Special Interest EquipmentThis equipment represents the Museum's collection of significant cars and locomotives.
9000 Locomotive
Specifications: Model: F3 CN9000, the Museum's "signature" locomotive, is a diesel-electric: the diesel engine drives a generator which produces electricity for the electric motors mounted on each of the axles. 9000 is historically significant because it was the first production road freight locomotive built for a Canadian railway. Although CN was a pioneer in some diesel-electric road locomotives in the late 1920s, all the production diesels owned by CN prior to 9000 were used in yard service, including our own switcher, 7944. In May and June of 1947, the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in LaGrange, Illinois sent an F3 A-B-A set north to demonstrate the advantages of diesel-electric locomotives. Pleased with their performance, CNR ordered two A-B-A sets of their own. 9000 was built in May, 1948 as part of that order for six locomotives. This was the "beginning of the end" for steam locomotives, although it would be another decade before steam totally disappeared from active service.
CN 9000 in Chicago, Ill. 02-Aug-70. Photo by O. Leander. Image courtesy anonymous donor. The two F3 A-B-A sets ordered by the CNR each consisted of three locomotives, 2 "A" units with control cabs, and a "B" unit without. CNR's two sets were numbered 9000-9001-9002 and 9003-9004-9005. 9001 and 9004 were the cabless units. CNR's six F3's were the only ones owned by a Canadian railway. These six locomotives were ordered for, and normally used only in freight service, although they did occasionally get assigned to passenger trains. EMD built 1,807 F3's (1,111 A's and 696 B's). Of that number, less than ten survive today, and most of those have been heavily modified over the years Unit 9000 logged 2.5 million miles in revenue service from 1948 until its retirement from CN in October 1971. Locomotive 9000 spent a good portion of its productive service working out of Calder (now Walker) Yard in Edmonton, Alberta, especially during its last few years. Thanks to support from the Alberta Museums Association, Acklands-Grainger Limited, LaFarge Construction Materials, DuPont Canada, Crystal Glass, Trimline (Stony Plain), Master Blasters, Canadian Railserv and PMP Productions, 9000 was sandblasted and repainted in 1996. The locomotive ran under its own power on Central Western Railway for a shooting of the movie "In Cold Blood" in July 1996. Both of the original Canadian National F3B units have been scrapped, but an F3B replacement is being sought so that an A-B pair can be displayed. The museum's 9000 is the second Canadian National Railways locomotive to bear that number. An historic picture of the first 9000 in service can be found at the Canadian Museum Of Science and Technology website. The first 9000 has a fascinating history. It was used on an armoured train that operated on the west coast during the Second World War. 9000:1 was camouflaged to look like a boxcar. It pulled a series of flat cars and boxcars that contained guns and ammunition that were intended to fight off an attack from Japanese submarines which were reputed to be patrolling the coastal waters. 9000:1 was scrapped after the war. 7944 Locomotive
Specifications: This locomotive was used to shunt or switch cars around the railway yard. Built in 1946, it was retired in 1976 after it was discovered that it had several engine problems, including a warped engine block. About eight Association members worked hard on it through the winter of 1987-88 and at midnight, May 11, 1988, Locomotive 7944 roared to life with a blast of black smoke and then settled down to purr like a kitten. The locomotive was donated by CN in 1977 and painted in the modern Canadian National paint scheme. A historic photo of 7944 in service is posted at the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology's website. 17106 Combine
The origin of this car is somewhat obscure. It was constructed in 1900. The Alberta & Great Waterways Railway purchased it from the railway car dealer Hotchkiss Blue Co. of Chicago Ill. in 1917. Car 17106 is the only remaining passenger car from the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway. 17106 had been used as a parts car and was filled with surplus parts and equipment. The Quonset Hut on the back of the property has been refurbished with packed gravel and shelving so 17106 has been partially unloaded in preparation for repair and restoration. It will go into the Car shop after one of the cars in there is taken out and put on display. Combine #17106 has had a temporary roof repair and the sides have been scraped and primed to protect it from the weather. After this picture was taken several years ago, 17106 was put under a tarpaulin to protect it.It weighs 110,000 lb. and is 70 ft. 10 in. in length.It was donated by CN in 1983.
