October 19th, 2009 CN Budd 1501 has been around for few weeks and I had the chance to take few pictures of it. But before that, let's take a look at the history of this unit. September 1958 - Delivered new as CN D-108, RDC-1 Serial #6902, 500 HP and a max speed of 90Mph. (Picture wanted) March 1969 - Renumbered to CN 6108. Picture took at Fort Frances ON ni August 1973, by E.C. Carlson. Courtesy of Carl Fredericks.   Fort Frances, ON - August 1st, 1973 Carl Fredericks collection March 1978 - Unit is purchased by VIA and became VIA 6108 (Picture wanted) 1990 - VIA 6108 is officially retired and stored (Picture wanted) 2007 - Unit has been purchased by CN June 2008 - CN has moved the car Budd car to St. Louis, Missouri for rebuilding. It is expected to be delivered back to CN on June 30th. February 2009 - Equipped with high technology to verify everything from the joint bars to the curves alignment, rebuilt CN 15016 has been delivered to CN. The job was done at Gateway Rail Services of Madison, Illinois. This picture has been took in Chicago IL by John Means on February 10th 2009. A bit later (March or April 2009), unit has been renumbered from 15016 to 1501. I guess CN system wasn't able to manage a stand-alone engine wearing more than 4 digits, or it created a confusion since the number wasn't standard.   Picture took at Chicago tower (Illinois), while unit was 15016 October 2009 Les Coteaux, QC (Oct. 19) Pembroke, ON (Oct. 21) Here's the Sept-Oct 2009 schedule: Sep 26th: Thunder Bay to Ranier Sep 27th: Ranier to Stevens Point Sep 28th: Stevens Point to Neenah Sep 29th: Neenah to Escanaba Sep 30th: Escanaba to Partridge, D/H Partridge to Escanaba, Escanaba to Manistique Oct 1st: Manistique to Sault St Marie Oct 2nd: Sault St Marie to Hearst Oct 3rd: Sault St Marie to Hearst Oct 3rd: Hawk Junction to Hearst Oct 4th: D/H Hearst to Rouyn Noranda (via ONR) Oct 5th: D/H Hearst to Rouyn Noranda (via ONR) Oct 6th: Rouyn Noranda to Senneterre Oct 7th: Senneterre to Barraute, Barraute to Quevillion Oct 8th: Quevillion to Franquet, Franquet to Matagami, Matagami to Quevillion Oct 10th: Senneterre to La Tuque Oct 11th: La Tuque to Hervey, Test Hervey to Chambord Oct 12th: Chambord to Arvida, D/H Arvida to Chambord Oct 13th: Chambord to Triquet, Test Triquet to Dolbeau, D/H Dolbeau to Triquet Oct 14th: Triquet to Chibougamau Oct 15th: Chibougamau to Hervey, D/H Hervey to Chibougamau Oct 16th: Chibougamau to Hervey, Test Hervey to Garneau Oct ??th: Garneau to Taschereau Oct 17th: Maintenance in Taschereau Oct 18th: Taschereau to Deux Montagnes, D/H Deux Montagnes to Taschereau Oct 19th: Taschereau to Coteau, Test Coteau to Valleyfield Sub, Test Alexandria Sub to Ottawa Oct 20th: Ottawa to Pembroke, D/H Pembroke to Ottawa Oct 21st: Ottawa to Renfew (Vankleek Spur), Renfew to Coteau Oct 22nd: Coteau to Mac Yard Oct 23rd: Mac Yard to Fort Erie, Fort Erie to Niagra Falls Oct 24th: Niagra Falls to London (all remaining sidings) Oct 25th: London to Windsor (all remaining sidings)

Thank you to David Estabrooks, John Means & Carl Fredericks




Picture by Nicolas Houde at Coteau with VIA #66 passing



Updated October 24th 2009
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