Thanks to a generous donation from CN the Alberta Railway Museum (in Edmonton, Alberta) has recently received CN #1179 which was originally constructed for the Northern Alberta Railways (NAR) and numbered NAR #302.  More importantly, #302  was named after Chief Moostoos, the First Nations Chief who signed Treaty #8, the last treaty signed with the First Nations in Alberta.  The NAR had 7 GMD-1’s and they were all named after distinguished individuals.

Click here to read more about the museum’s acquisition.

 

Rapido Trains is producing an HO model of this locomotive and they say the following about the GMD-1’s on their website:

 

 “The GMD-1 was built between 1958 and 1960 by General Motors of London. The locomotive is an extended 1200 HP road switcher, equally at home on the branch line, on the mainline, and in the yard. The 1000-series GMD-1 features A-1-A trucks to distribute its 120 tons over six axles and allow travel on light rail branches in the Prairies. The 1900-series GMD-1 features 2-axle Flexicoil trucks and a steam generator for passenger mainline and switching duties. Even though the GMD-1 was exclusively built for Canadian National and Northern Alberta Railways (NAR), it quickly became a Canadian railway icon with a devoted following. Simply put, there is nothing quite like the GMD-1, and it is still in service today”

 

Click here to read more about the GMD-1’s and the model at the Rapido Trains website.

 

Above you will find an outline diagram of #302 courtesy of Rapido Trains. Below are some historic photos of the GMD-1 as well as photos of the HO GMD-1 model.

 

Posting by Russ Milland

http://www.trha.ca