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Time freight No. 953 is seen just south of Bolton, on the Mactier
Subdivision, on July 3, 1956. The combination of diesel and steam, and vice-versa,
could be seen quite frequently in the assist areas around Toronto at this
time. No. 8458 would cut off at Bolton, returning light to Toronto, while
No. 2464 continued through to Cartier. Operating from Toronto through to Calgary,
No. 953 connected at Winnipeg with No. 977, bound for Edmonton.
The first 13 cars in the consist are from the 294000 series, used for carrying
automobiles and equipped with Evans Loaders. These suspended the automobiles
on racks near the roof creating a second deck and a white stripe painted on
the side doors indicated that the cars carried this equipment. In addition,
these cars had wide end doors on the A end for loading vehicles. They were
reduced to box-car status with the introduction of multi-level carriers, and
the subsequent removal of the Evans Loaders.
This particular stretch of line, from Toronto to Bolton, was built between
1869 and 1871, as the narrow gauge Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway. It turned
northwest from Bolton, cutting across country, through the rugged Caledon
Hills, with sharp curves and grades over 2%, to Orangeville and Owen Sound.
Eventually rebuilt to standard gauge, it passed into the hands of the CPR
in 1883. In 1907, the line was extended northwards from Bolton Junction to
Bala, and then on to Romford Junction, where it met the transcontinental main
line in 1908. The track from Bolton to Melville Junction, just south of Orangeville,
was taken up to May 1933, as it proved too expensive to operate. Owen Sound
passenger trains, running from Toronto via Bolton, were rerouted over the
Windsor main line to Streetsville Junction, and north to Orangeville.
No. 8458 belonged to Canadian Pacific's DRS-16b class and was built by MLW
in 1954, to the design of the Alco RS-3. Assigned to the Quebec District,
Smiths Falls Division, she operated between St. Luc and Lambton at the time
this photograph was taken, but it can be seen that these locomotives were
not always restricted to their own territory and would stray to other areas.
This class of engine was fitted with steam style illuminated number boards
and marker lights, which gave a transitional look. Involved in a fire at Sudbury
on February 19,1975, No. 8458 was tied up unserviceable at Angus on March
17,1975, retired two weeks later, and scrapped in April of that year.
No. 2464 was a G3j 4-6-2 Pacific, built in 1948, and originally assigned
to passenger service out of John Street, Toronto. With the heavy influx of
diesels into passenger service in the mid-1950's, she was reduced to freight
duties out of Lambton. Allocated to the Trenton Division, Smiths Falls to
Lambton freight pool during 1956 and 1957, No. 2464 seems to have found time
to make a trip north. By 1958, she was assigned to the north end out of Lambton
but by the late fall of that year, she was at Angus, awaiting repairs that
were never carried out, and she was cut up on April 21,1960.