Entering service on the A&GW as combine #1650 it may have been used on the Lacombe and Northwestern Railway. After amalgamation it became NAR combine #1650. Converted to NAR work equipment as Auxiliary Tool Combine #17106, it is now used for storage of spare parts and supplies. 15029 Rule Instruction |
Rule Instruction CarRobert Killin was Acting Superintendent at Capreol. His experience dates back to 1972. Robert gives the following information on another preserved rule instruction car. The 'Bruce Kearney' rules car has been preserved for the York Durham Heritage Railway Association, and is named after the longest serving rules instructor in the Great Lakes Region of CN. Bruce is also serving as superintendent of the Heritage Railway, as well as an active member of the CNRA. In 1972, Bruce was the rules instructor who signed my 'B' card after attending rules training in the Capreol rules car - temporarily at Macmillan Yard. I saw Bruce last year [in 1999] and he is still thriving. Boy, this brings me back... the smoke-filled rules car (only on the breaks though); desks up both sides with an aisle down the middle; two to a desk; one 'teacher's' desk up front (to one side - or was that at the back?); chalk boards at both ends; flip charts; old desks with ink wells; benches instead of chairs (I think one of the cars used the old chairs instead, but it has been a long 30 years); I think we also used movable chalk boards. It had windows that opened; I think one of the older ones also had an old pot-bellied stove for heat at one end (which is where the heat always stayed). Drafty and stuffy at the same time; smelling like chalk, diesel and cigarette smoke. From dead silence, to one deep male voice talking - droning on for an hour - then out of no where the loud laughing of a dozen male voices, banging of hands on wooden desks - laughing at some joke that the instructor had devised to keep everyone awake, or some morbid humour to illustrate some point about the consequence of rules non-compliance. Paper and number 2 pencils (no pens, thank you very much); brown and later burgundy rules books; blue and white timetables; test rules questions; the 'B' book; flash cards for ABS, CTC and 'speed' signals; somber, serious faces, earnestly listening and trying to absorb every word and understanding; questioning over and over; the rules instructor questioning over and over; remembering by rote; the whistle to recall flagman from the north; rule 104B; rule G... Yes, I remember. - Robert Killin SRB 851749-3 |
An all-steel plow with wing elevators and flangers, equipped with ice diggers, this plow was built by the Russell Car and Snowplow Co. of Ridgway, Pennsylvania for the Northern Alberta Railways. The NAR received it on August 13, 1952 and designated it as #16531. After amalgamation it was numbered by Canadian National as #55245. It was donated by Canadian National Railways in 1993. It requires paint and the installation of gauges and some fittings - otherwise it is complete.
When in operation, the snowplow is pushed by several locomotives, depending on the snow conditions and the amount of drifting. As the plow train moves, often at speeds of up to 40 miles an hour, the engineer on the lead locomotive is unable to see the track ahead because of the snow being thrown away from the track by the plow. Before the advent of radios, communication was by whistle signals. The plow operator would use the following signals to tell the locomotive engineer what action to take.
Thanks to the folks at Trackside Guide for additional information on the snowplow.
Thanks to Lewis E. "Gene" Green of El Paso, Texas for his contribution to the information on 55245.
Coach-Caboose 306 was built by Jackson and Sharpe of Wilmington, Delaware in 1899 for the Boston and Albany Railroad. It was originally built as a day coach. The car was acquired in 1929 by the ED&BC. In the late '30s and early '40s it was one of seven cars converted to half coach and half caboose for branchline service. While in service between Lac La Biche and Ft. McMurray, it was sometimes used as a school car to transport First Nations children to school in Anzac, Alberta.
The coach-cabooses on the NAR were numbered 300 to 307.
The Alberta Railway Museum received 306 in 1993 as a donation from Mr. Tom Lett of Lac La Biche. No. 306 had been removed from display at the Lac La Biche Cultural Centre after a fire destroyed the building. The car was put on blocks at Mr. Lett's scrap yard and then moved to the Museum. 306 is in storage in the Car Shop and is open to visitors by appointment only.
The Museum plans extensive repairs for 306: repairing and stabilizing the interior and exterior, repairing and installing seats, repainting in authentic colors and adding required furnishings. The Alberta Railway Museum is grateful to Mr. Lett for his help to preserve this important artifact.
"The coach-caboose, a combined caboose and passenger car, found a place on the NAR in the late 1930s. Initially it was used for crews who went out on a freight and returned on a passenger train or vice versa. On the passenger train it replaced the need for a standard caboose.
-- Colin Hatcher, Northern Alberta Railways, Vol 1, p.6; Vol 2, p. 21
Donated to the Museum by Canadian National Railway Company in October 1999, this car was used to test the load capacity of locomotives after mechanical repairs and prior to being released into service. A load test car has a set of heavy duty electrical resistors in it that are connected across the electrical output of a locomotive under test. The resistors put an artificial load on the locomotive so that it can be tested while towing the car. It spent the last years of its service in Walker Yard in Edmonton. The Load Test Car will be put on display when appropriate track space is made available.
24215 34 St. Edmonton, AB
Phone:(780)472-6229
Fax:(780)968-0167
Click here to email us
