CP SD40-2s in a Snowstorm: Maine's Moosehead Sub

At the beginning of CP Rail's takeover of the old Central Maine & Quebec properties, old locomotives were the rule rather than the exception as railroads scrambled to put modern power with Positive Train Control technology onto lines that required PTC. The practice was short-lasted, but on January 2nd, 2021 I headed up to the northern border of Maine at Jackman to head them off. Enjoy!

[@CVisionContributor]

Fantastic footage, Paul. Been looking forward to seeing it since you shot it. Thanks for uploading this video.

[@ctf6420]

Outstanding footage of these Canadian workhorses in the conditions they were built for!

[@Maxtrain1]

Incredible catches Paul!

[@RAILTravelers]

Beautiful

[@Maine_Railfan]

Paul goes missing for months and returns with an absolute banger of a video. 2020-2021 was such a fun time on the Moosehead. CP was power short with a lot of AC44's down for rebuilds into AC4400CWM's. A record grain harvest stretched them to the max so the old EMD and GMD's ended up on the CMQ and D&H. Last use of these was around April 2021, although I think a duo of CMQ SD40-2F's were used on 131 and 132 last year after they had about 3 engine failures in a week. They sent that duo across on every train just incase something went wrong. The whole subdivision is a railfan black hole now. Unfavorable/unpredictable schedules, bland power, and track speeds too high to get a meaningful chase in. Traffic has dropped dramatically since the CP takeover, CP crews have been told lately that CP is exploring the possibility of selling east of Montreal a second time, since the large amount of containers they expected to get from the Martimes just hasn't materialized. Its just rumors for now, but I wouldn't complain if we got a half decent shortline back in the region.

[@Epic_mi_railfan]

Wow, cool I just subscribed!

[@jimd280]

Love it just wish a caboose, sigh .