This month’s Canadian Corner post is a documentation video describing the end of steam operations in Canada. This video features interviews with railroad personnel reflecting on the change from steam to diesel and how it impacted their jobs:
Data from CN to 1953 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 30 January 2016 noting the booster’s tractive effort and for his 22 September 2017 email reporting unlikely boiler pressure values for 177 entries. A Locobase macro caused the error .)) Works numbers were 68394-68396 in September 1930, 68540-68541 in October. The Canadian National’s only essay in Hudsons, these were clearly express machines and ran for years trailing the expresses from Montreal to Toronto. K-5s also pulled the International Limited that ran from Toronto through Windsor and Detroit to Chicago on the Grand Trunk’s metals. But, according to Wes Barris of steamlocomotive.com, the CNR wasn’t crazy about the 4-6-4 arrangement and bought only 4-8-4s from that point on. Even so, the last K-5 wasn’t retired until 1967. When the class was headed for the ferroequine knacker’s yard, the CN had decided to preserve the class leader. Well, as often happens in such things, someone failed to get the word and 5700 had already been sliced into with the cutting torch when the mistake was discovered. To preserve appearances, 5703, which was still whole, was renumbered 5700 and is now on display at the Elgin County Railway Museum in St Thomas, Ontario. 5702 went on display for the Canadian Railroad Historical Association in Delson, PQ.
Data from CNR locomotive diagram published on [] (confirmed 3 March 2003). This is part of a Steamtown special report on this class. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for the valve gear ID.) See also “Grand Trunk,” Railway Age Gazette, Volume 58 (19 March 1915), pp. 628-629. Works numbers were 54894-54896 in September 1914. The RAG report notes an increase in demand, the use of heavier cars (137,000 lb vs 75,000 lb/62,142 kg vs 34,019 kg for the older cars), and longer trains led to the replacement of the 4-4-2Ts then in service with this design. The result was the ability to pull seven cars instead of the five hauled by earlier locomotives. It had a Gaines combustion chamber and the Security brick arch. “This combination secures complete combustion,” the report continued, “the back end of the firebox being more fully utilized with a resulting increase in the generation of steam; and the amount of smoke is reduced to a minimum.” (For a full description of the Gaines combustion chamber’s intended effect on combustion, see Locobase 4228.) Built for commuter service from Montreal where they ran until they were retired in 1956-1961.
Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media
Class
K-5-a
K2/X-10a
Locobase ID
177
2454
Railroad
Canadian National (CNR)
Grand Trunk Western (CNR)
Country
Canada
Canada
Whyte
4-6-4
4-6-4T
Number in Class
5
6
Road Numbers
5700-5704
1540-1545/45-47
Gauge
Std
Std
Number Built
5
6
Builder
Montreal LW
Montreal LW
Year
1930
1914
Valve Gear
Baker
Walschaert
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase (ft / m)
14 / 4.27
15.67 / 4.78
Engine Wheelbase (ft / m)
40.17 / 12.24
39.37 / 12
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase
Featured subjects on this month’s Canadian Corner are Canadian National & Canadian Pacific Railway depots in various Ontario & Nova Scotia locations:
Rock on Trains 
