According to one reference, the Canadian Locomotive Company passenger cab units lasted a little longer on the CNR (some until 1969) ... than the other opposed-piston-powered locomotives of Fairbanks-Morse design on that railway.
Here is how they were covered in the CNR operating manual compilation of 1966.
The pages from the CNR operating manual do not have source captions.
However, the images from other sources are labelled to show their origin.
There are no diagrams provided for the passenger units in the CNR book. Here is one found in the Locomotive Cyclopedia for 1950-1952. The F-M pages in the Cyclopedia are less lavish than those for the two largest diesel manufacturers. After trying to improve on the rough quality of the diagram below, I decided to leave it in its original state.
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| from: Locomotive Cyclopedia; 1950-1952; Simmons-Boardman. |
Standard F-M nomenclature uses a suffix to denote the number of axles, so to them, the locomotive above is a CPA16-5
In the Cyclopedia, in a number of cases, you can also see Whyte-style classification used. So the unit above is an 0-4-6-0 ... or something.
In North American diesel nomenclature, it is a B-A1A.
I believe that the unusual third axle on this passenger unit is to support the weight of the steam generator equipment. While one could argue that this is evidence of fine engineering ... it might also be true that the opposed-piston design is already more unusual engineering than anyone desired to deal with.
The two higher powered units of this series of locomotives (2000 hp and 2400 hp) used the same carbody and frame. F-M was selling the interchangeability of components with this design. When compared with units of the same power for freight service, the 2000 hp and 2400 hp units added about 20 tons of steam generator-related weight.
The 1600 hp version (the CNR unit) - detailed below, and also farther below - only adds 6 tons for passenger service. The A1A truck may have been seen as beneficial for use on some of the CNR's areas of lighter track.
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| from: Locomotive Cyclopedia; 1950-1952; Simmons-Boardman. |
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Here are the pages from the CNR operating manual.
The CNR images are repeated and enlarged so you can see more detail.
That marks the end of the CPA-16 coverage in the CNR manual.
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| from: Locomotive Cyclopedia; 1950-1952; Simmons-Boardman. |
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| from: Locomotive Cyclopedia; 1950-1952; Simmons-Boardman. |
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| from: Locomotive Cyclopedia; 1950-1952; Simmons-Boardman. |
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The cover of a booklet detailing the CLC's steam locomotive history and wartime manufacturing, the Consolidation line of diesel-electrics, the CLC's export locomotives, the other heavy industry equipment manufactured by the CLC, and the significance of the plant to Canada and to Kingston ... featured the CNR-style unit on its cover. The illustration features an enormous front coupler housing.
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My father had requested these locomotive data sheets from the CNR.
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| Collection of LC Gagnon. |
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| Collection of LC Gagnon. |