In a fundraising event for Exporail (the Canadian Railway Museum) CP Hudson 2816 led a special excursion from Montreal to Delson, QC, on June 10, 2004.  The funds will go to the complete cosmetic restoration of CP S2 #7077, currently at the museum.  I was on the excursion and took the opportunity to take a number of pictures.

I used Fujicolor Superia 100 film for the first time to take these pictures; the results converted me to it.

An early morning start in Montreal.  I went in with some friends to St-Constant, where we boarded an AMT commuter train that took us into Montreal to the Lucien-L’Allier Station.  This is the train at our arrival.  Yes, that is a GP9RM in the lead!  I couldn't believe my ears when someone mentioned that a GP9 would be powering the train before I boarded it at St-Constant.  Due to a lack of an auxiliary generator, a separate HEP car rides behind the Geep, providing power to the passenger cars.  Despite an appearance identical to the rebuilt GP9s used on CN, it never wore CN paint after being rebuilt--it was rebuilt as a GP9RM after retirement from the CN roster and was directly transferred to AMT.

The back of AMT GP9RM 1311.  Note the spare coupler knuckle sitting on the walkway.

A view from the front reveals the unique CN-style chop-nose and cab.

I didn't have the opportunity to photograph 2816 right away on the station platform in Montreal, so I took a few other photos while riding the train.  8247 was one of two CP GP9u's idling on a siding in Delson, seen as the excursion train prepared to make a long trip on a wye to turn around and back up into the museum grounds.

The initial plan for the train's arrival at Exporail was to have it back into the museum where passengers could detrain and have lunch during a 2-hour stop.  However, backup motion stopped as 2816 entered the curve leading into the museum--it was too sharp to continue.  The trailing truck of 2816 seemed close to jumping the tracks and it was deemed safer to stop the train just off the CP line outside the museum.  The suspected cause: Modifications during rebuilding in 2001 reduced the flexibility between the locomotive and tender.  I went with the flow and entered the museum grounds where a nice box lunch was waiting, so photos of 2816 were further put on hold.

There was some interesting activity there, though.  Four diesels at Exporail are operational, and two of them were running at our arrival.  C424 4237 and M630 4563 sat welcoming visitors with idling (burbling) engines and lit headlights.  The M630 posed at the front for all to see, with recently restored paint glistening in the sunlight, while a more faded 4237 was coupled back-to-back behind.  Apparently, when the M630 was first started some time before, it had put on a smoke show that would put to shame most steamers.

MLW M630 4563.  I never realized the power of the headlights until I found that their light was blinding in full daylight and their heat could be felt from ten feet away.

MLW C424 #4237.

Some time afterwards, visitors were allowed up in the cab of the M630.  Guess where I went...

This is the view looking out the back of the cab on the conductor's side down the long hood.

The engineer's view, out the front.

To be restored: CP S2 7077.

Also at the museum was a familiar face--SLR M420W 3569, even more faded than when I last saw it running on the SLR in 2000.  If it looks to be riding high, it's no illusion--the locomotive is a shell only.  It was stripped of all usable parts in order to maintain the other ex-SLR MLW units, which are currently operating on a few other shortlines.

Twenty-Eight Sixteen.

I finally ventured up near the tracks outside the museum where the magnificent Hudson sat, steam hissing as it posed in all its perfectly restored glory.  Although I'm a diesel fan who has grown up in the diesel era, no diesel will match the impression put on by a steam locomotive like 2816, even when sitting still.  While a diesel's engine and sophisticated electrical equipment is hidden from view, a steam locomotive puts its entirely mechanical workings on display for all to see.

In looking for research photos for my drawings of the MLW H1 class Husdons, I found a number of areas rarely photographed, so I attempted to fill them in when taking detail photos of 2816.

The tender of 2816 actually was originally connected to sister H-1c 2822.

Visitors were halted before going around the front of 2816, considering it was right along the CP right-of-way.  One of the police officers, however, kindly offered to photograph 2816 from the left (sunny) side, and here is the photo that resulted (a classic view that I was hoping to have).  My thanks to the officer should ever he read this.  The sharpness of the curve is evident in this picture, with the tender completely hidden from view behind the cab.

While I was photographing 2816, a freight train appeared out of nowhere, and I shot a few pictures of it as well from behind 2816.  Motive power was SOO SD60 6042 and CP SD40-2s 5933, 762 and 5949, all accelerating a 71-car mixed freight from 35 up to 50 mph or so.

More photos of 2816 after the return trip to the Lucien-L’Allier Station in Montreal.

2816 builder's plate.

I was lucky to be able to get the photos above--not two minutes later, an AMT commuter train pulled up in the adjacent track and hid 2816 from view.  Motive power was VIA F40PH-2 6453.

Another commuter train demonstrated more typical AMT power: F59PHI 1327, Lucien-L’Allier Station, Montreal, June 10, 2004.

Michael Eby 2005