SD40-2 numbering was still in the 5600's in the early 70's, a new 5800-series was created for special "Locotrol Pacesetter Master" units: they were equipped with Locotrol transmitting equipment for leading Locotrol (DPU) trains out west (the master unit sent signals to the Locotrol receiver unit or Robot car, that controlled the mid-train helpers), and also with Pacesetter equipment to maintain a constant speed while loading and unloading coal trains. To accommodate the new equipment, they were delivered with a longer 102" nose, which became standard on all further CP SD40-2 orders (the earlier units had 81" noses).

At the time CP already had a fleet of MLW M630 units purchased a few years earlier for coal service out west, but with numerous reliability issues popping up and EMD coming out with the new and improved SD40-2 that fixed some of the issues CP had been having with their earlier 5500-series SD40's, it didn't take long for the new -2 units to replace all the M's in coal train service (some M's had donated their Locotrol equipment to the new 5800's). CP went on to amass hundreds of SD40-2's, cranked out by GMD London for use across the system (some EMD-built units were acquired later too, both via secondhand purchases and the SOO Line acquisition). Four decades later, CP has sold off and scrapped many of their aging SD's, but some remain in storage and a few reactivated units still ply the rails.

Gord Taylor photo, Ektachrome slide from the Dan Dell'Unto coll.