The Dominion and the Canadian were dieselized (officially) from day one. I
believe they were introduced at the time change in the spring of 1955. The
Dominion had existed as a non-named train prior to that time. Unofficially
the Dominion, at least, was occasionally worked by steam but as far as I
know the Canadian never was.
Doug
Posted by: "Don Thomas"thomasd@xxxxxxx donaldmthomasto keep the schedule of trains 21-22.
Date: Mon Oct 1, 2012 10:09 pm ((PDT))
No, 21-22 were not the first train with diesels. CP had been operating
diesels in road service for more than five years when this train was
dieselized. Murray Dean and David Hanna's book on Canadian Pacific
Diesel Locomotives states that the Dominion and trains 21-22 were to
be dieselized with a newly-established pool of F units built or
modified with 89 mph gearing for passenger service exclusively.
Possibly 21-22 were the first to be powered from this high speed pool.
I don't know when the Dominion first got these diesels. (It was
already dieselized west of Calgary using dual service units.) This
pool was subsequently expanded for other trains, particularly The
Canadian. I don't know if 65 mph dual-service F units would have been able
