Comments on: The days of ALCO spotting ! Eastbound Century’s storm through Whitby A matched set of MLW 1967 built C-630M’s hustle an eastbound high priority. And not a G E in sight ! CN Extra 2035 East at CN Whitby, October 9, 1984 Kodachrome by S.Danko Interesting: Life before the Double Stack. High Priority: note the Pacific Fruit Express controlled temperature reefers on the head end: higher priority than the CAST containers Circa 1984: what is a ‘ double stack ‘ ? The independent shipper CAST containers was a major CN customer: On the verge of bankruptcy, in 1982 the Royal Bank and BMO provided a financial rescue package, then in 1985 CN exercised their option to obtain a 75% ownership of CAST. On to 1995 the CAST Group in financial difficulty again, so CP Ships ( a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Limited ) bought CAST, then in 2005 the German conglomerate TUI AG offered to acquire CP Ships Limited for US$2.0 billion in cash, merging CP Ships with TUI’s Hapag – Lloyd division. The C 630 model was ALCO’s response to the EMD SD45. The C-630M is the MLW built Century. Last call for the ALCO (designed) Century ex CN 2035 in GEXR service sdfourty

By: Dave Brook

Dave Brook — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 12:59:58 +0000

This would have to be 392. It would sit at Mac Yard, and wait for the inbound from Chicago, lift the PFE cars off the tailend of it, double back onto its train and be gone. It was a regular user of big M’s, and was quite the ballet to get in and out of Mac Yard. Wonderful shot.

By: sdfourty

sdfourty — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 01:01:31 +0000

Mr. kgmontreal: great eye for detail….oh well, just knew it was too good to be true…nevertheless it is a matched set trio of MLW built ‘super’ power – in the era not as common as one would expect – thanks for the observation !
Glad fans out there are paying attention!
And the SOUND of those three under load – forever very neat.
sdfourty.

By: kgmontreal

kgmontreal — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 22:36:16 +0000

That’s not a matched set of C-630M units. It’s one C-630M and two M-636 units.

By: sdfourty

sdfourty — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 01:25:44 +0000

Had to double check the production dates: SD45 before the SD40 !
Perhaps the management decisions to proceed with the various models differ from the production start dates….
And have read that CP was disappointed with the early ( gray and maroon livery ) SD40′s to the point the SD’s were downgraded to 2500hp rating and prompted CP to order ( our favourite ) MLW’s.
sdfourty

By: SD70Dude

SD70Dude — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 23:57:03 +0000

If you count EMD’s Dash-2 line their production dates extend into the 1980s.

By: First954

First954 — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 17:55:57 +0000

I was always under the impression that the SD40/45 appeared at the same time, but I was wrong. Seems that old age has mushed some brain cells together, but I can confirm, after pulling my foot out of my mouth again, that my feet still taste the same!! Thanks for the clarification.

By: sdfourty

sdfourty — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 01:20:54 +0000

Noteworthy: the early second generation high HP (2800+) six axle locomotive production dates:

ALCO
C628 December 1963 to December 1968
C630 July 1965 to October 1967
C636 December 1967 to November 1968
C636M 1965 to 1969 (MLW built)

EMD
SD40 January 1966 to December 1971 (1972 by GMD)
SD45 February 1965 to December 1971 (nil 45′s by GMD)
note the SD45 in production prior to the SD40.

GE
U28C December 1965 to December 1966
U30C January 1967 to 1976
U33C January 1968 to January 1975
U36C November 1971 to February 1975

MLW
M630 1969 to 1973
M636 1969 to 1975

sdfourty

By: Aitch

Aitch — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 23:33:19 +0000

That’s just plain awesome !

By: First954

First954 — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 11:35:22 +0000

Very interesting photo. Those PFE reefers would have arrived in Toronto Yard on the tail end of a train from Chicago. Yard power would immediately pull them off and move them to the east bound departure yard where they were added to the head end of a train bound for Montreal. This was a daily operation that saw the reefers in and out of Toronto Yard in less than 30 minutes. Of course, this all happened when railways still knew and cared about customer service.

The C630s were a response to the SD40s and the C636s a feeble attempt to go up against the SD45s.