CN locomotive in Texas?

[cwclark]

I go home from work every day and pass UP's Choate Rd. yard that services the plants and other places in Baytown, Tx.....Once in awhile i'll catch an old SP unit, a BNSF, or a NS unit amid all the UP loco's, but yesterday, there was a red and white CN SD 40 sitting on a siding in the yard...Was just wondering how a Canadian locomotive crossed the border and made it all the way down here to Texas on UP tracks...there were no markings on it indicating that the locomotive was sold to another railroad ...chuck

[Anonymous]

There have been a lot of wandering CN and other locos for a while now. Someone posted a nice photo of a CN engine leading a consist in one of the Calfornia sites, can't remember exactly where. I've heard of the reason for these wanderers, but can't recall the specifics right now.

Local railfans were treated to quite sight this past January when a BNSF Dash 9 came in on a local CN train. All painted up in its "pumpkin" scheme. We're a long way from BNSF territory here, on the opposite side of the continent, next to Maine.

Enjoy it while you can!

Bob Boudreau

[bgrossman]

CN now runs the old D&H line through Schenectady to Binghamton,NY, and it has expanded into other regions of the US. Perhaps this bird just migrated south to avoid the northern winter and is now returning.

Bernie

[dehusman]

What it is is an "Illinois Central" engine. The UP has several run through trains with the former IC, which was bought by the CN so voila! CN engines. If you drive over to New Orleans, or Baton Rouge you should be able to see lots of CN engines.

Dave H.

[cacole]

I've seen a lot of CSX, NS, CN, CP, and other "foreign power" on UP trains on the Sunset Route through Arizona. The UP is leasing every available engine it can get to fill a motive power shortage due to increased traffic.

[Anonymous]

I found this interesting bit of information (maybe old news to some) but this could explain CN engines in the Texas neighbourhood.

"On June 6, 1919, Parliament passed an act to incorporate the Canadian National Railway Company Limited. The new company took over the Grand Trunk Pacific in 1920, and with the acquisition of the Grand Trunk Railway itself early in 1923, CN was fully formed. Early in 1998, CN and Illinois Central announced that they proposed to merge through CN's acquisition of all of IC's common stock. CN's network spans Canada from Vancouver to Halifax, reaching into the United States as far as New Orleans. It is the only railroad to link three North American coasts, Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico. The two railroad also has a marketing alliance with the Kansas City Southern Railway, extending shippers' reach southwest to Kansas City and Dallas, and into Mexico through Kansas City Southern's affiliates."
--Source, Trainboard.com - CN

Trevor[:)]

[tatans]

Check an atlas along the U.S./Canada border and see how many railway border crossings there are, locomotives do not automatically stop at the border and change over to U.S. engines, also we see a lot of U.S. engines up here combined with C.P.R. and CN, presumedly leased or purchased but not yet painted, expect to see a lot more.

[twhite]

Well, someone send that CN beastie up to Northern Cal, okay? I'm so sick and tired of gray and yellow that I could Hurl!
Tom [xx(]

[Anonymous]

CW, there is an ex-CN loco that passes by my house here in East Texas. It is in the original CN paint. Tho' it is lettered for a different road.

[RMax1]

TWhite

The Dunsmuir railcam had some CN's going thru. It was interesting because there were some videos of UP's and CSX's together. I even watched an Amtrak with a UP on the front going south. Some of the UP's going by look like SP's at first because they are so dirty.

RMax1

[Stevert]

With run-through power, horsepower equalization and payback, haulage and track rights, short term leases, and who know what else, it's not unusual to see power far from it's home rails. Follow alt.binaries.pictures.rail for a while and you'll see many examples of that.

Stevert

[cwclark]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LilRob1974

CW, there is an ex-CN loco that passes by my house here in East Texas. It is in the original CN paint. Tho' it is lettered for a different road.

It probably isn't this one then because it has the original CN paint...it's just strange..never saw a CN locomotive before in real life...unless they were in pictures......come to think of it ...two weeks ago i did see an Illinois Central 4400 in the same yard..must be one of their's...Kirbyville huh?...now that's East Texas for sure!...went to a church in La Porte, Tx. where i was a scoutmaster with the boy scouts that held our charter and the preacher of the church came from Kirbyville..know any Hollie's up that way?...[:D] Chuck

[METRO]

Here in Milwaukee we get tons of different roadnames. The four lines in town are CN (through purchase of the WC) CP (through purchase of the SOO who had in turn purchased Milwaukee Road) UP ( through purchase of the CNW) and Wisconsin Southern.

With these roads we also see tons of CSX, NS, BNSF and other power. The main CP yard in the valley always has some CSX power sitting on their engine tracks and just watching the lines through the city can be an education in short line and regional power.

Some of it gets rather weird actually, for the past couple weeks there has been a newly painted Crete Grain SW1500 switching cars at an auto parts plant uptown. (I think it was a stand-in for the normal CP GP-9m while it was in the shop as it's back now with a new coat of paint)

Just amazing what you see on the rails these days.

~METRO

[1train1]

Living right on the Toronto to Windsor corridor up here in Canada - I sometimes will look up and through my window see my CN units with the occasional BNSF, Santa Fe, NS and others. It's a nice treat - although you should tell them to wash 'em once in a while - or invest in a little paint.
vivre la difference !
Okay I'm guilty - I even have a pumpkin on my layout downstairs

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark: It probably isn't this one then because it has the original CN paint...it's just strange..never saw a CN locomotive before in real life...unless they were in pictures......come to think of it ...two weeks ago i did see an Illinois Central 4400 in the same yard..must be one of their's...Kirbyville huh?...now that's East Texas for sure!...went to a church in La Porte, Tx. where i was a scoutmaster with the boy scouts that held our charter and the preacher of the church came from Kirbyville..know any Hollie's up that way?...[:D] Chuck

Chuck, no, don't know any Hollie's up here. I've been through Crosby a few times, several years ago. I know there are some good railfanning spots near Houston. Have you seen the yard in Houston on Wayside Drive? Man, talk about a yard. It even deverges to two separate yards, how cool is that. CW, add me to your MSN messenger list. My screenname is: [e-mail]. I believe I've got you on mine. Let's chat sometimes, ok.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bgrossman

CN now runs the old D&H line through Schenectady to Binghamton,NY, and it has expanded into other regions of the US. Perhaps this bird just migrated south to avoid the northern winter and is now returning.

Bernie

Actually, CP owns that track, but NS does run a runthrough train on the D&H that usually has CN power. [:)]

Mark