Heading a fast time freight No. 2424 is seen speeding through Cobourg in May 1954. J.Walder/J.Riddell collection



No. 2424 was one of 20 engines in the G3h class of 4-6-2's which were equipped with the Worthington feedwater heater instead of the Elesco version fitted to the remaining 25 G3h's. The former had a square box-like shape unlike the round drum style of the latter but both were mounted in front of the stack. The Worthington heater was an open type where the exhaust steam came into direct contact with the feedwater and two pumps were needed, one for the cold water and the other for the heated water. The Elesco version which predominated in Canadian Pacific's steam fleet, was a closed type. The exhaust steam passed through a bundle of copper tubes heating the feedwater which surrounded them in the drum and only one pump was necessary. The Worthington equipped engines were Nos. 2418 to 2437, most of which were assigned to the Western Lines with a few allotted to the Algoma District in Northern Ontario. The Elesco equipped G3h's were Nos. 2438 to 2462.

No. 2424, constructed by CLC in September 1944, was assigned to Brandon, Manitoba until early 1954 when it suddenly turned up at Toronto, allocated to the Lambton roundhouse. It put in a brief appearance at John Street one night and was utilized on a passenger extra to the east but this was the only instance I remember of this locomotive working a passenger train in the Toronto area.

During its days in the West, it sported a grey graphite smoke-box, standard on many Western engines but on arrival in Toronto, the locomotive was painted black as were many of the class. However there were a few G3h's finished in passenger maroon including Nos. 2418, 2420 and 2422; No. 2421 which ran out of North Bay was black with a blue-grey boiler. Throughout its stay in the Toronto area, No. 2424 was mostly assigned to the Trenton Division, in Lambton to Smith's Falls freight service but in late 1957 it was transferred to the Algoma District and assigned to North Bay, running to Cartier and the Soo. Remaining in service into 1959, it was eventually scrapped at Angus on April 25,1961.