Qualla: Montreal Locomotive Works

Montreal Locomotive Works: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hayward Studios, Public domain. The locomotive that pulled the royal train across Canada in 1939 -- earning the unprecedented right to carry a crown on its running board -- was built in a sprawling factory in Montreal's Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood. Canadian Pacific 2850, a 4-6-4 Hudson class engine, rolled out of Montreal Locomotive Works and into history, and the entire series of later 2800s (numbered 2820-2864) became known as Royal Hudsons, with permission granted by the king himself. By the time the factory fell silent in 1985, it had passed through five corporate owners, survived the transition from steam to diesel, built tanks for two world wars, and invented the safety cab that became a North American railroad standard. Today, only the 1911 administration building at 1505 Dickson Street survives.

Image: Hayward Studios | Public domain

Montreal Locomotive Works: Smoke and Steel on the St. Lawrence

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Original uploader was Slambo (talk) at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0. The story begins in 1883, when the Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal Limited opened for business, building primarily for the booming domestic market -- the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Grand Trunk Railway, and the Intercolonial Railway. In 1901, the American Locomotive ...

Image: Original uploader was Slambo (talk) at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 2.0

Montreal Locomotive Works: Tanks on the Assembly Line

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Georgedes, CC BY-SA 3.0. When the Second World War arrived, MLW's factory floor transformed almost overnight. The plant's heavy manufacturing capabilities were redirected toward military production for the Commonwealth and Allied war effort, with a largely female workforce turning out Ram tanks and Sexto...

Image: Georgedes | CC BY-SA 3.0

Montreal Locomotive Works: The Diesel Revolution

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SriMesh, CC BY-SA 3.0. After the war, MLW faced the same existential challenge as every steam locomotive builder: the diesel-electric engine was coming. In 1949, the same year General Motors established its Canadian diesel subsidiary in London, Ontario, MLW introduced its first Alco-GE-derived diesel d...

Image: SriMesh | CC BY-SA 3.0

Montreal Locomotive Works: Five Owners and the Safety Cab

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SriMesh, CC BY-SA 3.0. MLW's corporate parentage reads like a genealogy of North American industrial decline. Alco was purchased by Worthington Corporation in 1964, renaming the subsidiary MLW-Worthington. Worthington merged with Studebaker in 1967. After Alco's Schenectady plant closed in 1969, locomo...

Image: SriMesh | CC BY-SA 3.0

Montreal Locomotive Works: Rubble on Dickson Street

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SriMesh, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1985, Bombardier reorganized and ceased locomotive manufacturing, shifting to passenger rolling stock and aircraft. The dormant MLW plant was sold to General Electric in 1988 -- ironically, GE used it to rebuild the very locomotive models that had driven Alco out of business. ...

Image: SriMesh | CC BY-SA 3.0