The LT&L’s only order for streamlined freight diesels was a batch of 8 MLW DL208s (4 FPA-2s, 4 FPB-2s) that were outshopped in 1950s. After some stumbles with the 244 prime movers, they were assigned to the TdM where they stayed for the rest of their careers.
The TdM shops kept them running without fuss or bother, so it came as a bit of a surprise when the newly merged railroad decided (in 1966) to purge all of the 244-based power from the roster. Most of them were stripped and sent to the breakers, except 388 & 389, which were set aside for the 251 reengining program that the shops had just started. #388 was rebuilt into a FPA-251, with a sealed carbody and 2250 HP 251-12, while #389 lingered, unmodified, on the deadline slowly being stripped for parts and eventually being set up as a cabin by a particularly crafty electrician.
As for #388, no sooner had the rebuild been finished than it was designated as the railroad’s engine for the centennial anniversary of Confederation, and it spent 1967 roaming the system in a variation of the paint scheme used by the Confederation train.
By 1972, it had been repainted into the standard LT&L diesel scheme, and that’s how it operated for the next 44 years. But for the Canada 150 anniversary in 2017, it went back into the shops to be repainted in the centennial scheme (to be paired with one of the DLP’s FPA-4’s that had been painted in a variant of the Canada 150 scheme), ran excursions for the year, and was then retired to the historical fleet in St-Constant.)
As for 389, it served as a cabin for about 50 years before the electrician died, and their estate sold it (for CA$1) to ILW for parts or repair. ILW chose to repair/remanufacture it, which was a fairly involved process:
- The non-radiator end of the carbody had been cut off to make a porch, so one of ILW’s passenger cabs was modified to fit the FA roof profile
- The trucks were long gone, so ILW put a pair of surplus GSC lightweight trucks under the thing.
- No prime mover, so a Cummins QSK60 went in its place, coupled to an AC drivetrain.
It’s no longer a B unit, or even much of an Alco anymore, but it’s now running on the Algoma Southern as the second passenger locomotive for the Sault St Marie<->Hearst stopping train.