Comments on: For most eastern folks, CN 4414 (or any of the heavy GP9′s) is/was something all to familiar. In Redwater AB, it was an oddity. In just over a week it made 3 round trips through town. In this photo (trip No.3), the cab hop was made into a train by picking up 5 empty hoppers out of the Egremont siding. The cab has been tacked back on and it’s off to somewhere north for 4 days.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 21:11:23 +0000

Oh my.. sounds like that live rent free in my head Mr. Parks!! The joys of this hobby are exactly that. I am glad in 2026 I can still find these sounds on CN on the daily.!

By: L. Parks

L. Parks — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 18:01:17 +0000

“Sounded so good under load”:-), bonus of having that grade up from the river next to town. Grain and sulphur trains returning home were great sounding, in particular at -30°. Thanks Paul.
Funny, the other bonus of loaded units. I lived on the west end of town and the grade became much more moderate. About a mile or so past town is when those old units would make transition. The sound, again, was terrific, and you knew the train was finally getting up to speed.

By: Paul O'Shell

Paul O'Shell — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 16:53:36 +0000

Another great photo of classic CN power in action. Those GP9′s sounded so good under load.

By: L. Parks

L. Parks — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:50:16 +0000

Yes, it looks like weight was added to the frame, that large side skirt around the fuel fill compared to the teeny one on the 4344 will add a few lbs. Other ways were used to add metal weight to the frame. Some units had an increase by thickening the frame.
Thanks everyone.

By: Todd Steinman

Todd Steinman — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 23:57:59 +0000

And a high nosed GP9 too….awesome!

By: MrDan

MrDan — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 22:48:45 +0000

Those Blomberg B trucks apparently added an extra 6,000 lbs of weight to the units over Flexicoils. That and smaller fuel tanks/lower fuel capacity made up some of the difference for light rail branchline service (not sure if they had any extra ballasting weight or not, but it seems likely given the 248k vs 231k weight difference).

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 20:41:31 +0000

As nature intended, long hood forward