NAR Diesel Locomotives - CN Lines SIG

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Introduction

The NAR was purchased by CN in 1981. CN took over all trackage, rolling stock (not much), and locomotives (not many). Where are these today? Some of the tracks have been torn up or taken over by shortlines. The boxcars are still operated by CN and carry the NAR paint. Details here.

This page gives the history of the NAR diesel locomotives and where they are today.

In 1979, NAR diesel locomotives were given names, either of places or historical figures in the area served by NAR.

GP9

NAR had ten GP9s that carried eleven road numbers:

201 (serial number A1415) was named McLennan after the railway junction between Slave Lake and Peace River. She was purchased in Dec 1957 from General Motors Diesel Limited in London, Ontario, and had four-wheel trucks (B-B). She produced 1750 HP and weighed 248,000 punds and was configured to operate short hood forward. After purchase by CN, she was repainted and numbered CN. In 1990, She was cut down into a slug at CN's Pointe Saint Charles shops in Montreal and numbered CN 253.
202 (serial number A1416) was a sister to 201. She was named Fairview after the town of the same name west of Peace River on the original Central Canada Railway. She was purchased at the same time as 201 and had the same characteristics. In 1981, she became CN 4603. Like 201, she was cut into a slug CN 254.
203 (serial number A1417) was also a sister to 201. She was named Dawson Creek after the town in B.C. at the end of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and BC Railway, one of the railways that made up the NAR. She took on number CN 4604 in 1981, and then converted to slug CN 252.
204 (serial number A1418) another sister of 201, was named Westlock, after a town north west of Edmonton. With CN, wearing number CN CN 4605, she fared better than some of her sisters. She was remanufactured (nose job) and renumbered to CN 4132 in 1991.
205 (serial number A1419) was a sister of 201. She was named High Prairie, a town on the railway between Slave Lake and Peace River. With CN she wore number CN 4606, and like a number of her sisters was cut into a slug, number CN 260.
206 (serial number A1537) was purchased from General Motors Diesel Limited in June 1958. She was named Grande Prairie for the town of the same name. Transferred to CN, she started with numberCN 4607 but was cut into slug CN 261 in 1990 at the Pointe Saint Charles shops in Montreal.
207 (serial number A1538) was a sister of 206, purchased at the same time. Her name was Lac LaBiche. In March 1974, she collided with a logging truck in Grande Prairie and suffered extensive damage to her front end. Although the NAR shops in Dunvegan Yards was not designed or equipped to make major repairs, they soon manged to get 207 repaired mechanically and cosmetically. Upon transfer to CN, 207 became CN 4608 for a time. In 1991 she was remanufactured and renumbered to CN 4131.
208 (serial number A1539) was a sister of 206. However, on 2 November 1959, just over a year after entering service, locomotive 208 (no name at that point) was leading another diesel and pulling 119 freight cars when she collided head on with CNR steam locomotive CN 5115 pulling a passenger train at Carbondale, just north of Edmonton. A tank car of gasoline ruptured, and after the fire was extinguished, locomotive 208, the CN locomotive, the Carbondale station, and three automobiles parked near by were destroyed. Four people died in the accident: the engineer in the CN locomotive, and the station master and his family. All salvageable parts of 208 were recovered and returned to General Motors Diesel Limited in London, Ontario who rebuilt the locomotive. She was taken back on NAR as 211 in July 1960. See history of 211 below.
209 (serial number A1540) was also a sister of 206, and named Slave Lake from the town of the same name on the railway. She was renumbered to CN 4610 when purchased by CN. In 1986, she was remanufactured and renumbered to CN 7221.
210 (serial number A1541) was another sister of 206, named Barrhead after the community on the railway north west of Edmonton. She became CN 4611 in 1981. Like 209, she was remanufactured and renumbered in 1986, to CN 7225.
211 (serial number A1539) was rebuilt from the pieces of wrecked NAR 208 (see above). She carried the name Fort McMurray. In 1981, she became CN 4609. In 1990, she was cut down in the Pointe St Charles shops and joined some of her sisters as a slug, CN 259.

GMD1

NAR had seven GMD1s:

301 (serial number A1829) was purchased from General Motors Diesel Limited, London, Ontario, in December 1959. She had six wheel trucks (A1A-A1A), weighed 239,000 pounds and produced 1200 horsepower. She was configured to operate short hood forward. She carried the name J.D. McArthur, after John Duncan McArthur (1854-1927), the contractor who built the railroads that made up the NAR. Bought by CN with the rest of NAR in 1981, she became number CN 1078. In 1990, she was rebuilt; her six wheel trucks were replaced with four wheel ones salvaged from old GP9s and she renumbered to CN 1178.
302 (serial number A1830) was a sister of 301 named Chief Moostoos. When transferred to CN in 1981, she took on number CN 1079. In 1986, she underwent the same rebuild as 301 and continued as CN 1179.
303 (serial number A1831) was also a sister of 301, and named Bishop Grouard after the missionary who spent almost seventy years ministering to the native people of the north west of Canada. In 1981 she became CN 1080, and in 1990 was rebuilt and renumbered to CN 1180 to serve alongside her sisters.
305 (serial number A1832), named Sir Alexander Mackenzie, was another sister of 301. Alexander Mackenzie was an early fur trader in the employee of the North West Company, and the first European to travel to the mouth of the river that bears his name. Locomotive 305 took on number CN 1081 in 1981, and was rebuilt and renumbered in 1990 to CN 1181.
305 (serial number A1838) was named Peter Pond after the employee of the Northwest Company who established the first fur trading post in Alberta on the Athabasca River in 1778. 305 is a sister of 301. In 1981 she became CN 1082 and then in 1990 became CN 1182 when rebuilt.
311 (serial number A1887) started life as CN 1072 in April 1960 and has the same characteristics as 301. NAR purchased her in 1961 where she was named Twelve Foot Davis. Twelve Foot Davis made his name in the Cariboo gold fields where he took a fortune out of an overlooked unclaimed twelve foot section between two other rich claims. His headstone at Lesser Slave Lake says of him: ... Pathfinder, Pioneer, Miner and Trader ... he was every man's friend and never locked his cabin door... When NAR was bought by CN in 1981, 311 reverted to her original CN number. She was rebuilt in 1990 to have her six wheel trucks replaced by four wheel trucks from old GP9s, and was renumbered to CN 1172.
312 (serial number A1892) is a sister to 311. She was first CN 1077, and then named Chief Duncan Tastawits when purchased by NAR. She also reverted to her original CN number in 1981, and then became CN 1177 when rebuilt in 1990.

SD38-2

NAR had four SD38-2s:

401 (serial number A3354) was purchased from General Motors Diesel Limited, London, Ontario in December 1975 and named Peace River. She had six-wheel trucks (C-C), weighted 328,000 pounds and produced 2000 horse power. In 1981 she became CN 5700 and in 1996 was renumbered to CN 1650.
402 (serial number A3355) was a sister to 401, named Pembina River. She became CN 5701 in 1981 and then CN 1651 in 1996.
403 (serial number A3356) was another sister of 401 and carried the name Athabasca River. In 1981 she became CN 5702 and then in 1996, CN 1652.
404 (serial number A3357), named Smoky River was the last sister of 401. Numbered 5703 when bought by CN in 1981, she was renumbered CN 1653 in 1996. Along with her sisters, she is one of only four SD38-2s on the CN roster; GTW does have some SD38s.