ClassicTrainsMag.com 27LIKE ITS U.S. COUNTERPARTS, Canadian Pacific more
than fulfilled its civic obligations during the war, moving re-
cord amounts of freight and passengers. Its facilities also joined
the fight — Montreal’s Angus Shops constructed tanks and
Calgary’s Ogden Shops built naval guns. Although CP had
fleets of 4-6-4s and 2-10-4s, the road’s 1944 purchases reflected
its view that even secondary trains deserved modern power.
For freight, CP ordered 25 class P2 2-8-2s, a design that
debuted in 1919 and would total 174 engines before the last
ones were built in 1948. The wartime P2s featured 63-inch
drivers and a tractive force of 57,500 pounds.
Like the P2, the G3 Pacific dated from 1919, saw its num-
bers increased by 25 in 1944, and remained in production un-
til 1948. The total built, 173, was 1 shy of the P2’s tally. The
75-inch-drivered G3 was good for 45,000 pounds of tractive
force and worked freight as well as passenger trains. The G3
shared another trait with the P2: Recessed headlights and
running-board skirts gave later examples a modern look that
belied the design’s World War I-era genesis.
Also at this time, CP designed a replacement for its legions
of elderly 4-6-0s and light Pacifics. The G5 4-6-2 was an up-
dated version of the 1906-vintage G2. The two samples that
Angus built in 1944 would be the venerable shop’s last new
engines; a further 100 came from commercial builders in
1945–48. Their engine weight of 225,000 pounds and tractive
force of 34,000 pounds were ideal for branchline work, while
70-inch drivers gave them speed as well. Six escaped the torch,
and all have operated in the preservation era.