UP Alco FA's sealed the fate of 65 CPR Steam Locos stored for strategic reserve

[SD70Dude]

5361 and 2839 are listed as going to the Ontario Northland Railway.  Both engines are still around today, though not in Canada. 

I wonder why the ONR acquired them?

[Enzoamps]

It is easy to see old coaling towers and think the infrastructure was still there.  But even assuming they were functionl, the railroad would still have to go and fill them ahead of any steam activity.  And such coaling facilities were spaced along the routes, and any that had been removed would have to be replaced.

You can fuel up a diesel and run it from Toronto to Vancouver all on its own.  To do the same trip with steam, you'd need multiple locomotives, they don't have the range.

[cx500]

SD70Dude

5361 and 2839 are listed as going to the Ontario Northland Railway.  Both engines are still around today, though not in Canada. 

I wonder why the ONR acquired them?

 

I understood they were acquired by the province with the concept of a rail segment at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.  That of course never happened.  It is quite possible that the provincially owned ONR was used as the titular owner for convenience sake.