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All the excitement over the "SP" on the GEXR made me think of another time some SP were in Southern Ontario.  Long before the days of e-mail, discussion groups and texting, imagine our surprise when 392 rounded the curve at Hamilton West with CN 9666, CN 9409, GTW 5929 and SP GP35s 6677, 6639, 6577 and 6556 in a cloudy of brake shoe smoke.  we hightailed it to King Road in Aldershot for another look.  For rebuild fodder the GP35s were in surprisingly good shape.  Of particular interest was 6577 in the red and yellow "kodachrome" scheme for the failed SPSF merger.  SPSF, meant to be the merger of Southern Pacific and Santa Fe; the acronym became "shouldn't paint so fast" after the ICC did not approve the merger.  Just as well, it would have been the Penn Central of the west.  It appears as though not all of these GP35s were rebuild, however SP 6577 was rebuilt at AMF in Montreal and lives on today as New Brunswick Southern (NBSR) 9803.  Thanks Dad for driving us all over creation to see this stuff!
Copyright Notice: This image ©Rob Smith all rights reserved.



Caption: All the excitement over the "SP" on the GEXR made me think of another time some SP were in Southern Ontario. Long before the days of e-mail, discussion groups and texting, imagine our surprise when 392 rounded the curve at Hamilton West with CN 9666, CN 9409, GTW 5929 and SP GP35s 6677, 6639, 6577 and 6556 in a cloudy of brake shoe smoke. we hightailed it to King Road in Aldershot for another look. For rebuild fodder the GP35s were in surprisingly good shape. Of particular interest was 6577 in the red and yellow "kodachrome" scheme for the failed SPSF merger. SPSF, meant to be the merger of Southern Pacific and Santa Fe; the acronym became "shouldn't paint so fast" after the ICC did not approve the merger. Just as well, it would have been the Penn Central of the west. It appears as though not all of these GP35s were rebuild, however SP 6577 was rebuilt at AMF in Montreal and lives on today as New Brunswick Southern (NBSR) 9803. Thanks Dad for driving us all over creation to see this stuff!

Photographer:
Rob Smith [378] (more) (contact)
Date: 11/08/1997 (search)
Railway: Canadian National (search)
Reporting Marks: SP 6577 (search)
Train Symbol: CN 392 (search)
Subdivision/SNS: Not Provided
City/Town: Aldershot (search)
Province: Ontario (search)
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Photo ID: 34305

Map courtesy of Open Street Map

Full size | Suncalc
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5 Comments
  1. Sure didn’t see many in this scheme. Very interesting !!!

  2. Very nice – the paint scheme has so many nice details.

  3. Note the “5 cab” lettering under the cab window, IIRC this was to denote the unit was outfitted to accommodate a 5-man crew inside for use on locals without cabeese.

  4. The louver behind the cab looks like it is from the opposite side and upside down.

  5. Those were the days when you really didn’t know what would be coming and could be “surprised” as you say Rob. Neat catch for sure!

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