CN 3873 is at the fuel stand in Moncton, New Brunswick on November 16, 1975. This was an RS-18 built by Montreal Locomotive Works in 1960, CNR class MR-18g.
Canadian National Railways bought a total of 225 RS-18 locomotives from MLW between 1956 and 1960. There’s an excellent series in CN Lines magazine by Leslie Erhlich, Bill Linley and David Othen covering these road switcher units (V12N4, V13N1, V13N4). Bill Linley has a photo of CN 3873 in V12N4 (p14) in classic “green and gold” livery in 1967, and you can see a black and white photo of 3873 in the same livery here.
I posted this photo in the RailsNB group on Facebook and received some great background information.
Wendell Lemon noted that this was likely its last few moments as CN 3873, before it was drained of fluids and sent to the shops to be converted into an RSC-14, CN 1773.
It received the six-wheel trucks from RSC-13 CN 1706, had its fuel and sand capacity reduced, and its prime mover derated from 1800 horsepower to 1400. CN converted many of its RS-18 locomotives so they were lighter and better able to navigate the light branch lines in eastern Canada. The RSC-14 locomotives were assigned to Moncton and served all over the Maritimes, with at least one working the standard gauge yard in Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland.
Wayne Hines photographed CN 1773 (and 1783) tiptoeing over one of those light branch lines a few years later. They were leading a short train near Martins River, Nova Scotia on the former Halifax & Southwestern Railway line between Halifax and Yarmouth.
CN 1773 is running with the long hood forward, which was the operating practice for CN at the time. Unlike the CPR, CN ran its diesels with the long hood leading to put more locomotive between the crews and any potential collision.
You can imagine how poor the visibility was for the crew. I remember working as the brakeman in a sister unit, the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad’s 1754. The S&H’s line was very curvy and it was important to pay attention, as the long hood obscured your vision around curves and often the engineer couldn’t see ahead and depended on the brakeman to look for obstacles.
CN 1773 was retired on February 16, 1990.
The RSC-14s hold a special place in my heart, since I got to “know” 1754 on the Salem & Hillsborough RR. Today I have number boards from CN 1754 and CN 1763 on my wall.
Today’s CN 3873
The 1970s CN 3873 is not to be confused with the current CN 3873, seen here outside Winnipeg on March 7, 2021.
While writing this post, I was editing some recent photos, and what do you know – there’s CN 3873 on a freight train a month ago. Quite a coincidence!
Just One More Thing
Here’s CN 3837 at Halifax, NS on March 14, 1976 – another RS-18. Of special note is the lettering under the cab window.
The top numbers (75-65/18) are the top speed and gear ratio of its traction motors. The maximum speed is 75 miles per hour. 65/18 is the ratio of the number of teeth on the motor’s gear (18) versus the number of teeth on the driving axle’s gear (65).
The bottom letters and numbers (MR-18f) comprise the classification number of the locomotive (Montreal Locomotive Works, Road Switcher, 1800 horsepower, sixth order from builder).
CN 3837 did not survive to be converted into an RSC-14. It was involved in a collision and was retired on February 22, 1985, and scrapped in Moncton on June 16, 1986.