Again, I apologize if this thread is too "railfanny" and the moderators can move or delete without recrimination from me.
I would like to thank those who contacted me. I have managed to recover the names of most of the people from the 1970s CN 6060 era, and that has been most satisfying.
Also, I finally found a long lost issue of Railfan magazine, from 1977 with an article by Jim Boyd on 6060. (Name Dropping Alert - I knew Jim from the fall steam weekends at Steamtown at Bellows Falls.)
Boyd was very complimentary to the entire CN steam operation, especially the regularly scheduled trips from Toronto to Niagara Falls. He was allowed a cab ride on the busy Oakville Subdivision on a 1976 trip. Boyd named, and published pictures of the hogger, fireman, and master mechanic. They were younger men than the fellows I knew. although I think I had met the master mechanic.
Boyd gave a good description of the hogger "hooking up" the engine to effortlessly achieve speeds above 80 mph. I can testify that was a regular occurrence with 6060. He made special mention of the fact that these men were regular railroaders from the engine pool -- they would have had some steam training -- but handled the engine and train with ease and professionalism.
Another point was that the equipment was all matching, and directly out of the mainline passenger car pool -- usually 12 cars.
A friend, who had many years in the cab with CN and Via Rail, filled me in on the crew postings for the trips.
This is something I had not thought much about. It was fine for one of the CN officials in passenger to decide they should run steam on a regular schedule, but it raised a number of issues with crew postings.
The engine crews were restricted to fellows who had been given steam training, especially in oil firing, which had not been done in Ontario. The men I knew best had begun their careers firing steam, but had not been classed as engineers until the 1960s. If they had ever fired with oil, it might have been at the Stratford "Big" Shops where engines were converted for western Canada.
The conductors and trainmen came right off the spare board. My friend did not think the pay for these trips was overly high, but road time was road time. It was a fairly long day.
In 1976, the 6060 Saturday trip left Toronto at 10:00 and arrived at Hamilton (39 miles) at 10:55 where the tender was filled. There was the fast running east of Oakville. Near Burlington, we were always pegged by a hot box detector that did not care for 6060's hot cylinders, I suppose.
Leaving Hamilton at 11:35, the arrival in Niagara Falls (82 miles from Toronto) was at 12:45.
While most of the passengers toured the Falls, a side trip was run for locals and railfans to Yager Jct. with a couple of run pasts. I forget the mileage. This trackage was in excellent condition, seeing plenty of freight activity. I was in the cab for speeds above 70 mph. I cannot recall if 6060's tender was watered coming or going, or both.
6060 left Niagara Falls at 17:00. The train was backed over the Suspension Bridge so customers could have a view of the Niagara River. Arrival in Hamilton was 18:00, departure after watering was 18:40. Arrival back at Toronto Union was at 19:40.
All in all, it was a very good operation with good timekeeping.
The trips were well patronized and CN included the steam trips in tour packages to Toronto. In 1977, trips were run on both Saturday and Wednesday. They returned to Saturday only in 1978, the last year these trips were in the regular timetable. We were now officially in the VIA Rail era.
I can recall that 6060 missed a couple of trips for mechanical reasons, but she was generally very reliable. Maintenance was done at the Spadina Roundhouse in Toronto. The engine ran out of Montreal for chartered trips each year, and maintenance and paint touch ups were done at Point St. Charles shops -- 6060 - Soixante Soixante!
Looking back, it was quite remarkable that CN did this. These were serious runs, on the timetable, and on the mainline. They were run with regular crews and regular rolling stock.
It was a very good time, and will not likely ever be repeated in Canada.
Thank you for reading this.
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