Gone, but Not Forgotten

The lead locomotive on this Canadian Pacific (CPR) train is CP 8621.

It is a GP9 model of locomotive, built in 1956 by General Motors Diesel (GMD). GMD was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario. GMD was created in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) of the United States. It is shown here in the original Maroon & Grey “Block” paint scheme. Over the years, CPR has changed the look of its locomotives and 8621 kept up with the times. It has had the CP Rail Large Multimark with 5" stripes, the CP Rail Large Multimark with 8" stripes and the CP Rail Small Multimark with 8" stripes over its life time. In October of 1988 it was rebuilt by CPR as a GP9u, chop-nosed and renumbered to #8215. It was finally declared to be surplus on February 19, 2015. So, while it is now gone from the roster of CPR it will not be forgotten because it has been immortalized on this post card.

It is hauling a load of freight along Kamloops Lake in British Columbia, Canada. The Lake is situated just after where the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers just west of Kamloops forms the Thompson River, which flows west into the Fraser River near Lytton, British Columbia. The lake is 1.6 km wide, 29 km long, and up to 152 m deep. This post card was published by the Audio Visual Designs Company. It was printed after 1965. I know this because the address has a zip code, which was introduced in 1963 and because the photo was taken in 1965.