Throwback Thursday - A Face Only a Modeller Could Love

StL&H 5449 was showing off its distinctive paintwork on the CP service track at London's Quebec St. yard on March 01, 1998.

By Peter Mumby.

Maybe, like me, you've noticed that some pieces of railway equipment look downright ugly in prototype form, yet could look really sharp as models.  Such is the case with the St&LH 5449 presented in today's photograph.  I am pretty certain that a picture of this unit never graced the front cover of a CP Annual Report, but it could be a real conversation piece on a model railway layout.  I'm not certain how CP decided which locomotives would be lettered for its St Lawrence and Hudson internal operating unit, but the criteria couldn't have been based on looks alone.

On CP the 5400-series number block was reserved for SD40 and SD40-2 locomotives that that been purchased on the used market.  The small 5447-5449 group of DRF-30 class diesels had been leased from National Railway Equipment, then purchased in June of 1994.  The 5449 had been built as D&RGW SD40T-2 number 5402.  Presumably it had worn a bit more spit and polish for that carrier.  Locomotive 5448 looked very much like the 5449, although it was not equipped with dynamic brakes. The 5447, with its primer red finish, presented an even more bizarre appearance, but that might be a subject for another day.