CN has leaked news that they hurriedly retired ALL remaining CN 1400-series GMD-1's in March. The reason? Two words...paint shop! CN is building on the success of their recent IPO25 Heritage Fleet of assimilated American and predecessor units like IC, WC, EJ&E, and even GTW and BC Rail because railfans absolutely LOVED them. Ardent rail enthusiasts started Facebook groups, circulated fantasy schemes for the entire 25-unit fleet (there were actually only a handful painted) and CN absolutely REVELLED in the attention that the rail enthusiasts were giving to the struggling transcontinental, tri-national shortline otherwise known as CN.

It's not fair to say CN exists to please railfans, but the management team clearly believes that railfans are right up there along with shareholders and shippers when it comes to groups to which CN panders. Leaked CN photos (above and below) are giving us a glimpse into the GMD-1 geneaology we expect to see once the units are restored to optimal operating condition, then receive their all-important heritage paint schemes. Nothing pleases operating crews, shareholders and inhabitants of the corporate suite more than railfan-friendly paint schemes! CN has been able to glean additional photos from social media and photo-sharing sites on which railfans are sharing "My Favourite GMD-1 Photo Ever!" like there is no tomorrow. Because for these units, there truly is no tomorrow!

Some railfans are lobbying CN, sending tens of emails encouraging CN to do the Northern Alberta Railways scheme, but when the CN corporate types open their emails, they think NAR stands for Never Around Railways and think, hey, what do they know? This grainy image appears to show a GMD-1 in primer with 'NAR' spray-painted on the nose. Could be.

Several RDC's have just been moved out of VIA's Toronto Maintenance Centre. Various theories abound, but it's likely that some of the retired GMD-1's will be brought to the TMC for painting, and storage space was needed. Another theory is that they're going to be moved to China to be pad-printed at one of Rapido Trains' factories there! The image below shows the narrowly-circulated approval process document CN used, largely based on Rapido Trains-produced paint schemes. For obvious reasons, CN WILL be doing the top four schemes, but WILL NOT be doing the  blue Cuba unit, although CN has been strongly hinting that they intend to extend their former Illinois Central mainline beyond Gulf of Mexico ports all the way to Cuba. This just in...there's a really good chance that CN WILL be doing the Cuba unit. Since CP has just announced it will be buying Kansas City Southern to gain access to Mexico, it just makes sense for CN to show that they also have a Latin American connection.                                                

It seems that CN is poised to make a common error, resulting in yet another fatally flawed heritage project, at least in railfan eyes. They will fail to reach out to railfans to see what THEY want to see, relying instead on corporate types to decide what the GMD-1 Heritage Fleet will look like. Nevertheless, the railfan press is already starting to feel the excitement building, though, as Railfan & Railroad has produced this cover mock-up for its upcoming next issue:

This just in! Grainy cellphone image of one of the early GMD-1 Heritage Fleet repaints surreptitiously taken inside the paint shop. We cannot independently confirm the source of this photo. It seems the lighting in the shop was poor, and when reading the work order, the painter did not have his reading glasses on. He thought it said 'CP'. Then this happened. I pity the fool!

This just in just after that! Fellow railfan and blogger Chris Mears reports that he has seen something on CN in Nova Scotia. We think it might be a TerraTransport or Halifax South Western Railway regional heritage scheme applied to what looks like a tarped GMD-1 down at the harbour. The last GMD-1 operating is as of March 31 is CN 1439.

Running extra...

Thanks for reading to the end of this post. You've just read post #40,000 since this blog began back in the late-forties. At that time, it was just a typewriter, a stack of foolscap, and an empty soup can full of sharpened pencils.

As Trackside Treasure continues to grow in popularity, we expect to be broadcasting to another country next year - the United States of America. They're doing great things now that President Nixon is in the White House!

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