CP “monster” test intermodal train heads cross-continent
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
Canadian Pacific intermodal Test Train No. 110-30 passed through Alyth Yard, Calgary, Alberta, late Thursday as it continued its test run from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Toronto. It’s the longest, heaviest intermodal train CP has ever operated, railroad spokesman Mark Seland confirmed to Railway Age.
The train, 12,000 feet long—2.3 miles—was too long to fit in one of Alyth’s ‘P’ yard tracks, so it stayed on the main line. At Calgary, the consist totaled 119 intermodal loads on 165 
platforms, and five locomotives, two on the head end and three single units spread through the consist as wireless Distributed Power Units:
CP 9709, CP 9539, 49 loads, CP 8511, 33 loads, CP 8710, 37 loads, CP 8789—119 loads, 0 empties, 11,412 tons, 12,002 feet, and 21,920 hp. The DPUs are placed approximately 4,000 feet apart, with the last DPU on the rear of the train.
“This the most number of remote locomotive positions in a radio distributed power train 
we have ever operated,” Seland said. "It’s the furthest distance we have run between a lead and tailend remote. It’s also the heaviest eastbound train we have run out of Coquitlam to Calgary. The train has been running since Wednesday with no issues."
CP Test Train No. 110-30 was expected to arrive at Toronto’s Vaughan Intermodal Terminal midafternoon Sunday, Oct. 4.
Photos of CP’s intermodal test train north of 
Toronto by James A. Brown. Mr. Brown is the retired executive director of operations for GO Transit.
