Throwback Thursday Encore: The Final GP9..........Built.

Dan Murrell took this image of OSR 102/ETR 102/ACR 172 outside the Salford, Ontario shops of Ontario Southland Railway on Apr 01, 2017.

Commentary by Peter Mumby with Photo by Dan Murrell.

On April 13, I presented a Throwback Thursday piece entitled "The Final GP9."  Any time you discuss "firsts" or "lasts," things are always subject to opinions, interpretations, or semantics - and what about the possibility of a dead heat?  It was pointed out that some sources refer to MEC 450 (ex-Algoma Central Railway 171) as the last GP9.  My original reference was the Canadian Trackside Guide, which simply refers to ETR (later OSR) 102, ex-ACR 172, as the "last GP9 built."  Could it be that these other sources are referring to 171 as the last GP9 delivered?  This time I turned to local railway historian and GMD expert Don McQueen to see what was available in his files or memory bank. Don says: "In a way both are correct.......as both were delivered on Aug 12, 1963.  But.......to be more correct (or a bit picky):  Since the builder's number for 171 is A-2018, and 172 with A-2019, I'd say the last GP9 "built" would be the latter, as 172 has a later/higher build-number and since GMD in those early days tended to complete units in sequential order."  Any way you look at it, both units are significant, if only for the fact that they were completed several years after the bulk of the GP9 production had been wrapped up.  At any rate, I will be keeping an eye on OSR 102; maybe we can post an updated photo when it rolls out of Salford shop dressed in a full maroon and cream paint job!