Hamilton rail history witnessed and remembered on a January morning in 1966

“Okay, Pop.”

Not long after we were bundled up in the car and heading to the end of Mohawk Road East, where Mohawk meets up with the Mountain Brow Boulevard at a t-intersection. Prominent at that intersection was an older railway bridge which spanned a single rail line. This Canadian National Railways line began in Hamilton’s North End, travelled through the city on Ferguson Avenue, headed east up the Escarpment and then turned the corner of the precipice to head south towards Caledonia.

After parking the car, we trudged though the snow and down to track level among the trees and bushes which stood out in the snow with their darkness. The new snow had covered the track bed giving no hint of the rails that were used daily at the time.

The scene also gave no hint of what was to clear that snow.

My father and I stood, me stomping my feet to keep warm, he checking his camera light meter every few seconds with one hand and his watch with the other. His Leica was strapped around his neck tucked inside his coat. There were some other souls standing about on this wintry day, and the cars crossing the bridge went extra slow when they saw the people waiting down in the man-made cut that slashed through the earth for the rails to be laid many years ago.

Finally, the anticipation was over.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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• Dec 31, 1969
• Comments

“I think I hear it,” Pop said. “Yep, it’s coming.”

As he took out his camera to record the event, CN 6218 appeared, and this beast of machinery assaulted our senses with smoke, steam, and noise. It was a glorious performance.

After about a minute, when the last of the passenger coaches loaded with railfans headed south, we heard the engine’s whistle for the Limeridge Road crossing. Among our little group near the bridge, no-one spoke, we were all in a daze from what we had just witnessed. The area looked the same as it had 30 minutes ago except the tops of the rails were now visible.

Built in the Montreal Locomotive Works shops in September of 1942, CN 6218 was one of 65 steam engines built for the CNR for high-speed passenger train use. Its official designation was U-2-G by the railway and was known as a “Confederation” but the name “Northern” was more common for a loco with a 4-8-4 wheel arrangement – four small wheels at the front, eight large wheels in the center which did all the work, and four more smaller wheels at the rear under the cab.

By 1960, diesel-electric locomotives ruled the rails and steam engines, which needed lots of coal and water, along with intense maintenance, went to the scrap man. Except for a select few, which were refurbished and used for fan trips across North America. The 6218 was one of the few.

Retired in 1960 and tucked away for three years, 6218 was brought up to code in CN’s Stratford shops and took to the excursion circuit late in 1964. Based in Toronto, 6218 was the sweetheart, capturing the experience and nostalgia of living steam hauling railfans throughout Ontario, Quebec, and even a trip to Chicago.

After trips through eastern Ontario in 1971, 6218 was retired. Another CN loco, the 6060, known as “Bullet Nose Betty,” was restored by CN after sitting on display in Alberta, and was the go-to railfan star after 6218. This loco was a little smaller that the 6218, weighing in at about 180 tons on its 4-8-2 “Mountain” wheel arrangement. Semi streamlined, 6060 was a common sight in the Hamilton area, mid-way between its Toronto – Niagara Falls weekly excursions, and people would watch as water was loaded into its tender from a Hamilton Fire Department pumper at the Stuart Street CN yard. The trips around the west end of Lake Ontario were in the VIA passenger timetable and popular during the summer, but CN ended the program in 1980. 6060 returned west and participated in fan and excursion trips until 1998 when it went to the Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions in Settler Alberta. It saw some use there but is now undergoing overhaul.

And 6218 avoided the scrapper’s torch. In 1974 it went to the Fort Erie Railway Museum and sits proudly with a CN caboose in static display.

For me, standing only a few feet from this 200-ton machine laboring up the Escarpment pulling a gaggle of passenger coaches is a fond memory. Steam locomotives offer a sensual and somewhat intimidating experience of sight and sound that no other form of transportation can offer.

Thanks, Pop, for getting me out of that warm bed close to 57 years ago.

There were several other trackside performances that instilled a bond between myself and my father. I continued this bonding with my sons, holding their young hands and waving to the train crews with trips to Bayview Junction near the High Level Bridge at Hamilton’s west end. Today the tradition, the awe, and the wonderment, continues with my grandson.