CN, CP retiring more full-bodied, cowl units NEWSWIRE

CHICAGO — The ranks of operating cowl locomotives on class I railroads is thinning once again, as Canadian National and Canadian Pacific purge additional locomotives from their rosters. Cowls have a full-width carbody extending the length of the locomotive and were purchased only by a handful of railroads in two eras, the late 1960s-early 1970s and late 1980s-early 1990s.

Canadian Pacific purchased its only cowl units in the late 1980s when 25 SD40-2Fs were built by Electro-Motive Division’s Canadian subsidiary GMDD in London, Ontario. These were unique with both their cowl carbody and the fact they were the last SD40-2 units built. The railroad sold 10 SD40-2Fs to Central Maine & Quebec Railway in 2015 and retired the remaining locomotives in late 2016, placing them up for sale. With no interest in the locomotives, Canadian Pacific sent the remaining SD40-2Fs along with a few surplus SD40-2 and SD40-3 locomotives to Chicago for scrapping.

Canadian National, the largest operator of six-axle cowl locomotives in North America, has retired all remaining SD60Fs on its roster. Similar to the CP SD40-2Fs, these were also built in the late 1980s by GMDD in two orders totaling 60 units. In addition, four pre-production units were built in 1985 and externally resembled the SD50F units (all now retired) being built at the same time. Several retired units were moving towards Chicago in early March to the company’s Homewood locomotive shop. With the SD60Fs now gone, This will leave 81 C40-8M cowl locomotives on Canadian National’s roster, all built by General Electric in the early 1990s.

Locomotives included in the scrap list include:

CP: SD40-2Fs to Chicago for scrapping: CP 9001-9003, 9006-9009, 9012, 9013, 9015, 9016, 9018, 9019
CN: SD60Fs retired: CN 5500-5511, 5513, 5515-5563.