CN LINES V12N3 - Canadian National Railways Historical Association

from the territory through which the
Royal Train would pass. Streamlined No.
6400 pulled the train from Ottawa to
Toronto on May 21, and from Toronto to
Niagara Falls (via London, Ont.) on June
7. Sister No. 6401 was assigned to the
pilot train for the same June 7 itinerary.
The CNR engines—and Canadian
Pacific counterpart No. 2850—were also
given predominantly blue paint schemes
adorned by royal coats of arms, runningboard
crowns, and a gold-edged aluminum
band on the after portion of their tenders
corresponding with the trailing cars’ window
band.
The pilot train accommodated the
press and others not directly connected
with the royal party, and normally preceded
the Royal Train by 30 minutes.
From May 18, the day after their
arrival at Quebec City aboard the Canadian
Pacific liner Empress of Australia, until
their June 15 departure from Halifax
aboard the ill-fated Empress of Britain, the
King and Queen traveled 9,150 miles by
rail. (A short portion of that was behind
another notable streamlined steam locomotive—one
of New York Central’s Dreyfuss-styled
J-3a Hudsons led the Royal
Train north from New York City to a
Delaware & Hudson connection on June
11, en route back to eastern Canada.)
The 6400’s were CNR advertising icons well into the 1940s. This 1941 map art was somewhat
fanciful, as the U-4s were at home on the CNR’s Central Region.—Kevin J. Holland Collection
U-4-a No. 6402 paused at the Spadina Ave. engine terminal in Toronto circa 1959. Note
the open access door on the side of the nose, and the paired slots cut into the pilot. U-4-a
coupler doors slid upward behind the pilot, while those on the GTW U-4-b’s swung forward
then up to clear the engines’ retractable front couplers.—Shaun Arthur Collection
Following their active Royal Train
duty, CNR No. 6400 and CPR No. 2850
were dispatched to the New York World’s
Fair for display and performing roles in
the “Railroads on Parade” pageant. Fittingly,
they debuted on Dominion Day,
July 1. CNR No. 6400 traveled to the Fair
under its own steam, with great fanfare,
over CNR subsidiary Central Vermont as
far as Springfield, Mass., south of which
weight and clearance restrictions required
the tender to be emptied and the engine
hauled dead to the Flushing Meadow
(Long Island) fairgrounds. Upon their
return to Canada, both engines resumed
regular service and, fittingly, both were
preserved as museum pieces.
Twilight
By the late 1950s, with diesels making
steady inroads into CNR and GTW passenger
train assignments, demotion of the
U-4s to commuter and even freight
assignments became commonplace.
Grand Trunk Western U-4b No. 6405
lasted in revenue service until autumn
1959—as did Norfolk & Western Class J
No. 611—to bring down the curtain on
streamlined steam operation in the United
States. The U-4-b was not as lucky as its
N&W counterpart, however, as all six of
the GTW streamliners were scrapped.
The last GTW U-4-b to be officially
retired (in September 1961), No. 6405
was sold for scrap to Hyman-Michaels.
The other U-4-b’s, having been stricken
from the GTW roster in March and April
1960, met their end at the Luria scrapyard
in Chicago.
With one fortunate exception, the
CNR U-4-a’s met similar fates, running
many of their last miles at the head of
Toronto–Hamilton commuter runs. Nos.
6402 and 6404 were officially retired in
April 1960, with Nos. 6403 and 6401 following
in September and November 1961,
respectively. All four locomotives were
scrapped by CN.
The sole survivor of the CNR/GTW
U-4 class, CNR No. 6400 was held for
preservation as part of the railway’s historical
collection, and remained (inactive)
under CN ownership until June 1967.
Since then, it has resided at the National
Museum of Science & Technology (now
the Canada Science & Technology Museum)
in Ottawa, along with one of the
wind-tunnel models that paved its way.
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