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2001-2002
  
Canadian Pacific Railway Employee Communications
Room 500 401-9th Ave S.W. Calgary AB T2P 4Z4
 

VOLUME THIRTY-TWO

NUMBER THREE 2002


CPR's First Diesel Passenger Locomotives

CP 1800
Jonathan B. Hanna
Corporate Historian
Communications & Public Affairs
Canadian Pacific Railway
By 1949, CPR was well aware of the advantages of diesel-electric power. Internal combustion had proven itself in two CPR arenas - yard switching and road freight service. Passenger service was the last holdout.
 
When CPR replaced the 41 steam locomotives that handled passenger and freight from Montreal to Wells River, Vermont, it took only 23 diesel-electric locomotives - three of them exclusively for passenger service - to do the job. The passenger locomotives would be used on the Boston-Montreal trains - "The Alouette" and "The Red Wing". CPR ran these trains in conjunction with the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M). "The Alouette", the day train, would use a run-through CPR locomotive on alternate days opposite a B&M locomotive. "The Red Wing", the night train, would use CPR power only between Montreal and Woodsville, Vt. But the B&M/CPR service had to dovetail. So CPR ordered the same type of higher-horsepower passenger locomotive as B&M to enable it to pull and heat the trains with a single locomotive. The passenger locomotives B&M used on the service were General Motors' E7 models, developing 2,000 horsepower.
 
When CPR came knocking on GM's door with a three-locomotive order, GM's Electro-Motive Division (EMD) was already 12 years into production of its E-type locomotive. In 1937, by the time CPR got its very first diesel-electric locomotive to test in yard service, GM was outshopping its EA, E1, and E2 passenger locomotive models. By 1949, EMD was already up to its E7 model (without even skipping a model number). By the time CPR's locomotives went into production, GM had just introduced the E8 model. So CPR's locomotives came out of the La Grange, Illinois, plant as E8A models with their new 567B engines, developing a higher 2,250 horsepower.
 
When the very first CPR E8A locomotive - No. 1800 - was delivered, 2 December 1949, GM's Canadian locomotive plant in London, Ontario, was still eight months away from opening. So the three E8A locomotives - CP 1800 to 1802 - ended up coming from GM's EMD plant in La Grange.
 
In 1949, CPR's new passenger locomotives were the longest, sleekest, most powerful locomotives in the company's growing diesel-electric fleet. Their 70-foot streamlined body housed not one but two 12-cylinder engines, and two steam generators to heat longer trains with a single locomotive. The long body, two engines and steam generators needed six axles, instead of four, to carry the load. Although two of the axles, one on each truck, were dummies and not powered.
 
Their appearance set these three locomotives apart from the rest of the CPR fleet.
 
EMD not only prided itself on its streamlined locomotive designs, but on its paint schemes too. La Grange had a whole graphics department devoted to developing passenger paint schemes for their passenger locomotives. And in the halcyon days of diesel passenger service in North America, there were many railways ordering GM locomotives.
 
The La Grange graphics group designed a unique rendition of CPR's maroon-and-grey-with-yellow-stripes passenger paint scheme. The colours were the same on CPR's existing passenger steam locomotives. They were also the same colours as on the 1949 Schenectady-built Alco FA diesel locomotives used on CPR's Vermont line. But the rendition was different. The maroon - or tuscan red - was applied in a solid block right up to the side grilles on either side, coming to a triangular point toward the top of the nose. The large tuscan red panels were reigned in by yellow stripes. No disrespect to GM's graphic gurus, but CPR's draftsmen would soon redesign the paint scheme to look more like the Alco FA livery.
 
The E8A locomotives were the first CPR passenger locomotives to get the new beaver crest without the "Spans the World" slogan.
 
CPR's E8A locomotives started on the Montreal-Boston run. After 1959, they were assigned to the Toronto-Windsor run. By the mid-1960's they were running out of Montreal to either Ottawa or Quebec City. It was on its way to Quebec City, 28 December 1968, that No. 1801 collided head-on with a westbound freight near Lachevrotiere, Quebec. It was scrapped the following year. No. 1800 and No. 1802 were placed in service on "The Atlantic Limited" Montreal-St. John, New Brunswick, run in 1971. In 1973, the two remaining E8A locomotives got a full overhaul at Calgary's Ogden Shops, complete with new paint job. The two locomotives were painted in the CP Rail action red paint scheme of the day, complete with "multimark".
 
On 28 September 1978, Canada's new rail passenger crown corporation - VIA Rail Canada - bought the two remaining E8A locomotives along with 26 other CPR passenger locomotives. VIA Rail had the two E8A locomotives overhauled and repainted in VIA livery at CPR's Angus Shops in Montreal. Continuing CPR's policy, the locomotives' engines were upgraded to 567BC specifications, developing 2,500 horsepower. No. 1800 got the treatment in October 1979 and No. 1802 in February 1980. In June 1980, while at CPR's Alyth Diesel Shop in Calgary, VIA 1800 became VIA 1899. Both locomotives saw frequent service on the former CPR transcontinental - "The Canadian". A change being as good as a rest, the locomotives were re-classified GPA-25a and re-numbered VIA 6598 and 6599. But in 1982, both were retired at Ogden shops, cannibalized for components and parts, and eventually scrapped.
 
 
  Vital Statistics
Numbers
 1800-1802
Class
 DPA-22a
Builder
 General Motors EMD
Outshopped
 2 December 1949
Builder's Model
 E8A
Horsepower
 2,250
Cylinders
 24
Axles
 6
Maximum speed
 85 mph  (137 kph)
Length
 70 ft. - 3 in.  (21.4 m)
Width
 10 ft. - 8 in.  (3.25 m)
Height
 14 ft. - 10.5 in.  (4.5 m)
Weight
 330,500 lbs.  (149,915 kg)
Sold
 28 September 1978

 
This article is copyright 2002 by Jonathan Hanna and is reprinted here with his permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

 
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