Article by Claude Gaudet

I started with Canadian National in 1978 as an apprentice diesel mechanic at the end of my the schooling where I learned all about diesel engines, injection and controls. As the nearest railroad track was at not less than thirty-five miles away from my neighborhood, I was a lot more focused on payloaders and bulldozers than on locomotives!

The fist day I started in the CN's main shop in Montreal, I could not believe my eyes! Everything was so big and so massive! I was very impressed. Of course I had learned about the Detroit Diesel engines at school, but these 53 and 71 DD series engines were like lawnmower engines compared to these mighty EMD V-16 645 E3B two-strokers and rough Alco V-16 turbocharged 251's, providing up to 3200 and 3700 HP respectively. This was paradise for a young diesel mechanic just starting out!

The cooling systems, oil systems, air intake, and just about everything else was bigger and larger than what me and my fellow students had seen before. Even the tooling was larger… The first time you work with an 3' sline drive impact gun to drive up to 4.5" sockets, 1" drive torque wrench, hydraulic wrenches to tighten EMD cylinder head crab nuts to 2400 pounds etc... That was really exiting.

But the first day in my life I started an Alco 16-251 equipped with an air-powered starter was like standing next to a blast of dynamite! I was standing up at the rear end of the engine, while this monster was idling and smoking at around 325 RPM (more or less). My feet were at the oil pan level, I was looking at the top of the valves covers over my head, and listening as every injection pump stroke came down like a sledgehammer shot over the pistons. That's what I call pure, primitive and brutal force! Twenty-four years later, I still get that same feeling listening to those babies.

It was a pleasure to share these memories with you. Next time I'll let you know more about my career in the rail industry.