CNR 1971 Last of the Coalburners - 6218

Back when the Turbotrain still bore a CN colour scheme, steam locomotive 6218 was completing the longest time in CNR excursion service of any CNR engine. 

Regular inspections, periodic hydrostatic testing, completing any repairs to correct defects found, and official certification of the boiler and its appurtenances ... were necessary to maintain the operating status of a steam engine. Keeping a steam engine in use after the complete conversion to dieselization ... meant that steam shop facilities and staff were no longer organized and at hand to handle a boiler rebuilding as a routine matter. 

In early 1971, CNR determined that about $80,000 (2025 dollars = $630,000) of repairs to the boiler and running gear of 6218 were necessary. In addition, it would be necessary to find qualified workers to complete these tasks. The company announced the retirement of 6218. In the summer of 1971, a series of excursions was organized to commemorate the end of 6218's career and the end of steam on CNR. (from: Canadian Rail, March 1971) 

In all, the CNR excursion engines had hauled 150 trains carrying about 90,000 passengers between 1960 and 1971. 

(Unknown to the public at this point, oil-fired CNR 6060 would be restored and used in CNR steam excursion service from 1973 until 1980)

This commemorative program was printed for two of the 1971 excursions. Having recently moved to Kingston, we were not able to repeat our previous steam excursion trips to Ottawa (6218) and Victoriaville (6167). 

We probably picked this program up during the second-to-last day of 6218's operation on Saturday, 3 July 1971. On that weekend a number of short trips were operated between Belleville and Anson Junction. These localized operations were ideal for photographing the train after our ride. LC Gagnon selected the better 'fantripping' day ... and avoided the sentimental Sunday retirement trips, ceremonies ... and crowds. 

The program documented the service history of CNR's excursion locomotives. It also outlined the unique 'social construct' of a steam fantrip ... the courtesies hoped for, the conditions to expect, and the safety behaviours required.

To help you avoid any tasks you'd like to postpone,

I'm including links to some earlier posts about steam fantrips.

Link to the 6167 trip:

CNR 1963 CRHA Excursion: 6167, Montreal to Victoriaville

6153 passes Point St Charles ... and maps showing local railway features:

CNR 6153 at Turcot Yard and Heading to Victoriaville (with maps)

Our first encounter with 6218:

First Visit to Turcot Yard, Montreal, 17 July 1961

A fantrip with 6218:

CNR 1964 CRHA Excursion: 6218, Montreal-Coteau-Cantic-St Johns, Part 1

As a parting gesture, CNR refitted 6218's smoke deflectors for display on its final trips and into its retirement. 

Steam locomotives had constrained fields of view forward through tiny windows along the long barrel of the boiler. The engineer and fireman were expected to watch for the full rulebook inventory of signals and conditions which would affect the safe passage of their train. The effectiveness of this vigil was often made more difficult by steam and coal smoke swirling into their fields of view. This often led to engineers leaning out of their cabs to see the road ahead - weather permitting. 

(See the 6218 winter operating photo above to imagine the poor visibility)

Smoke deflectors were often installed on large engines in high-speed service in the hope that they would help maintain a clear forward view. Heavy, fast trains faced the greatest risks if their crews missed a trackside signal or other safety-related indicator. In general, crews found them to provide no net benefit to safety and smoke deflectors were often removed from these engines before the end of steam in Canada.

The photo below shows 6218 with smoke deflectors during its earlier career in regular revenue service.

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Saturday, 3 July 1971

Belleville-Anson Junction excursions

From the woman knitting at the left, to the kid with the striped shirt and the portable reel-to-reel recorder - this (and snapshot photographer LC Gagnon) was the party we fielded for the 6218 excursion. 

Our grandmother was not a railfan, but she was down from Valois, Quebec because she shared a birthday with one of her grandkids. An annual commuter to Vancouver via The Canadian, she declined a train ride, and instead enjoyed 'people watching' on the platform.

The six people described above travelled from Kingston to Belleville in a Volkswagen Beetle. 

On the subject of 'coalburners' ... That morning, I remember the first, familiar, pulse-quickening sight of black clouds of coal smoke. They were aloft in the calm air and visible perhaps five miles from Belleville. 

... Today, it seems strange to read the old regulations and understand that locomotives were not required to have their headlights lit by day ... however ... with coal smoke advertising their location, it would be hard for even the least observant drivers to miss the approach of most steam engines at a crossing.

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Details of the line between Belleville and Anson (Jct) - 1957

You'll notice that the short excursions were 20 miles in each direction, with a turn around a wye at both ends.

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Snapshots

The crowd-pleasing fantrip custom of a climb up the ladder to the cab, pausing for a short while in the cab, and down on the other side ... was in full swing here.

An exhibition of 'new power' and the CN billboard cars is behind the train.

Notice the markers wired behind the coal bunker - ready for light engine moves later on.

