What Are The Chances?

What are the chances of finding two of CP Rail’s ugliest units—the 5449 and 5447—together on the same train? I was out railfanning the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision, waiting for trains at Peace River tunnel #1, when out they popped. I managed to take a couple photos of them coming and going before the train disappeared into tunnel #2.

(Of course, on a model railroad, the chances of something like this happening are pretty good!)

A bit about the two units: CP Rail 5447 started life in 1975 as CNW 6910 before being sold to NRE (National Railway Equipment Company) in 1986. NRE rebuilt it and leased it to CP Rail in 1993, and sold it to that railway in 1994. It plied the rails in primer as CP Rail 5447 until 1998, when it was re-lettered for the St. Lawrence & Hudson Railway (a division of CP Rail). It was sold in 1999 and today is FURX 3012. It was never painted in any CP Rail livery.

To make it, I spray painted an ex-CNW unit and hand painted the “CP” on the side, using the prototype as a guide. You can read about how I did it at http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/2009/11/it-was-so-ugly-i-had-to-model-it.html

The 5449 started as DRGW 5402. It was wrecked and sold to NRE, then rebuilt and leased to CP Rail as NRE 5402. CP Rail bought it in 1994 and re-numbered it to 5449. It was re-lettered for CP Rail's subsidiary STLH in 1998. It was never painted into any CP Rail scheme—it also stayed in primer.

To make it, I spray painted an old CP Rail shell, then added the numbers and letters on the side of the cab—very easy to do.