Dear N Scale Customers:

From time to time we get requests for different custom painted engines. We had a number of requests for NAR (Northern Alberta Railway) GP9 Engines. We have recently found a source for good quality decals. We will soon be doing a batch of these unique Canadian Railroad Paint Scheme. We are only planning to do enough of these to cover any reservations/ requests made before we start to paint. We have a large number of N Scale customer who live in Northern Alberta (some say Northern Alberta is defined as anywhere north of Lethbridge). So please let us know if you would like one for your layout.

To order call Pacific Western Rail at (866) 840-7777

Here ia an images of a NAR GP9

 (Photo Courtesy Robert Hadlow Photo (Dennis Schmidt Collection))

The engines can be done in 10 ifferent road numbers which have Alberta Town names on the side. Here is a complete list of all the town names you can do.

NAR Diesel Locomotives

Introduction

The NAR was purchased by CN in 1981. CN took over all trackage, rolling stock (not much), and locomotives (not many). Where are these today? Some of the tracks have been torn up or taken over by shortlines. The boxcars are still operated by CN and carry the NAR paint.

This page gives the history of the NAR diesel locomotives and where they are today.

In 1979, NAR diesel locomotives were given names, either of places or historical figures in the area served by NAR.

GP9

NAR had ten GP9s that carried eleven road numbers:

- 201 (serial number A1415) was named McLennan after the railway junction between Slave Lake and Peace River. She was purchased in Dec 1957 from General Motors Diesel Limited in London, Ontario, and had four-wheel trucks (B-B). She produced 1750 HP and weighed 248,000 punds and was configured to operate short hood forward. After purchase by CN, she was repainted and numbered CN. In 1990, She was cut down into a slug at CN's Pointe Saint Charles shops in Montreal and numbered CN 253.

- 202 (serial number A1416) was a sister to 201. She was named Fairview after the town of the same name west of Peace River on the original Central Canada Railway. She was purchased at the same time as 201 and had the same characteristics. In 1981, she became CN 4603. Like 201, she was cut into a slug CN 254.

- 203 (serial number A1417) was also a sister to 201. She was named Dawson Creek after the town in B.C. at the end of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and BC Railway, one of the railways that made up the NAR. She took on number CN 4604 in 1981, and then converted to slug CN 252.

- 204 (serial number A1418) another sister of 201, was named Westlock, after a town north west of Edmonton. With CN, wearing number CN CN 4605, she fared better than some of her sisters. She was remanufactured (nose job) and renumbered to CN 4132 in 1991.

- 205 (serial number A1419) was a sister of 201. She was named High Prairie, a town on the railway between Slave Lake and Peace River. With CN she wore number CN 4606, and like a number of her sisters was cut into a slug, number CN 260.

- 206 (serial number A1537) was purchased from General Motors Diesel Limited in June 1958. She was named Grande Prairie for the town of the same name. Transferred to CN, she started with numberCN 4607 but was cut into slug CN 261 in 1990 at the Pointe Saint Charles shops in Montreal.

- 207 (serial number A1538) was a sister of 206, purchased at the same time. Her name was Lac LaBiche. In March 1974, she collided with a logging truck in Grande Prairie and suffered extensive damage to her front end. Although the NAR shops in Dunvegan Yards was not designed or equipped to make major repairs, they soon manged to get 207 repaired mechanically and cosmetically. Upon transfer to CN, 207 became CN 4608 for a time. In 1991 she was remanufactured and renumbered to CN 4131.

- 208 (serial number A1539) was a sister of 206. However, on 2 November 1959, just over a year after entering service, locomotive 208 (no name at that point) was leading another diesel and pulling 119 freight cars when she collided head on with CNR steam locomotive CN 5115 pulling a passenger train at Carbondale, just north of Edmonton. A tank car of gasoline ruptured, and after the fire was extinguished, locomotive 208, the CN locomotive, the Carbondale station, and three automobiles parked near by were destroyed. Four people died in the accident: the engineer in the CN locomotive, and the station master and his family. All salvageable parts of 208 were recovered and returned to General Motors Diesel Limited in London, Ontario who rebuilt the locomotive. She was taken back on NAR as 211 in July 1960. See history of 211 below.

- 209 (serial number A1540) was also a sister of 206, and named Slave Lake from the town of the same name on the railway. She was renumbered to CN 4610 when purchased by CN. In 1986, she was remanufactured and renumbered to CN 7221.

- 210 (serial number A1541) was another sister of 206, named Barrhead after the community on the railway north west of Edmonton. She became CN 4611 in 1981. Like 209, she was remanufactured and renumbered in 1986, to CN 7225.

- 211 (serial number A1539) was rebuilt from the pieces of wrecked NAR 208 (see above). She carried the name Fort McMurray. In 1981, she became CN 4609. In 1990, she was cut down in the Pointe St Charles shops and joined some of her sisters as a slug, CN 259.

Source - CN Lines Special Interest Group