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This photograph is a follow-up to James Knott's recent photo taken at the former Robin Hood Flour Mill. This shot does not have the same artistic balance, but it was unusual to find GP40's on swithcing duties at this location (CN had only 16 of these units on the roster). These movements were still coming out of the Fort Erie yard, and that day 9302 worked the Canada Starch facility (CASCSO) as well. The flour milling operation ran till the mid-2000's. At the time Port Colborne was Canada's second largest flour milling center behind Montreal and the town can trace its flour milling legacy back to the 1780's when the Upper Canada's 3rd grist mill was established for flour production the shores of Lake Erie by Pennsylvania loyalists
Copyright Notice: This image ©Michael Klauck all rights reserved.



Caption: This photograph is a follow-up to James Knott's recent photo taken at the former Robin Hood Flour Mill. This shot does not have the same artistic balance, but it was unusual to find GP40's on swithcing duties at this location (CN had only 16 of these units on the roster). These movements were still coming out of the Fort Erie yard, and that day 9302 worked the Canada Starch facility (CASCSO) as well. The flour milling operation ran till the mid-2000's. At the time Port Colborne was Canada's second largest flour milling center behind Montreal and the town can trace its flour milling legacy back to the 1780's when the Upper Canada's 3rd grist mill was established for flour production the shores of Lake Erie by Pennsylvania loyalists

Photographer:
Michael Klauck [51] (more) (contact)
Date: 08/10/1987 (search)
Railway: Canadian National (search)
Reporting Marks: CN 9302 (search)
Train Symbol: Not Provided
Subdivision/SNS: Robin Hood (search)
City/Town: Port Colborne (search)
Province: Ontario (search)
Share Link: http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=41034
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Photo ID: 39827
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7 Comments
  1. jknott86
    April 20, 2020 at 5:28 pm

    Very cool to see CN GP40s there indeed!

  2. BradKetchen
    April 21, 2020 at 6:53 am

    Does the rear pilot look weird to you not passing the bottom of the coupler?

  3. Klaucker
    April 21, 2020 at 8:13 am

    Yes it was pretty cool to find GP40′s on this assignment, you could almost be guaranteed to get GP9′s. As far as the rear pilot configuration, ya, that did look a bit weird.

  4. Jakob Mueller
    April 21, 2020 at 8:44 am

    That pilot is because this is a DRF-class unit (road freight), not a DRS-class (road switcher). The GP40s were only intended to lead trains – forward – not operate in both directions like this. That’s another reason catching this on a switching assignment is unusual.

    I don’t know if CN ever did anything similar, but in 1980-1981, CP converted its C424s, GP30s, and GP35s to road switchers by adding a rear pilot and dual rear headlights. They were then used to substitute for RS18s and GP9s pulled from locals for the rebuilding programs.

  5. Klaucker
    April 21, 2020 at 9:21 am

    Thanks Jakob, that is an excellent explanation

  6. Noe
    April 21, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    Wow…that’s unreal. You don’t see many photos of standard cab CN GP40′s on locals in Ontario from that time period. Very neat photograph Michael.

  7. Klaucker
    April 21, 2020 at 3:04 pm

    Thrilled to hear this, I was surprised myself when I saw it pull into the yard, and the Engineer let me ride in the cab while they spent an hour switching the plant, I wish I was smart enough to catch a few shots from the cab!
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