Class of ’63 – Canadian Locomotive Co #3043

The Canadian Locomotive Company of Kingston Ontario constructed the tiny engine seen in this post. CLC #3043 (its build number) is one of the last they made and at that time of its construction, this storied firm had been at it for more than a century. It’s also noteworthy as the very final example produced for a Canadian customer and the few to follow were exported.

Coming by way of Fort William/Port Arthur Ontario (now collectively Thunder Bay) and later Yorkton Saskatchewan, its home today is the rolling foothills of west-central Alberta. The location is a real working ranch that doubles as an outdoor educational venue and youth camp. It’s called Aspen Ranch Outdoor Education Centre.

This article was earlier lost to a database crash, given a make-over and reposted here as new. While it would be a simple matter to restore straight from backups, many of the older posts (the ones effected) are outdated. A lot need a do-over anyway and this one begged for it. This piece received a full rewrite, but still uses the original images.

Canadian Locomotive Co #3043 new at the factory 1963 & in 2015.

We lost hundreds to the little “incident” and any still relevant will get a similar treatment before reposting. We’ll purge the rest and much of the older stuff is horrible anyway. Posts affected were from 2012-2016 and this one’s from 2015. The old photos are not the greatest but we had harsh light that day and our skills were not up the challenge.

We’ve haven’t been back to Aspen Ranch since, but have chatted with them over the years and they told us little has changed since our visit. Still, maybe it’s time we hit them up again?

Now back to the subject at hand…

Aspen Ranch set up a circular track with a siding, brought in a number of rail cars and this locomotive. At the time of our visit, they intended to use the rolling stock as part of an exhibit, where children can learn about railway history and safety. There’s no mention of this on their current website, so it’s possible plans are on hold.

Canadian Locomotive Company #3043 was fully operational and fired up occasionally back then. Presumably, that’s not changed.

It’s a small switcher (a model 40-H4-A1) with two axles and weighs in at 40 tons. The drive is diesel-hydraulic and this is perfectly fine for smaller locomotives, albeit not widely used in this part of the world. Diesel-electric is the standard.

One axle is driven and then connects to the other via side-rods, with an action very similar to that of a steam engine. Many of CLC’s final locomotives were diesel-hydraulic and in looking at old ads for the firm, it’s appears they hoped to cash in on that market. But it didn’t happen.

The Searle Grain company bought CLC #3043 new and used it to switch their grain terminal in Fort William Ontario. The Searle company had a network of prairie elevators and funneled grain here for loading onto to ships. Fort William and Port Arthur were side by side and would join to form Thunder Bay in 1970.

The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool later acquired the Searle terminal, but closed the facility later in the 1980s. The Pool then transferred the locomotive to their other terminal on the Port Arthur side of town, where it stayed until the mid-1990s. It appeared little used as this time.

The Pool later sold the locomotive to the grain firm Parrish and Heimbecker. It worked that company’s big terminal in Yorkton Saskatchewan up and until around 2009. After retirement P&H donated it to Aspen Ranch and the associate Little Creek Historical Society. A trucking firm offered their services gratis and the moved it to this site.

P&H had the locomotive rebuilt shortly before they disposed of it. Sadly, it suffered an engine fire not long after arriving at the ranch and this complicated matters. The compressor, generator and starter all received damage. Painted in a bright red, a P&H ghost logo is still visible on back of the cab.

The diamond-shaped builder’s plate located on the radiator grill went missing at some point. In old photos found during research, it’s clearly seen in many shots, even ones as late as the 2000s.

We’re sharing a photo showing the locomotive just as it emerged from the Canadian Locomotive Company factory and as you can see, it’s little changed.

The Canadian Locomotive Company was a long time builder and supplied motive power to Canadian carriers (Canadian National and Canadian Pacific among other) and railways around the world. Founded in the 1850s, they lasted until the late 1960s. They made other things, but even that could not save them in the end.

Steam ruled until the late 1940s, when the Canadian Locomotive Company made the transition to diesel and the changeover ultimately proved unsuccessful. Sales slowed after a few years and for the last decade the few locomotives produced were small and for industrial use.

