Exporail acquires a working GP-9 donated by CP!
Exporail is our national railway museum located just south of Montreal, Quebec. It is owned and operated by the Canadian Railway Historical Association (CRHA).
Exporail took delivery on Saturday, October 19, 2013, of CPR GP-9 locomotive #1608 to replace one of the two operating switching locomotives at Exporail. The locomotive was generously donated to the CRHA by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a fully operational locomotive.
#1608 ran "light" from St. Luc yard to Exporail, a trip of about 30 minutes. It was put into service on Sunday, October 20th as the power for the Sunday passenger train and was a hit with both the crew and the visitors.
Exporail staff advise that: #1608 is:
- The first GMD product to be used for operation at the Museum
- This was the first time #1608 ventured south of Lasalle since its rebuild in 1985
- Maxime was the last engineer to run the #1608 in revenue service before it was retired by CP. On Saturday he became the last engineer to operate it on CP property.
- This was most likely the first time that an Exporail volunteer crew ran a mainline train for the Museum
- This was the first time in Exporail history that a donated locomotive was delivered to the museum under its own power.
Posting by Russ Milland; Information and photos courtesy of Exporail via the CRHA Niagara Division
Click on each image for a closer look!
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