Hi Tim:
The RS10's and RS18's weren't unknown in the west.
In the mid 1950's there was a passenger/mail train that always had a pair of
RS10's. It worked right through to Vancouver. I think the train numbers were
either No. 5 and 6 or perhaps 13/14. As a small boy I was fascinated by these
odd engines that to me seemed to be backwards after the hordes of GP9's I was
accustomed to seeing.
In the summer of 1971 CP was very power short in the west so the group of
RS18's between 8750 and 8765 were temporarily assigned to Alyth. In fact the
8758 met its demise in a wreck near Eholt B.C. on the Boundary Sub. I would
think those RS18's would have been seen as far west as Coquitlam.
That same summer a few RS10's and even one RS3 ( the 8449) strayed west of
Calgary.
In 1975 CP assigned a pair of RS10's, the 8586 and 8589 if I remember correctly
to that year's Speno Rail Grinding train. In those days the host railroad
provided the locomotives.
I'll bet others have memories of MLW roadswitchers in western Canada. Anybody?
Jim Johnston
Salmon Arm B.C.
----- Original Message -----
From: timbowilts
To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 5:05 AM
Subject: [cpsig] RS10's/RS18's in the West
Gents, as a fan of MLW's products and modeller of CPR in the west I
have a question that the group might be able to answer. How far west is
an RS10 or an RS18 positively known (e.g. company records or eyeball
sighting) to have gotten?
TIA
Tim Tumber
