Throwback Thursday - Hunter Loves Golf

UP 4439 E, operating as CN 386, is actively promoting the CN Canadian Women's Open in this Aug. 05, 2006 photo.

Photo and Commentary by Peter Mumby
E. Hunter Harrison loves making money, both for himself and for his shareholders.  He's good at it.  He also loves raising show jumping horses on his Connecticut estate.  He's good at this, too.
Further down the list, he must love golf, and he's probably good at this as well.  It was during his tenure as president and CEO of CN  (Jan. 01, 2003-Dec. 31, 2009) that the railway became the corporate sponsor of the Canadian Women's Open Golf Tournament.  The 2006 version of this tournament took place Aug. 07-13 at the London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ontario.  The photo shows the advertising banner that was hung on the CN bridge over Oxford St. West in London, and was taken early on the morning of Aug. 05 of that year.

Hunter Harrison later became CEO of Canadian Pacific ( June 29, 2012-present).  It probably was no coincidence that CP later took over sponsorship of the Canadian Women's Open, with the inaugural of the CP Women's Open held again at the London Hunt Club on Aug. 18-24, 2014.  It has been announced that the CP Women's Open for 2017 will be held in Ottawa to coincide with the nation's 150th anniversary.

The train in the photograph, UP 4439 east, was operating as CN 386.  This train was returning from Flat Rock yard in the Detroit area after leaving London yard in the wee hours of the morning as CN 387.  At this time the St. Thomas Ford plant was still in business, and the train carried empty autoracks and loaded frame flats for Ford, as well as empty frame flats for the Formet plant in St. Thomas.  CN 387 was generally a long train and doubling it up would tie up level crossings in the downtown core for extensive periods, making a very early departure preferable.  On occasion it departed later in the morning, making for a lot of annoyed motorists.  Such was the case in April of 2006 when I caught this train with CN 2656, CN2634, BNSF 9380 and BNSF 9389 on the head end.  It was quite normal for 387 to forward new deliveries from the General Motors Diesel Division plant.

George was quite often the engineman on these 387/386 trains.  Maybe we will be able to prevail upon him to provide us with a few anecdotes at some point in the near future!