April 1942, No. 7 | Upper Canada Railway Society Bulletin (Toronto) | Page 2 |
Locomotives built in Toronto
A. Andrew Merrilees
III
From 1884 until 1904 (21 years) not a single locomotive was built in Toronto. But 1904 was to witness the spectacular rise of William Mackenzie and Donald Mann as powers in the Canadian railroad world. Their shoestring Canadian Northern Railway was fast becoming a power to be reckoned with in Canada. Railroads were not the only things those two promoters owned. They bought and developed numerous other industries at the same time they were pushing their Canadian Northern across the country with undaunted zeal.
One such company was the Canada Foundry Company at Toronto, with works near Davenport Avenue. MacKenzie and Mann thought such a plant might be useful to their railway and so they bought an interest in it.
At that time the plant had just completed its first order of locomotives, ten Consolidation types for the G.T.R., numbers 1496-1505, completed October, 1904 to February, 1905. These engines were renumbered in 1913 to 3296-3305 and one of them, formerly 3297 is still in service at Ottawa as number 6876, rebuilt to an eight-wheel switcher.
Five 4-6-0 types for the James Bay Railway (Toronto to Parry Sound via Todmorden and Beaverton} comprised the Canada Foundry's second order. This line was actually a Canadian Northern subsidiary and, though the engines were originally numbered James Bay 151-155, these numbers were in the old Canadian Northern series, later being changed in 1912 to Canadian Northern 1034-1038. They retained these numbers after the formation of the Canadian National Railways; all are now scrapped.
The company's third order was for four six-wheel switchers for the Canadian Northern. These were originally numbered 33-36 (later 303-306) and left the works in 1906 and 1907. They later became numbers 7002-7005 of the C.N.R. and all are now scrapped.
The fourth order, also for the Canadian Northern, was larger. It consisted of 20 4-6-0 type passenger engines, numbered 300-319. These were completed in 1906 and 1907 and were later renumbered C.N.R. 1083-1102; they are also all scrapped.
The fifth order was for 4-6-0's of a heavier type. It was for 15 passenger engines for the Canadian Northern to be numbered 321-335. These became C.N.R. 1246-1260 and only 1260 is now in service. The sixth order produced a group of
lemonsas railroad men styled them. These Canadian Northern 2-8-0 engines, numbered originally 601-625 and later 2065~2089, were under-boilered and had light frames, with the consequence that the Canadian National scrapped them all relatively early, having had great trouble maintaining them.The seventh order, however, produced a group of much better engines. They were highly successful 4-4-0's for the Grand Trunk Pacific, numbered 81-100 and completed in 1908. These, and others like them built by the Montréal Locomotive Works and Canadian Locomotive Company, were the last 4-4-0 types built in Canada, and among the last to operate in this country. They became Canadian National 355-374 and a number were superheated before being scrapped. All have now been scrapped from the Canada Foundry order, but two or three from other builders are still in operation at the Malagash Salt Company, Malagash, N.S.
Four construction locomotives for the J.D. McArthur Company came next, constituting the eighth order. The first was an 0-6-0 type and the remaining three were 2-6-0's, all however having having the same appearance aside from the difference of the leading truck. These engines were used for the construction and operation of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway and Alberta and Great Waterways Railway. They were completed in 1908 and all scrapped two years ago at Edmonton, having all reverted to the Northern Alberta Railway in the amalgamation of 1929.
From here on all locomotives built by the Canada Foundry Company are still in service with the single exception in the case of a locomotive built under this, the ninth order, which was for twenty Consolidations for the Canadian Northern. These were numbered 2400-2419 and retained the same numbers when they went to the C.N.R. One of them, 2410, figured in a collision with the Great Northern train near New Westminster, B.C., in 1941, and as a result is now scrapped.
The tenth order was from the Canadian Government Railways for 15 Consolidations numbered 251-265. They were completed in 1913 and are now numbers 2385-2399 of the C.N.R. An addition to the fleet of highly successful 2400 class Canadian Northern Consolidations came next. Those were designed by S.J. Hungerford, then Superintendent of Motive Power and Car Equipment of the Canadian Northern at Toronto. This addition of 25 engines was completed in 1914 and brought that series to 2444. They retained the same numbers on the Canadian National.
The twelfth order came from the Canadian Pacific for 10 Consolidations. When built they were numbered 3951-3960 but are now 3751-3760. All are still in service, many in Southern Ontario. Four six-wheel switchers for the Canadian Government Railways came next. Built in 1915, they were originally 840-843 but are now C.N.R. 7329-32. Also at this time six Consolidations were built for the same road, numbered 216-21. They are now C.N.R. 2195-2200.
Ten more 2400 class engines for the Canadian Northern were the last locomotives built by the Canada Foundry Company, which by this time had become the Davenport Works of Canadian Allis-Chalmers Limited. These last ten engines were completed in 1918 as Canadian Northern 2445-2454 and are running under the same numbers today on the C.N.R. The old plant of the Canada Foundry Company still stands, with additions, though it has not produced a locomotive since the end of the last war.
Re-opening of the Montréal Locomotive Works in 1918, after not having built an engine for four years, was the principal reason why the Toronto firm went out of the locomotive business. Another was that they had lost their staunchest supporters, Mackenzie and Mann of the Canadian Northern, whose railroad empire had been taken over by the Canadian Government the year before.
(This completes an article begun in the March issue of the Bulletin.)
Railways: C.G.Rys., C.N.Rys., C.No.Ry., C.P.Ry., G.T.P.Ry., G.T.Ry., J.B.Ry.