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CPR Magazine Article
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Spring
2004
Canadian Pacific
Railway Employee Communications
Room 500 401-9th Ave S.W. Calgary AB
T2P 4Z4
BORN AGAIN
POWER
Jonathan Hanna
Two C-424s were on the front end when the
new "multimark" was launched in 1968.
C-424
locomotives used many components from an earlier generation of CPR motive power
By the end of 1960, locomotive manufacturers were touting their "second
generation" diesel locomotives as a replacement for the aging
diesel-electric locomotives that had effectively replaced steam.
Locomotive manufacturers borrowed a novel marketing approach from the automotive
industry: trade-ins. In 1963, CPR traded in two GM locomotives
damaged the year before in a derailment of passenger train The Dominion at St.
Eugene, Ontario, to be re-manufactured by GM as GP30 locomotives.
Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) RS-10 locomotive No. 8474, built at
American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Canadian subsidiary in Montreal, was damaged in
the same derailment. CPR traded this locomotive in to MLW for
re-manufacture into Alco's initial second-generation,
Century-series locomotive: the C-424.
MLW used trucks, traction motors, generators, braking equipment, a gear box, a
clutch, control and signal equipment, gauges, meters, reservoirs, pipes and valves
from the wreckage of No. 8474 to build that first C-424 locomotive. It
out-shopped CPR C-424 No. 8300 on 29 Apr 1963.
Locomotive No. 8300, re-numbered 4200 in April 1965, was the first
C-424 out-shopped in North America, beating parent Alco's
plant in Schenectady, N.Y., by just a month.
CPR initially tested the trade-in/re-manufacturing process
with only damaged locomotives. But, with the C-424 model, CPR adopted
the program in earnest. CPR's entire fleet of C-424 locomotives was
manufactured using first-generation, trade-in power
components. All C-424 trade-inswere 244-engined
Alco/MLW products, which were expensive to maintain. CPR traded-in all
of its Alco-built FA-1 and FB-1 locomotives
for re-manufacture, as well as a smattering of its MLW-built
FA-1, FA-2, FPA-2, RS-2,
RS-3, and RS-10 locomotives.
The ninety-two C-424 units sold in Canada outstripped the
forty-five sold to Mexico and even the fifty-three
purchased by U.S. railroads. CPR bought 51 of the 92 C-424s that were
constructed in Canada.
When Canadian Pacific launched its new multi-modal identity,
C-424 Nos. 4239 and 4242 were chosen to pull a special promotional train
and were the first locomotives painted in the new CP Rail "multimark"
livery, 13 Sep 1968.
C-424 locomotives were modified from road freight to road switcher
service in a 1980s rebuild program. Many C-424 locomotives received cab
upgrades in the 1990s. And their direct current (DC) main generators were replaced
with alternating current (AC) alternators from the retired
4500/4700-series high-horsepower Alco/MLW locomotives.
CPR ran its last two C-424 locomotives - Nos. 4210 and 4220 - between
Montreal's St. Luc and Hochelaga yards, on 7 Jul 1998. All of CPR's 51
C-424 locomotives were retired, sold, donated or scrapped.
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Vital
Statistics
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Numbers
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4201-4250
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Class
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DRS-24
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Builder
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Montreal Locomotive Works
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Out-shopped
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Mar 1965 - Mar 1966
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Builder's Model
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C-424
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Horsepower
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2,400
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Cylinders
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16
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Axles
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4
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Maximum speed
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75 mph (120 kph)
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Length
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59 ft. 4 in. (18.08 m)
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Weight
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259,000 lbs.
(117,482 kg)
4201-4232
263,000 lbs. (119,297 kg)
4233-4250
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Purchase price
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$262,907.00 - $265,545
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This Momentum article is
copyright 2004 by Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their
permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company.
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