The Canadian National Class Z-1-a was a series of six electric locomotives built by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

for the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...

in 1917. They were used in service through the

Mount Royal Tunnel The Mount Royal Tunnel (french: tunnel sous le mont Royal, tunnel du mont Royal) is a railway tunnel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The tunnel is the third longest in Canada, after the Mount Macdonald Tunnel and the Connaught Tunnel, and connects t ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

until retirement in 1995, operating for 76 years, 7 months and 12 days. They were classified as a Box-Cab model 0440-E-166-4-GE-228-A by General Electric, delivered new to the

. They were very similar to 6 units built for the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway, as was the electrification system. Each unit weighed . They had a B+B wheel arrangement, a maximum

continuous tractive effort As used in mechanical engineering, the term tractive force can either refer to the total traction a vehicle exerts on a surface, or the amount of the total traction that is parallel to the direction of motion. In railway engineering, the term tr ...

of , capable of operating at a maximum safe speed of . They were given the following classification: Class: Z-1-a by the CNoR in 1919; CN continued to use the same classification after 1919. One unit, CN 6713, was retired in 1993 and was then cannibalized for

spare part A spare part, spare, service part, repair part, or replacement part, is an interchangeable part that is kept in an inventory and used for the repair or refurbishment of defective equipment/units. Spare parts are an important feature of logistic ...

s to supply the remaining class Z-1-a locomotives. Another, CN 6712, was donated to the

Town of Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: Mont-Royal, officially Town of Mount Royal, french: Ville de Mont-Royal, abbreviated TMR, french: VMR) is an affluent on-island suburban town located on the northwest side of the eponymous Mount Royal, northwest of Downtown M ...

, and was stored at that city's municipal garage pending selection of a suitable display site. Such a site was never found; the unit was cannibalized and scrapped in 2011.

Preservation

Four locomotives were preserved. * CNoR600/CNR9100/100/6710 — On Display outside AMT Deux-Montagnes Station in Deux-Montagnes, Quebec. Pulled together with 6711 the Last train. * CNoR601/CNR9101/101/6711 — Preserved at Exporail in

Delson Delson is an off-island suburb ( South shore) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is situated 8 mi/13 km SSE of Montreal within the regional county municipality of Roussillon in the administrative region of Montérégie. The population as ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Pulled together with 6710 the last train; also pulled first train into tunnel October 21, 1918. * CNoR604/CNR9104/104/6714 — Preserved at the

Connecticut Trolley Museum The Connecticut Trolley Museum, founded in October 1940, is the oldest incorporated museum dedicated to electric railroading in the United States. The museum is located in East Windsor, Connecticut and is open to the public April through December. ...

in East Windsor, Connecticut. Built in Canada, at

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Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. from parts shipped there from

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

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. * CNoR605/CNR9105/105/6715 — Preserved at the

Canada Science and Technology Museum The Canada Science and Technology Museum (abbreviated as CSTM; french: Musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada) is a national museum of science and technology in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum has a mandate to preserve and promote ...

in Ottawa, Ontario. Built entirely in Canada, at Canadian General Electric, Peterborough, Ontario.

References

{{GE electrics General Electric locomotives Canadian Northern Railway Canadian National Railway locomotives Electric locomotives of Canada Bo+Bo locomotives Passenger locomotives

Preservation

See also

References