Anyone know where there might be a list of the CPR-specific terminology for their diesel locomotives? None of the photographs I’ve found are close enough to make out what their proprietary alphanumeric scheme under the road number on the cab say for the RS-18u and the like.
Thanks for any help!
The RS-18u’s were called DRS-18, Diesel Road Switcher, 1800 hp.
D for diesel, (DE for diesel-electric before 1948), and H for hydraulic.
The next letter(s) was for the type, S for switcher, PA passenger-A, PB passenger B, FA freight A, FB freight B, RS roadswitcher, RF road freight. After the dash was HP rounded down to the nearest hundred, followed by a small letter for the order number.
2816 is a H1b, all Hudsons were H class.
Fantastic! Thank you very much. You wouldn’t happen to have any sources that might give road number-specific designators, would you? I’d hate to go and try to pull those off of pictures, especially since it seems that the CPR wrote them in letters just big enough to show up as a smudge on most photographs.
For pre-82 or so, try and get a copy of Dean and Hanna’s Canadian Pacific Diesel Locomotives, published 1981 by Railfare Enterprise (Railfare Books). The last word on how the CPR dieselized. Explains the codes, and gives complete rosters of all the diesel’s at publication date.
I don’t know of any online, but I can list any that you post more than a year old. I’m not sure if I have the newer ones.
I keep plugging it - Canadian Trackside Guide from the Bytown Railway Society. This has an explanation of the designations for CP and CN and also lists all the locos with their designations – both railway and manufacturer’s models.
Another excellent source as well. [^]