As late as 2006 CN was still running SD40s on everything from manifests & grain trains, to coal and Intermodal Sadly they were unofficially limited to trailing only, a shame as in the East they led until the end. I managed to catch all the Winnipeg based units just before retirement: 5055, 5078, 5096 & 5232. CN 5232 has since been sold to ANY, but as theyve been bought out by CN, the unit was transferred back to Winnipeg to work on sister shortline CEMR. Not sure how theyre going to use it as they operate Prairie branchlines with ex-CN GP9RM power, definitely not 6-axle SD40 territory.
Not the rebuild sister SD40u 6025 (ex 5172) leading, CN is currently getting rid of them as well. At least they're still leading!