Comments on: CN G8 854 pauses for its picture in Yorkton, SK on June 20, 1978. The unit was delivered to CN in June 1954 as 7674, renumbered a number of times to 1574, then to 1104, and finally to 854. One has to wonder what CN was thinking when this group of 5 units (850-854) was ordered as CN had already received all their F7s, GP7s, and many yard units by this time and GP9s, SW1200RSs, and FP9s were only a couple of months out. These export style units seemed destined to become standard gauge orphans. Location in Yorkton is a guess. http://www.railpictures.ca The BEST Canadian photos on the Internet, eh? Fri, 08 May 2026 15:44:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: MrDan http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=57399#comment-65963 MrDan Thu, 09 Oct 2025 21:51:52 +0000 http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/CN-854-Yorkton-SK-June-20-1978-Don-Jaworski.jpg#comment-65963 One of the really odd things about those was the trucks. CN bought them as 6-axle A-1-A units, but at some point removed the centre idler axles, plated over the side, and converted the trucks from A-1-A to B-B, as shown here. I can only guess they were purchased as lightweight prairie branchline units before the GMD-1's were ever designed (G8's purchased 1954, and the first GMD-1's purchased 1958), and later converted to B-B for other use (yard and local switching?) when displaced by the GMD-1's. The six narrow-gauge Newfoundland G8 units (800-805) arrived in 1956 and seem to be separate from those earlier 850's. They also had the very rounded cab roofs, versus angled cabs like this unit. One of the really odd things about those was the trucks. CN bought them as 6-axle A-1-A units, but at some point removed the centre idler axles, plated over the side, and converted the trucks from A-1-A to B-B, as shown here.

I can only guess they were purchased as lightweight prairie branchline units before the GMD-1′s were ever designed (G8′s purchased 1954, and the first GMD-1′s purchased 1958), and later converted to B-B for other use (yard and local switching?) when displaced by the GMD-1′s.

The six narrow-gauge Newfoundland G8 units (800-805) arrived in 1956 and seem to be separate from those earlier 850′s. They also had the very rounded cab roofs, versus angled cabs like this unit.

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