Canadian Classification

Why do the Canadian locomotives get the strange designation, liike a CP Sd40-2 is a DRF-30j. Is there a system to this?

My geuss would be a holdover from steam days. Everybody just about would change builders designations in the early days of diesels to fit in with their steam classifications. Probably stands for something like diesel road freight 3000 horsepower. No idea what the j might represent.

metman499 wrote:My geuss would be a holdover from steam days. Everybody just about would change builders designations in the early days of diesels to fit in with their steam classifications. Probably stands for something like diesel road freight 3000 horsepower. No idea what the j might represent.

Don't know the history behind it but you're absolutely right about the meaning of the current designation. By the way, the "j" represents the order number (i.e. tenth), for that particular class of locomotive.

CPR's scheme uses: DRF (Diesel Road Freight), DRS (Diesel Road Switcher), or DS (Diesel Switcher); followed by a numeric value for the horsepower in hundreds; and last a letter suffix representing the order. The order number (last letter) hasn't been used in all cases For example, the SD40s letters start with "g" and go to "y". Units built before this and those acquired second-hand are simply DRF-30.

The classification system used by CN (and also used by VIA) is much more complex indicating the manufacturer and number of axles.

It's not that much more complicated, but you're right about the builder and axles being indicated. For instance, a late-model CN GP40-2W is classified as a GF-430c (G = built by GMD; F = Freight; 4 = 4 axles; 30 = 3000 horsepower, c = third order). A GE C44-9WL would be EF-644a through EF-644f (E = built by GE, F = Freight, 6 = 6 axles, 44 = 4400 hp)

Here's CN's classification scheme in more detail.

http://www.cnlines.com/cycl/loco/clas_diesel.html

There was an earlier classification scheme used on a very few first-generation units, but the current one has been around since about 1954.

one of my HO scale CP GP38-2's is an ERS-20c. that makes no sense...

ANDY117 wrote:one of my HO scale CP GP38-2's is an ERS-20c. that makes no sense...

Maybe you can fix it ... p.s. CP's DRS-20c class GP38-2s have road numbers 3021-3040 and 7303-7312 in case they got that wrong too.

7312, 7303, and 7304 have no classification under the windows because they're in D&H paint. I think i will fix that. Thanks for the info!

5420 is labelled a ERF-30. Is there a reason for this?

ANDY117 wrote:5420 is labelled a ERF-30. Is there a reason for this?

In the Canadian Trackside Guide, SD40-2s 5415-5421, purchased from Helm in 1992, are all classed as ERF-30. I thought this was a typographical error, but, if they are actually marked this way, I have no idea what it means.

E ngine Road Freight, 3000 horsepower?

ANDY117 wrote:5420 is labelled a ERF-30. Is there a reason for this?

The "E" stands for EMD, since this second hand loco was built by EMD... in 1976 as KCS 675.