During the wyeing process at Belleville, we come upon some venerable equipment.

The labour of love of someone (not with our party) recording right behind the tender.

The familiar fantrip feeling of leaning out of a CNR coach.

After our excursion, 6218 passes by on another trip, and off into history.

CNR 1964 CRHA Excursion: 6218, Montreal-Coteau-Cantic-St Johns, Part 2

 

When last we saw our intrepid fantrippers, they were near the Coteau station (above).

From Coteau the train will follow the Alexandria Sub, travelling timetable east

through Ayrness, Barrington and arriving at Cantic (employee timetable below).

The Canada Atlantic Railway routing is mentioned in the Itinerary which follows.

Cantic ... Canada Atlantic ... I wonder ...

The map above and itinerary below are repeated from Part 1.

We'll be following the route of trains 730 and 734 on the right side ...

I was curious to see which features of our route remained almost 60 years later. You'll see a number of Google map images of what remains. 

Generally, we were travelling across a fertile plain which was often subdivided into the distinctive long, thin fields originating with New France's surveying and land-granting system. 

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Ayrness

Above and below: The runpast preparations at Ayrness. The man at the switchstand may be working with a battery-powered reel-to-reel recorder on the switch ties as he holds the microphone near the reversing train. A CRHA safety volunteer may be watching him with concern, as scalding water or steam may issue from the engine and he is within range. He'll certainly be cautioned to step back on the forward run. There was usually a CN Police officer on these trips as well.

Above: The site at Ayrness as it appears circa 2020. Unless otherwise indicated, all the Google views are oriented with North at the top.

Below: The 10-car train reversing after the runpast. A CRHA safety volunteer actuates the backup air whistle. 

A uniformed CNR trainman is centred on the rear platform of the car as he uses the signal line to help re-spot the train in its original position. The sooner the railfans get back up the same steps of their own coaches, the sooner we can leave.

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Barrington

Above: Non-gazeteered place names are often indicated on Google - as well as railway employee timetable 'stations'. The former roadbed of the west-to-east Alexandria Sub crosses the road at the 'ch' of 'Crutch'. The municipal location of Barrington appears to the south. 

Under Barrington in the Alexandria Sub employee timetable footnotes above, you'll see a reference to a crossing of the Hemmingford Subdivision. The old, treed roadbed of the former north/south Hemmingford Sub can be seen better on the oblique view above. 

The same crew of three fantrippers had already travelled on a diesel-powered wayfreight fantrip (i.e. a coach marshalled ahead of the caboose) to Hemmingford on June 6, 1964. The trip departed from Turcot Yard, and returned there after a very long day. The train only left Hemmingford around sunset - which is a little after 2030hr on that date. You can imagine the low priority given to the movement of a wayfreight waiting to travel over the Victoria Bridge and into the Montreal terminals in the evening. 

Above and below: A couple of views at Barrington. 

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Cantic and its Location

Above: You can see the green cycling trail along the former Alexandria Sub from Barrington through to Cantic. At Cantic we will turn north-northwest and run in almost a straight line as we head for St Johns (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu) - seen across the river from Iberville. 

Below: The dotted line marks the former Alexandria Sub. The train followed the green leg of the wye to the Rouses Point Sub (employee timetable below).

Below: An oblique view. The train travelled from the top-left corner to the top-right corner.

On the ground at Cantic:

Above: On the Rouses Point Sub looking timetable south toward the junction tracks at Cantic circa 2020. The excursion would have approached on the wye leg from the right and passed by the camera, travelling timetable north on the Rouses Point Sub for St Johns. 

... Circa 2020, you can see that part of the leg of the wye still runs to the right toward the former Alexandria Sub roadbed which led back to Coteau. It is probably used as a back track.

We'll be following the route of trains 307 and 21 on the employee timetable below ...

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Grande Ligne

Above: Grande Ligne - where a runpast occurred. 

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St Johns (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu)

Our excursion will be swinging by Rue Frontenac, around the curve at the station, and then across the diamond. 

Why is that station always shown at that awkward angle to the curve?

 

The 1890 construction of the Grand Trunk Railway station (above, circa 2020) meshed with an already existing bridge of another railway across the Richelieu River. The first bridge here was begun in 1858 by the Stanstead, Shefford & Chambly Railroad, while the second bridge was built in 1864 and demolished after the line was abandoned in 1956.

Beginning at the station location at 'Alo Richelieu' you can imagine the location of the bridge by lining up the long green tangent, originally of the Stanstead, Shefford & Chambly, as it continues east on the far side of the river at Iberville.

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Victoria Bridge circa 2020

The 1964 skyline of Montreal.

The new stock exchange building is being constructed and the reflection of the deputy photographer is seen as he is given permission to take an additional image in black and white as we cross the Lachine Canal. 

We say good-bye to 6218 at Bridge.

