CP heritage units make first revenue run NEWSWIRE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Canadian Pacific Railway’s first two SD70ACU units in heritage paint schemes pulled their first revenue train on Oct. 18. The two units, Nos 7010 and 7015, wearing a variation of CP’s historic original Tuscan red, gray, and gold paint scheme, led train 197 out of St. Paul. Lead locomotive No. 7010 features Tuscan red script lettering along the long hood, while No. 7015 has block lettering along the long hood. Canadian Pacific President and CEO Keith Creel selected the scheme from designs presented to him.

The units are two of ten being released in heritage paint after being rebuilt by Progress Rail in Mayfield, Ky. They are part of an order for 60 SD70ACUs using the railroad’s stored SD9043MACs. Several other SD70ACUs in CP’s standard red scheme have been delivered and put in service in western Canada.

Train 197 made a late afternoon departure from St. Paul, then stopped in Minneapolis to make a lift at CP’s Shoreham Intermodal facility. The train then proceeded west on the former Soo Line main line en route to its ultimate destination of Alyth Yard in Calgary, Alberta.

While this was the first revenue run of the heritage units pulling freight, it was not the first trip for No. 7015. It was pressed into service as power for a business train on Oct. 13 after CP FP9 No. 4106 suffered a mechanical failure, leading two other FP9s and the business train on a St. Paul-Kansas City round trip. [See “New CP heritage unit leads business train,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 14, 2019.]

A few hours before the heritage units made their first run, the business train departed St. Paul behind all three F units after No. 4106 was repaired. This was a deadhead move back to the business train’s home base in Calgary. The three Fs also wear the Tuscan red, gray, and gold paint scheme.