Locomotives Crossing A Border

[pajrr]

Hi, I was in Allentown, PA today and came across a pair of CP SD40-2. After getting home and sorting through my pix I found that I had already photographed one of the two locos in Allentown 2 years ago! Since the odds of that are rather slim, I got to wondering, are only certain locomotives "registered" to cross an international border? Maybe because of customs or some other legal matters? Does anyone out there know? Thank you for any help you can provide. pajrr

[jrbernier]

  In the 'old' days, Canadian built engines could only spend 24 hours in the US(due to tax issues).    I remember CP engines getting to Glenwood, MN before being 'turned' back to Canada.  I have seen pictures of a paint of CP passenger GP's  in St Paul.  CN units have run to Duluth, MN and returned in 24 hours.  Since at least the 1980's, many US engines cannot operate in Canada as lead units as they do not have the sanctioned fridge/hot plate/etc in the cab.  I see CN & CP engines operating in the US all the time now - it appears that the tax issue has been resolved.

Jim

[NorthWest]

IIRC, NAFTA and the earlier Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement eliminated those hurdles, (and eliminated the need for US locomotive manufacturers to have Canadian licensees).

I have seen all kinds of units cross the Canadian border, including (notably) a KCS unit.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

A similar situation, although not at tight, also applied to leasers.  I remember reading, that in Conrail's early days when they were doing a lot of leasing just to keep the railroad moving, leased locomotives from CN had to be returned within 89 days to avoid customs duties.

[beaulieu]

For Canadian locomotives to operate in the US they must meet US air brake inspection requirements, and have FRA compliant window glazing. Canadian air brake inspection intervals are longer than those allowed by the FRA. What happens is that when Canadian locomotives receive their air brake inspections, they are then allowed to operate in the US for 92-days. After that they must stay in Canada until their next inspection. However some CP locomotives including those built for the parent CP in Canada are now officially Soo Line locomotives assigned to St. Paul for scheduled maintenance and therefor are inspected at US FRA intervals.

All locomotives owned by Soo Line, DM&E, and D&H are considered US locomotives and are maintained according to FRA requirements even though most of them are lettered for parent Canadian Pacific.

Every now and then a locomotive without a current FRA air brake inspection certificate will get sent into the US by mistake or neglect. It then has to be shut down and sent back to Canada, or sometimes it is sent back to Canada running, in violation of regulations. On a few occasions with CP they have had St. Paul Diesel just do the inspection.