The locomotive market ebbs and flows, so a shortage of work in that field is nothing new to the firm. Companies like it learned early on to exploit other avenues, so slow periods of locomotive sales could be weathered. The had done it in the past, but even diversification could not keep them going forever. The big railways for the most part abandoned the firm after 1957 and that lost business later proved their undoing.

Over the years, the Canadian Locomotive Company built mining and industrial equipment, fabricated steelwork and made large diesel engines for ships or industrial use. They made rock crushing plants, scrap yard car crushers and even golf carts are mentioned. The list goes on and on. The locomotive market is cyclical and smaller firms had find additional work in other areas.

CLC #3043 was one of two locomotives the company made in 1963 (business was that slow) and became the the very last produced for use in Canada. The firm would go one to make twenty one more locomotives (all exported, mostly to India) and produced the last in 1968.

The factory closed the following year, but not completely due to falling sales (which were troubling), but to a labour dispute. It would have closed eventually, anyway. The highest locomotive serial number turned out to be #3064 and with that the company ended 114 years of production.

From the early 1950s on Fairbanks Morse in the US owned this formerly independent company. FM was a large industrial concern and had their fingers in a lot of pies. CLC made FM designed locomotives in the 1950s, for the big carriers, but they proved unpopular compared to other makes.

There were other locomotive firms in Canada over the years but they’re all history now. The Canadian Locomotive Company held title as both the longest in business and the smallest in terms of output. They made just over three thousand locomotives in the hundred plus years they operated. In in contrast a larger factory (like those in the US) might have a yearly production of many hundreds or even approaching a thousand.

There’s an interesting mix of rail cars at Aspen Ranch, but we’ll only touch on them briefly here. A couple are near the locomotive and include a 1920s passenger car (ex-CNR) and 1950s era flat car (ex-CPR). These two are on that loop mentioned earlier and maybe one day for fun, they can hook them up to the locomotive and go round and round and round…and round…and… It’s just a circle.

A snow plow (ex-CNR 1930s) sits on a small length of track nearby. Elsewhere on the property there’s a box car (ex-CPR 1960s), ore car (ex-CPR 1950s) in one location, plus a caboose (ex-CPR 1970s) and a maintenance of way speeder in another. There’s also railway memorabilia on display too.

The ghost logo from the previous owner, P&H Grain, is still visible.

Cows roam sections of the property and they seemed to take great interest in the two of us. At times we were surrounded, mostly by calves, and they just kept coming. These animals are learning aids for agriculture awareness and stewardship programs.

We’d like to thank Aspen Ranch and the Little Creek Historical Society, who allowed us access everything seen in this report. We had a hoot. Hope you enjoyed this post as much as we did making it. We’re looking at the last of its kind here, a tiny little locomotive, in a remote corner of the property. Those who built it would surely be amazed that it’s survived.

The Then image is thanks to the Queen’s University Archives.

Know more about the firm that built #3043 (new tabs): Canadian Locomotive Company Kingston Ontario and the company that originally purchased it: Searle Grain Company.

They’re saying…

“The wonderful out-of-the way locations and the photos of them are pure gold…Keep up the good work!” William Gibbons.

Random railway awesomeness…
Ghost Railways: Fort Macleod Alberta.
Railway Barge Slip Rosebery BC (1989).
CPR Crowsnest Railyard (Summit Lake).
Camrose Heritage Railway Station & Park.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: June, 2015.
Location: Near Sundre Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Aspen Ranch/Little Creek Historical Society, Canadian Trackside Guides and the book – Constructed in Kingston – A history of the Canadian Locomotive Company 1854-1968.

It holds title as CLC’s last locomotive for a Canadian customer.

A closer look…

CLC built their first locomotive in 1854.

They only built a few more locomotives after this one & then closed.

At an educational ranch in west-central Alberta.

The builders plate was located here.

From the 1920s.

They’re on a big circle of track.

It worked for a number of grain firms before coming here.

“This car too high to pass through Winnipeg train shed.”

Take a bite – a former CN Snowplow.

There’s other railcars scattered about the property.

Don’t tell the car rental company…

Underfoot.

Exploring is our happy place.

A former CP Rail Caboose.