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Caption: [Editors note: very rare scene in colour] Canadian National steam and first generation diesels mingle in Montreal: MLW FA1's 9405 and 9404 (in the early green and gold scheme) sit ahead of a SW1200 and 4-8-4 Northern, at CN's Turcot shop/yard facilities in 1954.
As CN dieselized, it moved its operations from the flat-switched steam-era Turcot yards and shops to the newer Montreal hump yard. In 1960-61, Turcot became the gathering ground for dozens of retired steam locomotives, stored and scrapped on site by Point Ste. Charles shop employees.
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Is that yellow or gold? Thank you for sharing this rare look into CN’s early diesels.
A great piece of history and in colour too. Thanks for sharing Bill.
Wow. This is where trains would swap from electric to steam power and vice-versa until full dieselization rendered the electrification from Central Station to Turcot East unnecessary. The catenary is barely visible at right.
Gold was the passenger units.
Thanks Pierre for the information.
Hard to tell if it’s a dirty yellow or gold colour from the photo, since they were built in 1950 the paint would probably be 4 years old at this point. I seem to recall the FA1′s were delivered in green and gold though, and checking builder’s photos (albeit black and white ones) if definitely looks gold. Another hint is the very tiny “Canadian National” lettering on the carbody, and numbers at the ends that they were delivered from MLW with. My bet would be they’re gold.
For comparison, here’s a gold F7A unit: http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=13904