Follow-Up Friday - CN 5070 Revisited

I had mentioned to my dad (Keith) that I found surprisingly few photos of CN 5070 despite my research for the Throwback Thursday a few weeks ago that featured a photo of the unit when it was brand new at GMD London in November 1968. Dad then did some further research and put together the first Follow-Up Friday for the blog with some further info on the unit. Here's Keith's second article on the blog - thanks Dad!

- Peter.

I thought it would be interesting to follow 5070 through the years to see what changes may have taken place over time. As Peter indicated, the well designed unit served the original purchaser for some thirty-one years and then went on to toil almost a decade for a second owner. As previously mentioned, the unit was subject to very little cosmetic change, mostly accessories; horns, snow plows, lights and a winterization hatch. No doubt the unit was upgraded electrically fairly early on. EMD’s initial 645 powered 3,000 HP units were known for episodes of terrible wheel slip (more so the B-B units). I believe CN had their in house R&D group help tackle the problem.

Some photos of the more noteworthy changes along the way (author’s collection).

Snow shields and replacement horn (judging by the fresh paint I would speculate that the snow shields have just been added).

Remarkably, the original paint application, albeit touched up, lasted at least a decade. Note the taller forward cooling fan atop the rear of the unit. The horn appears to be mounted on a new bracket and ditch light brackets have been added to the pilot mounted lifting lugs.

Some additional online reference material:

CN 5070

Engine in 1972    (1972)

Engine in 1982 Zebra Stripes    (1982 Zebra Stripe)

CFMG 6069

RR Picture Archives

Traingeek.ca

ASDX 6909

RR Picture Archives

- Keith