New CN Heritage Units

[Missaberoad]

Disappointed with the lack of Missabe... The one post privatization merger missing... otherwise it's really cool...

[C855B]

Disappointed with the lack of Missabe... The one post privatization merger missing... otherwise it's really cool...

Hmm. Here's an observation - I still see pre-merger power that hasn't been repainted, mostly because CN shut down their paint shop here in Centralia a few years ago. BC Rail (RW&B) and IC Death Star almost every day, EJ&E and GT rarely, but still around, though it's been a while since I've caught a WC unit. Heck, we're still getting the odd "Blueberry" ex-CR unit through town, they've been that lax about repaints.

That's a long way of getting to my point, that the "heritage" image locos could be a back door to justify simply not painting the old power because they are suddenly "current" paint schemes again. That DM&IR isn't included must indicate there is nothing pre-merger left on the roster in their paint - the last one I saw in town was several years ago, probably only here for repainting when the shop was still going.

[lock4244]

Hmm. Here's an observation - I still see pre-merger power that hasn't been repainted, mostly because CN shut down their paint shop here in Centralia a few years ago. BC Rail (RW&B) and IC Death Star almost every day, EJ&E and GT rarely, but still around, though it's been a while since I've caught a WC unit. Heck, we're still getting the odd "Blueberry" ex-CR unit through town, they've been that lax about repaints.

That's a long way of getting to my point, that the "heritage" image locos could be a back door to justify simply not painting the old power because they are suddenly "current" paint schemes again. That DM&IR isn't included must indicate there is nothing pre-merger left on the roster in their paint - the last one I saw in town was several years ago, probably only here for repainting when the shop was still going.

There's a DMIR unit in Thunder Bay as of a few weeks ago paired with an EJE and a CN unit iirc (edit, was Oct23, DMIR 403 maroon, EJE 673 orange, CN SD40-2W). They chose EJE as representative of the Transtar roads they acquired so far as anyone can tell. Remember, CN competes primarily with CP, and CP has been killing CN in terms of foaminess with their heritage and military SD70ACU's, so CN heritage is a natural attempt to complete for foamer dollars 

And CP 2816 was steaming about in Calgary last week... CN will probably have to get 6060 back under seam to keep up, lol.

CN 7601 was recently released from rebuild in Tacoma as a GP40-3 (presumably from a GP38 core, as CN 7600 was previously 4702 I'm told) yard slug mother in full IC paint with a small noodle on the cabside. I've seen a shot of CN slug 601 in full IC paint. It'll be interesting to see which road the next set is released as.

[lock4244]

They did a terrible job on the WC heritage unit... nose is a poor adaption of the 'sunrise between the pines' and the body stripe is best summed up as 'wtf'?

There's word someone splashed paint on the cndr side of the cab in protest. That's a little on the extreme reaction side, imo.

[lock4244]

Finally, shots of CN 3015, 3233 in military commemorative camouflage scheme floating around. Could be photoshop fakes, but looks legit.

[delamaize]

Was their suppose to be images with the last 2 posts?

[lock4244]

Was their suppose to be images with the last 2 posts?

No, but I've attached below. Not my shots, sent to me by friends brave enough to wade through toxic social media foamer groups.

I've not seen anything more about the military units, photos or otherwise. To me, that's pretty suspicious as the heritage units are being followed quite closely. Internet is full of faked images, ymmv.

[cv_acr]

Hmm. Here's an observation - I still see pre-merger power that hasn't been repainted, mostly because CN shut down their paint shop here in Centralia a few years ago. BC Rail (RW&B) and IC Death Star almost every day, EJ&E and GT rarely, but still around, though it's been a while since I've caught a WC unit. Heck, we're still getting the odd "Blueberry" ex-CR unit through town, they've been that lax about repaints.

The blue IC 2400s are ex LMS not Conrail. (There might be some connection with original lease to CR, but they were LMS units and lettered as such. You can sometimes see the LMS ghosting out on the nose on a few of them.)

I think there was only one WC GP40-2 that wasn't repainted CN still (if it hasn't been nabbed yet). The huge WC SD45 fleet got sold/scrapped years ago.

BC Rail was still really common but they recently sent a lot of the C40-8CMs for scrap.

[cv_acr]

They chose EJE as representative of the Transtar roads they acquired so far as anyone can tell. Remember, CN competes primarily with CP, and CP has been killing CN in terms of foaminess with their heritage and military SD70ACU's, so CN heritage is a natural attempt to complete for foamer dollars

And WC + EJE + IC + GTW forms the "core" of CN's US operations; especially with putting together a unified routing around Chicago. DMIR and BLE are somewhat more peripheral.

[cv_acr]

Finally, shots of CN 3015, 3233 in military commemorative camouflage scheme floating around. Could be photoshop fakes, but looks legit.

Still haven't seen any "real" photos other than those crappy low-res ones on TRAINS site.

[lock4244]

Still haven't seen any "real" photos other than those crappy low-res ones on TRAINS site.

A friend in CN who is several rungs above rank and file says they're definitely a thing, but still sitting in E St Louis so no on the road photos yet.

[lock4244]

And WC + EJE + IC + GTW forms the "core" of CN's US operations; especially with putting together a unified routing around Chicago. DMIR and BLE are somewhat more peripheral.

BLE definitely peripheral, but I would say DMIR much less so... especially in the earnings department, which is all that matters to CN. Also, it comprises the NB portion of the directional running north of Duluth to Virginia, which in terms of their operating plan is fairly significant.

Now where's the Temiscouata Railway heritage unit?

[C855B]

These are apparently getting around the system quickly - just a minute ago the EJ&E unit rolled by here (Centralia, IL) on the point of a coal empties.

[Missaberoad]

BLE definitely peripheral, but I would say DMIR much less so... especially in the earnings department, which is all that matters to CN. Also, it comprises the NB portion of the directional running north of Duluth to Virginia, which in terms of their operating plan is fairly significant.

Now where's the Temiscouata Railway heritage unit?

This! Also without Missabe there is no direct connection from the DWP to the former WC  only a few miles of track but it's important.