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Caption: When the Fairbanks-Morse units on Canadian Pacific were approaching their end of service, one assignment remained strongly served by a few H24-66 Trainmasters — they were ideal for power, traction, and control for switching the hump yard at Alyth in Calgary, particularly as trailing units for modified GP9s. Here, at the west end and approaching the 12th Street East interlocking tower (with the Blackfoot Trail overpass in the distance), CP 8635 and 8905 are slowly shoving a long string east over the hump on Wednesday 1974-10-02.
Ten years later, CP 8635, by then further upgraded and modified for non-hump duties and renumbered 1580, became one of the first assigned GP9 yard units at the Coquitlam Locomotive Facility in Port Coquitlam and part of my work world as an electrician. It was among the last GP9s to survive in yard service there, through to the end of 2013. Note its short hood is NOT a chopped GP9 hood, which would have a central vertical flat area on the nose, but is more like a GP35 short nose. Two other Alyth hump units, 8633 and 8634 (which became 1579 and 1576) were similarly equipped.
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8492, 8530, and hump engines 8633-8635 all got those early “pointed chop” (but as you say, not really a chop) noses. I heard CP patterned a lot of the numberboard and cab work off standard EMD GP/SD components. The first three 8633-8635 were done in late 1970-early 1971, and the other two were wreck rebuilds or repairs.
Apparently the Trainmasters weren’t liked much around the hump, according to some old Bruce Chapman postings they idled them near the yard office and the building air intakes were sucking in the fumes from the TM’s, gassing employees inside. “A-B-A” sets of GP9-F7B-GP7/9 units were ordered to replace them (there was some order that the GP7′s were downgraded to yard/hump use, eventually those became the first yard unit rebuilds). CP even tried to pawn them off in the Eastern Region before retiring them but they in no uncertain terms got a “DO NOT WANT”.
Before the TM’s came to Alyth, they were using GP9-SW1200RS-SW1200RS sets for the hump (an even HP match for the TM’s, I suppose).
What a great picture. I was surprised that these units were not fully repainted into the “action red” paint scheme when they were modified.