H-Liners

Image credit: Joe Smuin Collection

Fairbanks-Morse Canadian Locomotive Company type H16-44 unit No. 8551 sitting on the Rip track lead at Penticton.

As shown here this unit is in its original configuration, designed to run long hood forward. In later years the engineman's controls were changed to the opposite side of the cab so that the engine could run short hood forward, thus improving visibility and reducing fumes inside the cab.

Commonly known as "H-Liners", these units were the standard road power for freight train service on Canadian Pacific's Kettle Valley and Kootenay Divisions. These units started arriving in 1955 and the last one appeared at Penticton during the summer of 1974.