The pushpin marks the general location of the steam cutoff point at Bridge Street. The time-honoured process would have involved cutting off the steam locomotive after coming in from the right (off the Victoria Bridge). 

... After cutting off, the steam engine would continue a short distance toward Central Station, but then reverse along the west leg of the wye. (Before the late 1950s, the engine crew would go off duty at the Turcot roundhouse. In 1964 our engine is probably heading to the CNR's new Montreal freight yard.)

... An electric locomotive would back on to the passenger train's headend from a stub track near that pushpin, to lead the train along the tracks enclosed by Central Station. You can see today's Central Station/Place Bonaventure at the top, left corner of the image above. (Even in 2020, you can see shadows of unused catenary east of the wye ... so there would have been flexibility in where to stop the train and how to efficiently dispatch the light steam power.)

Were there other photos?: Given the average age of the kids in our excursion party, I don't think we attended the baggage car or the observation car. After the Barrington runpast, we may have stayed on the train for the duration of the trip.

CNR 1964 CRHA Excursion: 6218, Montreal-Coteau-Cantic-St Johns, Part 1

 

In 1964, CNR 6218 was unique as a CNR excursion engine which had been backshopped (at Stratford, Ontario) after the end (in 1960) of steam. 

The other recently-retired CNR mainline excursion engines (5107, 6153, 6167) had been carried over from their pre-1960 careers on the railway.

On a visit to Turcot Yard a few years earlier, we had seen 6218 - segregated on its own track near the roundhouse. We had arrived by MTC bus and 6218 was the first engine we encountered after descending the hill from Upper Lachine Road - so it was photographed. However, it seemed to be in no better shape than the other locomotives sitting on the Turcot dead line as they awaited scrapping.

A link to Ian Wilson's YouTube documentation of an earlier fantrip to these points, sent to me by Jim Christie, prompted this post about what was probably the shortest and most local steam fantrip we took out of Montreal. Preparing this post was also an incentive to verify that my 'new' laptop would be able to operate my older slide scanner. 

In the lore of our family's fantrips over the years, there were a couple of interesting events which occurred before we even reached Coteau and you'll see them in this post.

from: CNR system map, no date (circa 1960)

It was difficult to find a map which gave a good, detailed view of our route.

However, the key junctions for our counter-clockwise trip from Montreal are all shown above.

The day's program is outlined below.

As always, Central Station provided a good close-up view of the steam locomotive. Sometimes travellers with kids could 'reserve' their coach seats with hampers and items of clothing and beat the crowd to the headend. This was sometimes rewarded with an invitation to enter the cab - a huge, hot, dark, roaring, hissing, intimidating place to visit as a kid - which a person will always remember.

In the view below, the running boards back along the upper tender and the small light at the back of the coal bunker to illuminate watering activities at night are interesting details to observe.

To better understand the lines over which we'll travel, I'm including the employee timetables from just before the end of steam. Not all the footnotes are included here for the Cornwall Sub. 

Notice the Forney-powered CNR suburban service is still operating to Dorval. There are also Pool Trains shown operating in conjunction with the CPR.

As well, the timetables below pre-date the relocation of the CNR mainline from the general alignment of today's Victoria Street in Lachine. We'll be following the current route along Autoroute 20 on the fantrip.

This was probably the first fantrip with which all five of us were involved in some way. Below, our train passes 40th Avenue in Lachine as the newest family member poses for a photo. The four-lane '2 and 20' can be seen between the carriage and the train. The films shot by our three point-and-shoot cameras on October 4 were sent for processing before the plant developing black and white prints had a chance to change the date to 'OCT'.

The photo above shows the location of family members as seen from the train.

(The shutter speed on Brownies must have be fixed at something like 1/60th of a second.)

In the foreground, some enthusiasts may have staked out the shoulder of the highway for photos.

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Family Lore, Part 2

The Great Race

I think my father selected the black and white Brownie for this photo because of its 'landscape' (versus square) images.

Not being burdened with knowledge of all the operating requirements which might affect train speed, I was quite impressed by this event. The excitement did build as we began to overtake the CPR power. I recall it being a dramatic seesaw battle - never a sure thing - until we finally 'won' and cheers were heard in our coach.

from: Trains; January 1965; Kalmbach.

Before social media, it might take 2-3 months for earth-shattering news to be fully-documented in writing and published.

With today's technologies, imagine all the jiggly, unedited smartphone videos which could have been uploaded - even before our train left Montreal Island.

*  *  *

Above: The Vaudreuil Hill runpast.

Part 1 of this trip account ends with our stop at Coteau.

'Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.'

As we both reflect on our circumstances, you can see the Brownie loaded with black and white.

Photo-taking real estate is always at a premium at the front of the engine at stops.

The seven-year-old photographer had to work fast before the pops lifted.

CNR 1964 CRHA Excursion: 6218, Montreal-Coteau-Cantic-St Johns, Part 2