The roster pages that followed are intended to be an all-time roster of the diesel locomotives of the Canadian National Railways system. It includes the diesel locomotives of Canadian National (CN) plus subsidiary companies or other organizations including Grand Trunk Western (GTW), Grand Trunk (GT), Central Vermont (CV), Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific (DW&P), Bessemer & Lake Erie (BLE), Elgin, Joliet & Eastern (EJE), Duluth, Missabe & Ironton (DMIR), British Columbia Railway (BCOL), New Brunswick East Coast (NBEC), Ottawa Central (OCRR), Chicago, Central & Pacific (CC&P), Illinois Central (IC) and Iowa Northern (IANR).
The roster is broken down into five segments:
Build dates and builder’s numbers are generally only provided with the as-built road no. of the locomotive. Likewise retirement dates and dispositions are only provided for the road no. that a locomotive wore when it was retired.
Within the roster abbreviations are used to identify Canadian National and railways in its system (as shown above). Other railways are generally identified by their full name.
The roster is intended to be a living document and will be updated as the roster changes and as additional information becomes available.
The five roster summary pages allow you to access detailed number-by-number information on CN’s diesel locomotives. Clicking on the link for any number series on a summary page will take you to the detailed information for those locomotives.
If an individual locomotive road no. appears as a link (blue underline) this indicates that at least one photograph of the locomotive is available. Click on the link to access the photographs.
This roster has been compiled using many sources including:
Magazines:
Branchline
X2200 South
Websites:
Don Strack’s Union Pacific roster pages https://utahrails.net/up-diesel-roster/up-diesel-roster-index.php
The Diesel Shop https://www.thedieselshop.us/
Illinois-central.net
The Santa Fe Railway Modelling and Historical Society https://sfrhms.org/resources/
https://www.trainweb.us/wisrail/wcroster.htm
nsdash9.com
Books:
Canadian Trackside Guide (various editions)
Ainsworth, Jeff, CN Motive Power Review Pictorial as of June 30, 1999, Monte Vista Publishing, LLC, 2002
Hyde, Frederick W., Soo Line 1993 Review, Hyrail Productions, 1993
Karam Jr., Duane and Ainsworth, Jeff, BC Rail Motive Power Review and Equipment Pictorial 1984 – 1999, Monte Vista Publishing, 1999
Marre, Louis A. and Pinkepank, Jerry A.., The Contemporary Diesel Spotter’s Guide, Kalmbach Publishing Co., 1989
Marre, Louis A. and Withers, Paul K., The Contemporary Diesel Spotter’s Guide Year 2000 Edition, Withers Publishing, 2000
McDonnell, Greg, Field Guide to Modern Diesel Locomotives, Kalmbach Publishing Company, 2002
McDonnell, Greg, Locomotives – The Modern Diesel & Electric Reference (Second Edition), Boston Mills Press, 2015
McDonnell, Greg, Locomotives – The Modern Diesel & Electric Reference, Boston Mills Press, 2008
Pinkepank, Jerry A., Diesel Spotter’s Guide, Kalmbach Publishing Co., 1967
Pinkepank, Jerry A., The Second Diesel Spotter’s Guide, Kalmbach Publishing Co., 1973