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Over the years I have gone out of my way to avoid people in my photos. Yet, when I saw this slide, the people came alive. No longer was this just a sterile front-coupled roster shot of a MLW FPA-4, but this was a small piece of history captured on film.
CN 6786 is at Toronto Union Station in mid-June 1972. A worker is going between the locomotive and the first car. Perhaps he will uncouple the locomotives from the train. Two men (possibly crew members or a railfan and a crew member) are talking at the back end of the locomotive. The woman seems to be getting impatient while waiting for one of the men to stop talking  and to leave with her. The baggage cart reminds me that soon passengers' baggage will be unloaded.
Then I noticed the number of the unit. It was CN 6786. That seemed familiar. On my first railfan trip to Canada in 1968, she was the first MLW FPA-4 I photographed. I was reunited with an old friend!
Copyright Notice: This image ©Robert Farkas all rights reserved.



Caption: Over the years I have gone out of my way to avoid people in my photos. Yet, when I saw this slide, the people came alive. No longer was this just a sterile front-coupled roster shot of a MLW FPA-4, but this was a small piece of history captured on film. CN 6786 is at Toronto Union Station in mid-June 1972. A worker is going between the locomotive and the first car. Perhaps he will uncouple the locomotives from the train. Two men (possibly crew members or a railfan and a crew member) are talking at the back end of the locomotive. The woman seems to be getting impatient while waiting for one of the men to stop talking and to leave with her. The baggage cart reminds me that soon passengers' baggage will be unloaded. Then I noticed the number of the unit. It was CN 6786. That seemed familiar. On my first railfan trip to Canada in 1968, she was the first MLW FPA-4 I photographed. I was reunited with an old friend!

Photographer:
Robert Farkas [349] (more) (contact)
Date: 06/1972 (search)
Railway: Canadian National (search)
Reporting Marks: CN 6786 (search)
Train Symbol: Not Provided
Subdivision/SNS: Toronto Union Station (search)
City/Town: Toronto (search)
Province: Ontario (search)
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Photo ID: 45827

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2 Comments
  1. That unit sure looks nice. Loved the paint when it was clean.
    As far as the old girl; heck, that brings some amusement to the photo.
    Here it is, almost 50 years later, and women are still impatient.

  2. Beautiful photo!! In my humble opinion the Alco PA’s were the most beautiful passenger locomotives ever built. The F/FP’s are a close second :-)
    The guy in between the unit and coach is the “car knocker” as we call him.
    The man in the uniform is probably the conductor/brakeman and the person with the polka dot cap is more than likely the hogger. Rules stated that they had to compare times on their watches and go over the train orders.

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