H1a Hudson No. 2803 with 52 cars, picks up speed eastbound on fast manifest No. 902, at Cherrywood. In the passing track is the van of No. 903, westbound, hauled by No. 2807. The date is July 17,1954, and the shot was taken at 12:50 p.m.

No. 2803 was one of ten H1a's (Nos. 2800 to 2809) built by MLW in late 1929. Assigned to the Quebec District for most of her life, she worked out of the Glen Yard roundhouse in Montreal in passenger service. She was used on the Montreal to Quebec City run, the transcontinental run from Montreal to North Bay, and the Montreal to Toronto run, including the ultra fast Trains No. 19, the Canadian and No. 38, the Royal York. On June 28,1936, No. 2803 hauled the 50th anniversary train out of Windsor Station, Montreal, which was Train No. 7, The Dominion, celebrating 50 years of transcontinental service.

By mid-1956, No. 2803 had left her old territory, the Quebec District, and had been transferred to the Ontario District, where she rolled her last miles in freight service. Sent at first to the Trenton Division where she operated from Lambton Yard, Toronto to Smiths Falls, by 1958 she had been moved to the London Division and operated out of Quebec Street, London. By the end of 1958 the locomotive was out of service at London, awaiting her last journey to Angus Shops. On April 27, 1959, No. 2803 was listed on the company books as scrapped.

The "old 2800's" (H1a and H1b's Nos. 2800 to 2819) gave yeoman service through the years and in 1931 hauled the world's fastest passenger trains, Nos. 19 and 38, which ran on a 6 1/4 hour schedule between Toronto and Montreal. No. 38 covered the 124 miles between Smiths Falls and Montreal West in 108 minutes, an average speed of 68.9 m.p.h.

No. 2803, which is heading Train No. 903, was assigned to passenger service at John Street, Toronto, in the late 1940's and early 1950's. For some time she was pooled with the "Royal Hudsons" on the west end to Windsor and back, which involved moderate to high speed running. Engines assigned to trains like No. 21, the "Chicago Express", and No. 22, the "Overseas", ran up 500 miles a day, week after week.

Stationed at John Street when the diesel-electrics arrived, No. 2807 hauled the last regularly scheduled steam run of Trains Nos. 21 and 22, on Sunday, March 7,1954. There were five more scattered trips on these trains with steam when diesel-electrics were unavailable, the doubleheader on page 12 being one example.

Another "old Hudson" on the Windsor run was No. 2816. This engine ran as an oddity for a while, sporting two different crossheads at the same time. On the left side she had a Laird single guide type, and on the right, the double guide Alligator type, standard to these engines, but later she appeared in her original form with Alligator crossheads on both sides.