In 2021, the TdM beat the scrappers to a pinthed EMD E8 – PRR 5706, which had been a display at a strip mall in Alabama. However, during the shipping up to St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu the nose of the locomotive was badly damaged and it was diverted to the PV&T’s Portland Shops for repair.
When it got there, the shops suggested not just replacing the nose section, but instead rebuilding the machine as a memorial to the (extinct) EMC E2 that inspired the streamlined rebuild of class B1r #219. (The TdM intended to have ILW remanufacture this unit as a 2800 HP genset unit with a pair of Cummins QSK38 prime movers, so the existing E8 carbody had plenty of excess space inside the carbody.) The TdM & the LT&L (which wanted to use it for passenger specials) were bemused, but agreed to this sort of rebuild.
It took a few years for the Portland Shops to finish remanufacturing the carbody, but in 2026 the completed carbody finally finished its trip up to Canada, where the new prime movers & AC drivetrain were installed.
A couple of years after ex-PRR 5706 arrived at Portland for remanufacturing the P&W retired their power car so it could also be rebuilt into a DL50. It, also, was remanufactured to look like an E2, but as a booster instead of a cab unit; reskinning a carbody is a (much) faster job than fabricating a custom cab, so it was finished and shipped to Canada about a month after 1821’s carbody.
It arrived just when 1821 went into the paint shop, and had new prime movers installed and paint applied within 3 weeks of 1821’s deliver to the LT&L.
More class DL50s are in the works; the CPR purchased ex-VIA RSX51-37f’s #1800 & #1802 (which were originally CPR E8s of the same numbers, and which had been lingering on the ILW backlot for 20 years after being traded in for newer power) to be remanufactured into DL50s, but keeping their original E8 carbodies & cabs, and the TdM had purchased a couple of derelict ex-BN E9ms for spare parts and is now thinking of also sending those carcasses across the mainline to have a new drivetrain installed.