A Double Header on Canadian Pacific’s Train No 1.
Train No 1 is running about 4-5 hours late as the third unit GP-9 8517 has failed. The ‘Canadian’ had made it as far as Kininvie, Alberta were eastbound freight No 96 set off the trailing locomotive No 4053, the only unit facing westward in that consist. The FP7a 1404 did not have MU cables on the nose plate, so the second engineer (working as a Fireman) was required to operate 1404, while the first locomotive engineer worked the CPA16-4 4053. Here the train stops briefly at Bassano, AB to pick up a third engineer off a work train and the passenger train continues on to Calgary with a full crew on the head end. Eight months later in March 1975 4053 would be retired along with the rest of CP’s fleet of FM locomotives closing out the Fairbanks Morse era in Canada. July 4th 1974, a fitting tribute to the beginning of the end.”
Douglas R Phillips, photographer. Collection of Doug Wingfield. Used with permission.
Either a freight train being helped over a steep grade or a long passenger or freight train requiring more engines. This album is for the Helpers and the double heading trains of the old days both steam and diesel.
