Comments on: In my second life … CN 41960 is an Engineering Department Generator Clothes Drying Car in the consist of CN’s Great Lakes Region Tie Gang #4 at Oba, ON in July 1976. Built new in February of 1943, it came out of revenue service and was rebuilt in March 1975 to begin its second life in the OCS fleet.

By: Paul O'Shell

Paul O'Shell — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 19:22:13 +0000

Those man-doors added the end of the cars when modified for OCS service provided easy access from the white fleet units into the clothes drying area of the generator car.
This negated the need to climb down from the boarding cars which was a nice feature.
CN 41960 was 32 years old when modified for OCS service in 1975, so my guess would be that it is long gone from active service 50 years later in 2026 as it would be 83 years old.
It may very well be sitting on the ground somewhere on the system sans trucks but that I do not know.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 18:30:51 +0000

I like the doors on the end. How long would this have lasted in the MOW fleet or is it still hanging around up north???

The friction bearing trucks would have had to be replaced to be actively used, unless it’s stuffed and mounted off rails.

By: Paul O'Shell

Paul O'Shell — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:48:29 +0000

Right you are Terry. Quite a few cars had two gen sets in one end with a dividing wall to the clothes drying area in the other end. There was an oil-fired stove in there to provide the heat for clothes drying.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/197431498@N07/52897090452/in/photolist-2ogQQSS-2oAkq5U

By: terry.oshell

terry.oshell — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:20:38 +0000

Nice looking generator car, I recall two gen sets in the car and a separate area to hang our work clothes. We always kept the mainline side door closed so you couldn’t see the stacked beer empties.

By: Ian Malenfant-Picard

Ian Malenfant-Picard — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 23:05:37 +0000

Oh wow! I am surprised CN kept some use for these 40s-50s stencils as far as the mid-70s.

By: Paul O'Shell

Paul O'Shell — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 19:08:39 +0000

Good observation Don. Here’s a car of similar vintage that had the roof running boards removed and the ladders chopped.
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=58247

By: First954

First954 — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 18:58:08 +0000

Great picture of a clean car. Surprised to see that it was back shopped in 1975 and kept its running boards. These were banned for new cars starting in 1966/67 and for interchange service after 1975(?). I would have thought that CN would have been removing them from every car being rebuilt at that time regardless of intended service. Interesting!!