Comments on: There’s catches, there’s “catches”, and then there’s CATCHES(!!!): both CP Rail GP30′s, 5000 and 5001, set up elephant style, leading an eastbound freight together on a gloomy day at Galt. In their early days the two CP GP30′s (the only Canadian-built GP30 units at that) could often be found paired together, but by the 70′s both were mixed in general freight service with CP’s large fleet of 4- and 6-motor units, and it became somewhat harder to catch the duo working the same train. But apparently the stars aligned on this day, and both GP30′s must have been at the same shop at the same time for some power planner or shop foreman to line up both together for a freight, elephant style, with a successor GP35 (5008) to boot. The occasion was not lost on Bill, who made sure to note “LOOK AT POWER!!” on the slide mount. It appears someone at Toronto Yard may have had a thing for pairing them. Later on in the 80′s when a bunch of the GP30 and GP35 units were reassigned out west in BC, there were a few instances of both running together with other units on local freights. Both were retired in the 90′s and disposed of, with one being donated to a museum and the other ending up as a lease unit at a US grain elevator. An interesting note here is 5000 had been repainted in relatively fresh 8″ action red paint with large multimark (same paint as 5008 trailing), while 5001 retains its mid-70′s “Ogden multi” paint with 5″ stripes and small multimark. Both GP30′s were still DRF (Diesel Road Freight) units, (converted to DRS (Diesel Road Switcher) next year in June 1980), but 5000 had been modified with smaller standard-sized EMD window glass in its middle front windows, while 5001 retains its wider as-built GP30 center windows (modified later). Bill McArthur photo, Dan Dell’Unto collection slide.

By: Ken Perry

Ken Perry — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 17:59:10 +0000

Those two GP30s became one of my challenges as an electrician at CP’s diesel shop in Port Coquitlam, easily the most intriguing electrical system (old-style contactors and 16 steps of transition, with the beginnings of solid state excitation) ever encountered, great job security!

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 13:30:10 +0000

Wow…