Old Canadian Railways
Robot Cars
| In former days, long trains required several steam locomotives and each required its own crew. Speed had to be constant and everything fairly well synchronized for smooth operation. Diesel locomotives were fairly well restricted to what they could pull and, if the load was greater, it required an extra diesel and its crew. Coal extracted in Southern Alberta and Southern BC as well as wheat from the Prairies required longer trains to transport them more economically through the Rockies, particularly the CP Mountain Sub between Field and Revelstoke BC. Around 1967, a solution was found by having the lead unit send out remote signals to other motive units within the train, by a system called “Locotrol” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locotrol Housed in a converted boxcar or in some cases, inside the shell of a discarded B (cabless) units and signals would be sent from the master to all the slave units, ensuring that they kept up to the speed selected by the control unit, including speed and braking application. Several tests determined that the best place for the slave unit was mid-train. Average 1970s motive power through the Rockies was 2 or 3 (and up to 5) SD-40s on the point, followed by freight cars; then a Locotrol Robot car mid train, followed by two SD-40s then more freight cars and finally a caboose, for an average train length of just under a mile. With improvement in solid state technology, Locotrol equipment took less space. By about 1983, CP had started to place Locotrol equipment into the nose of its newer SD40-2 units as standard equipment and all the ROBOT cars were gradually phased out. More than 8500 locomotives worldwide are now equipped with Locotrol. http://www.getransportation.com/rail/rail-products/locomotives/on-board-systems/l.html These trains were actually well over 3000 feet long and many, well over 40,000 tons. The first Robot car ( Robot-1) was put in service in November 1967. It was painted in the CPR tuscan and grey scheme. After a long period of testing four more were built in 1968. They got the then current blue with multi-mark paint scheme, and were numbered from 1002 to 1005. More followed. |
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A typical setup of the late 80s, with two SD40s and ROBOT car spliced mid-train. The body of water in front it, Wapta Lake and the photo is taken around May. Temperature still hovers around the 0 Celsius in April. Water on the lake only starts to thaw out about July. It is the source of the Kicking Horse River further west and its water comes directly from glaciers in the area. Wapta Lake is situated a few miles west of Lake Louise and is the beginning of about a 12-mile descent for cars on the Trans-Canada Highway. One that is also made by westbound CPR trains to Field BC, through the Spiral Tunnels. More about the Spiral Tunnels at: http://yourrailwaypictures.com/Tunnels/ Photo: Massey F. Jones |
 | CP Robot Car #1019 at Revelstoke BC, July 1988 This Robot car was built from Ex-baggage car #4465 and used in 1967, together with SD40 #5557, This Locotrol setup needed Robot cars to store the radio equipment and data processing equipment, needed to communicate between the lead and slave units. They carried the Receiver equipment for Locotro l I. Locotrol was the first version of what’s called DPU these days. CP Rail put the equipment in the Robot Cars instead of putting it into locomotives so that they could use it with any locomotive that had MU capability. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Jim Booth, Willingdon AB | |
 | BCR RCC-7 Robot car with CP 6057 at Port Coquitlam BC, May 1987 |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Jim Booth, Willingdon AB | |
.jpg) | The other end of RCC 7 at Alyth Yard; May 6, 1989. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
.jpg) | Robot-32 is pictured here at Alyth Yard (Calgary) on May 6, 1989. The car was built in 1977 from CP Boxcar #204200 repainted with the CP Multimark and end safety stripes. It was owned by owned by Ontario Hydro, sub-lettered CPHX1032 and retired in May 1991. In the early 70s, Locotrol had to fit on a large panel inside a boxcar. Read all about Locotrol at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locotrol and view what the GE Locotrol tm system looks like today at: http://www.ecomagination.com/portfolio/locotrol- system |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
.jpg) | Robot -21 was Alyth Yard (Calgary) on May 5th, 1989. It was built in the east-end Montreal’s CP Angus in 1974 and numbered 1021 and like many other ROBOT cars, was retired in May 1991, when the Locotrol system installed in the nose of its SD40 locomotives, became the regular mode of communication between the lead locomotive and all others in the consist. The purpose is explained in another caption on this page. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
 | ROBOT 25 near Ogden (Calgary) , September 1985. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
 | ROBOT 18 at the CPR Alyth Yard on May 5th, 1989. It was built in 1974 by Canadian Pacific’s Angus Shops in Montreal from a boxcar, along with some others (Robots 1017 – 1031). The purpose of the ROBOT cars is described in another caption. 1018 was retired in May 1991. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
.jpg) | Robot 32 spliced between 8830 and another yard switcher at Alyth Yard; May 6, 1989. Shortly thereafter, 8830 had its high nose chopped and was renumbered 8249. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx ?id=550324 Notice the RCC7 and RCC106 in the background at the far left. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
 | CPR 1011 (Robot 11), entering CPR Tunnel No 1, at Yale BC in the mid-70s. This tunnel was the very first, hand drilled and blasted through solid rock by navvies in the early 1880s, in order to link Montreal to Vancouver. The lead unit for this train (already in the tunnel) is Extra West CP 5809, shown about mid-page at http://yourrailwaypictures.com/OldDiesels/index- CP_Freight.html Robot 11 is the former Fairbanks Morse CP 4450, built in 1952 (Ser# 2687) by the Canadian Locomotive Company if Kingston, Ontario as a CFB 16-4 (cabless) unit and converted to a Robot by CP in 1972 before being retired in October 1984. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
 | Another view of the CPR 1011 (Robot 11), exiting the Yale No 2 Tunnel in the Fraser canyon westbound. The tunnel was also constructed in the early 1800s. CP5571 behind the Robot is mid-train unit working off Robot 11. Lead unit CP 5809 is already into No 1 Tunnel and the train is travelling westbound to Vancouver. CP 5571 was retired in August 1999 and sold to First Union Rail, becoming FURX 3004 and modeled “ready-to-run” in HO by Athern. http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx? ProdID=ATH8005 |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones | |
.jpg) | RCC 106 was built by EMD as an F7B for the Great Northern Railroad (GN #307B) in October 1950. Following a railway merger it was eventually converted from an F7B unit to Robot Control Car RCU 106, and then renamed RCC 106 on the Burlington Northern roster. In March 1980, RCC 106 was sold to BC Rail, who subsequently leased it to CP Rail where it was supposed to become RCC-5 but was never renumbered. The unit was sold or retired sometime in the 1990s. |
| This picture was taken and submitted by Massey F. Jones |