Certain people keep trying to perpetuate this romantic notion of CNR 6167 pulling troop trains in Eastern Canada during WW2, but I'm not convinced that was the case, based on the numbers of the different wheel arrangements CN had on hand throughout the war.

Prior to the outbreak of war in 1939 the CNR had (in Canada only, not including the GTW):

-70 Northerns (20 each of the U-2-a, b and c classes and 5 each of the U-2-d and U-4-a classes) spread out between the Central and Atlantic Regions, encompassing Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, etc.
-54 Mountain Types (16 U-1-a, 21 U-2-b, 5 U-1-d and 12 U-1-e) spread out over the entire country.
-300+ Pacific Types across the entire country
-400+ Mikado Types across the entire country


After the start of the war CN added the following to it's roster:

-25 Northerns (15 U-2-e, 10 U-2-f) in 1940, bringing the fleet up to 90, spread out between the Central and Atlantic Regions
-12 Northerns (U-3-a) transferred from the GTW to the CNR, bringing the fleet up to 102, although this class was most likely confined to Southern Ontario.
-65 Northerns (35 U-2-g, 30 U-2-h) between 1942 and 1944 giving a grand total of 167 Northerns in Canada during wartime spread between Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces.
-20 Mountains (U-1-f) delivered in the later part of 1944, bringing that fleet up to 74, for all of Canada


Therefore, based on pure numbers alone, my guess would be that you would more than likely see either a Pacific or Mikado pulling a troop train, then a Northern. The vast majority of CN's Mikado fleet produced nearly the SAME tractive effort (53,000 lbs) as the Northern fleet (57,000 lbs).

As well in July 1943, 6167 was wrecked when it crashed into sister engine 6166 in Quebec. 6167 was pulling a train of OCS coal, and 6166 was pulling The Ocean Limited. As a result both Northerns were out of service for several months, during what I would assume to be a critical point for Railways during the war. I don't know exactly when those engines returned to service.


So my questions are along the lines of:

-What type of motive power would have been most suitable for the requirements of troop trains?
-What years of the war would likely have seen the most troop trains being carried over Canadian railways?
-Does anyone have photos of CNR troop trains in Eastern Canada?
-I would also be interested to hear what was happening on other railways across North America during those years.

Thanks!