Throwback Thursday - A Locomotive Consist Only a Railfan Could Love.

CN 2016 and a couple of sister units are at rest on the shop track at Rectory Street in London, Ontario, on April 20, 1987.  The land occupied by these units is now a parking lot for a large indoor soccer facility.

By Peter Mumby.

This consist could cause shop personnel to shudder.  A locomotive crew coming on duty might indeed be crestfallen at the sight of this lash-up.  But point these units out to a railfan, and shutters would start a-clicking.  For a variety of reasons, diesel products of ALCo/MLW have been railfan favourites for years.

CN 2016, model C-630M, was one of a group of 44 similar units constructed by Montreal Locomotive Works in 1967/68.  The last 42 of these locomotives belonged to CN class MF-30b.  By the date of this photograph, single examples of this model were still common in a locomotive consist, but finding three of them together made for a very satisfying outing.