Cold Starting an Alco 12-251

A few weeks ago, a unique opportunity presented itself when Trillium Railway made their last trip to St. Catharines to switch two remaining customers on the Grantham spur. The locomotive for this trip, TR RS-18u #1859, developed an oil leak the previous day and this resulted in the train tying down on the spur pending repairs to the unit. The following day was clear but cold and this allowed for a combination railfanning + 'cold start' scene when the mechanic arrived to start the prime move, a 12-cylinder Alco 251B. Normally the railway starts work really early in the morning so this was an unusual chance to watch the crew start up the locomotive up close. It took several attempts spread over about half an hour, but eventually the engine fired up. Note that after running a while, the engine sounds smoother, more like that distinctive Alco 'burble'. With the air pressure built up, the train then departed southward to the CN Grimsby sub for the last time with droves of railfans waiting for it at Merritton. I will have a full video on this move in the future, but in short, Trillium (GIO) no longer operates north of mile 8 on the Canal spur, just past ASW Valbruna Steel in Welland. Declining carloads and a relatively long trip to switch about 3-6 cars per day, twice a week, eventually brought about this end of service to Thorold and St. Catharines. I was lucky enough to shoot this line several times in the last year, focusing on the coil car runs to Trenergy, and will upload those videos as well, in time. As always, thank you for watching!