24 CLASSIC TRAINS FALL 2019
CANADA’S RAILROADS FACED the
same wartime pressures as their American
counterparts, and in 1944 Canadian Nation-
al found it still needed more dual-purpose
power. In one case, the railroad went right
back to what it had been buying recently, its
stellar class of 4-8-4s. In another, it turned to
a wheel arrangement from 20 years before.
CN began buying 4-8-4s in 1927, the year
after the type’s debut on the Northern Pacif-
ic. In 1944 the final 7 arrived from Montreal
Locomotive Works, bringing the total to 160
— North America’s largest 4-8-4 fleet by far.
Redoubtable, dependable, and modest in
size, the 4-8-4s symbolized the CN in steam.
Weighing just 400,000 pounds, these coal
burners could travel virtually the entire sys-
tem, although they generally worked east of
the prairies. Their 73-inch drivers gave them
decent speed, and five in the streamlined
U-4-a class of 1936 went a step further with
77-inch wheels. CN’s designs were duplicat-
ed in the 43 4-8-4s on U.S. subsidiary Grand
Trunk Western.
But 4-8-4s alone wouldn’t meet the war-
time challenge, CN determined. So it reached
back to the 1920s, returning to the 4-8-2 in
an order for 20 class U-1-f engines. Modest-
ly proportioned with 73-inch drivers and a
relatively light engine weight of 355,700
pounds, they nevertheless helped keep CN’s
thick passenger schedules fluid. And they did
it in style, departing from CN’s usual utili-
tarian appearance with ample amounts of
green paint and gold trim, running-board
skirts, a single dome, flanged stack, and the
conical nose that brought the nickname “Bul-
let-Nosed Betty.” Three were saved, and the
6060 starred on CN excursions in the 1970s.
Today it is under long-term restoration by
the Rocky Mountain Rail Society in Alberta.
In Canada,
a throwback
Handsome in black and green with gold
trim, U-1-f 4-8-2 No. 6071 heads a train
west at Hamilton Junction, Ontario, in
April 1955. The “Bullet-Nosed Bettys” were
CN’s last new steam power. William P. PriceCanadian National
U- 2 -g 4-8-4, U- 1 -f 4-8-2
Nearly new U-2-g 4-8-4 No. 6261 heels to a
curve at Beaconsfield, Quebec, 17 miles
into its Montreal–Toronto run with train 15,
on April 29, 1944. James A. Brown collection