CNR 6218 finished her service for the railroad with a series of trips out of Belleville, Ont. during July 3 and 4, 1971-- full day of 6 trips on Saturday and a half day on Sunday, followed by a rearrangement of the train and a servicing of the engine. After the formal retirement ceremony in front of the Belleville station, 6218 backed east out of sight, came screaming west through the station and crowd on the platform, and vanished west into the late afternoon sun.

While the engine was being serviced, three fans from NY-NJ had seen the train orders giving Extra 6218 West rights to Trenton, Ont. Not bothering with the speeches and station crowds, they headed west and were rewarded with the vision of 6218 and train coming to a stop on a high fill in late afternoon light. No other photographers or onlookers were around.

A couple of crewmen were on the ground, checking bearings after the fast sprint from Belleville. They and the others in the cab were quickly persuaded to pose with 6218 by the photographers. In a few short minutes, 6218 was gone, backing 10 miles to Belleville to have her fire dumped for the last time. We never did get their names; the tall guy in the shop coat appeared two years later when CNR 6060 made her first run. He must have been some sort of Master Mechanic, Steam.

40 years--- seems like last week to me.

HP

I feel that way when I think about riding the Chessie Steam Special in 1977; was it really that far back?

Again thanks for sharing a photo and memories of a beauty on rails.

Time passes faster the older you get. We perceive time as a proportion to our lives. When you're a teen, 5 years is a huge chunk of your life. When you're older 5 years goes by in the blink of an eye.

Another little thing about the passage of time as applied to railfanning. Up until fairly recently I used to see GP9's in yard or local service on IC/CN. (They now use EJ&E SD38-2's around here.) In 2010, the youngest a Canadian GP9 could be was 47. Let's say they were 50 years old. When I became old enough to take a more serious interest in trains, in the mid 70's, if I had seen a 50 year old locomotive go by not only would it have been steam, it would have been steam from the mid 1920's. I'm not sure that there is a point to this other than the technical superiority & longevity of diesels in general or EMD products specifically but this idea has always kind of intrigued me.

Steve

Beautiful image, and a wonderful look back! Thanks for posting, Howard.

Stephen

Nothing like a great photo with a great story behind it. It's funny how something that looks so official and planned can come together at the spur of the moment. This is one of my favorite posts of all time. Wonderful!

Rob

Such a beautiful engine, and in operable condition. What's difficult for me is to know from here, she goes to a plinth, and near destruction from ambivalance of care.