Caption: On the E&N on Monday 1979-03-12, MLW S-3 CP 6572 had recently returned from Port Alberni to Victoria roundhouse for scheduled maintenance and was lined up for the 0600 Victoria yard job. A personal practice was to work the engine against full-set airbrakes to verify loading and to warm up the wheels for good braking, out from the turntable and back several times within the tenth of a mile of shoptrack, that on Monday mornings particularly desirable after a Sunday parked in the shop.

Extensive idling at Port Alberni had accumulated quite a bit of carbon in the exhaust, and the heat from my load testing caused it to be emitted as a magnificent show of sparks, caught with a time exposure of several minutes.

Note the as-built single note “honker” air horn, and above it a three-note added at Victoria for better sound projection operating in reverse over the many local crossings, and coincidentally, a more pleasant sound overall.