In 1958 CN placed an order for 11 diesel-electric switchers, 1000 horsepower with Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). At the time, MLW’s 1000 HP offering was the S-12, superseding the S-7. The S-12 had the same 539 “prime mover” diesel engine under the hood, but with a new car body.
CN 8235 to 8245 were delivered, and it turned out that CN was the only buyer for this model.
The S-12 was seen in yards in the Maritimes in the 1970s. They worked Moncton’s Gordon Yard (below), often working the hump yard coupled to other switchers like CN 105 (MLW S13). As Phil Ross pointed out in the comments below, these units did not have MU (multiple unit) capability and worked as single locomotives.
I’ve only seen photos of these units in yard service in Halifax, Moncton and Toronto. It’s possible they were in other yards but it seems unlikely. They were not road switchers so they wouldn’t have roamed too far.
All eleven were retired or sold between 1982 and 1985. At least one went to CN’s leasing subsidiary, CANAC: CN 8245.
8245
CN 8245 had its own second life on the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad starting in June 1989, replacing 7941 which was returned to CN (for scrapping, I believe). 8245 soldiered on until the end of operations at the S&H in 2004. It is presently stored there in semi-operable condition at what is now known as the New Brunswick Railway Museum, and may be resuscitated soon.
I had the pleasure of riding in S&H 8245 a few times as a brakeman. Here’s a video I took as we rolled back toward Hillsborough.
Fine footage. I recognize Luc Nowlan as the conductor. Thanks for sharing; one does not see these units on the net very often. Good memories.
Steve –
Very interesting history re this group of CN Locomotives – # 8245 was an excellent operating locomotive and was stored for a repair to the oil cooler. This was done at a Moncton Rad shop and reurned however was not re-installed after the S & H closed.
The Locomotive along with #1754 were drained and put on electrical battery charge and checked by Ed Bowes and myself for several years to check water & acid levels. .
Hi Steve. interesting seeing these photo’s and video. The photo caption of 8238 may not be quite accurate. These units were not MU compatible with other units and worked as single units. 8238-8245 were mostly assigned to Moncton (worked on all of them) in the early “80’s. Others were located in Halifax at that time. 8241 would be assigned to Amherst, NS for the week. It would return to Moncton for servicing for the weekend and then return to Amherst on Sunday night on train #340 for drop off. I worked dispatch in that time and it was of a usual unit in consist that night. Have many photo’s of these units. At the time, never really thought too much about these being a unique unit as they were common units to the area. Glad I took photo’s when I did.
Phil
Thanks for the correction, Phil… maybe it just happened to be coupled to 105 or was moving it around.
It’s hard to believe there was enough work in Amherst for a local switcher, but I guess there was… maybe also in Sackville switching cars on and off the “boat train”.