'A good old girl': Restored steam locomotive chugging its way across North America
A restored steam locomotive, nearly a century old, is on a North American tour to celebrate the completion of a continental rail connection from Canada to the United States and Mexico.
The Canadian Pacific train — also known as The Empress — was built in 1930 by Montreal Locomotive Works. CPKC Rail said they drove the ceremonial final spike in the project last year, and this tour is celebrating that, with nine public stops.
On Sunday, Moose Jaw, Sask., was the latest city The Empress graced with its presence. Thousands of people gathered in the rail yards to admire the relic.
"Just to get picked to be on this … I mean it's the highlight of my career. So it's an amazing trip that we're doing, just record-breaking, history-making, so many things," said Ben Cummings, part of the crew on The Empress.
Being part of the crew on this train is the highlight of Ben Cummings' career, he said. (Liam O'Connor/CBC)
The process for operating a steam locomotive can be slow and a little bit tedious.
Cummings said you have to have a certain amount of pressure in the boiler for the train to even think about starting up. An atomizer injects air or superheated steam into the diesel — then comes the fire, then the precise control of the flame to slowly bring it up to temperature.
"It'll hurt it if you take it up too quick. It's old. She's kind of grouchy and has a mind of her own sometimes, but she's a good rig. We won't talk too loudly about it over here.… She's a good old girl," he said.
Bart Campbell has been following the train since its first stop in Calgary — sometimes racing ahead of it along the highway to watch it go by an underpass. He said he's been interested in trains since he was a little boy.
"My grandpa used to hop freight trains in the Depression," he said with a smile. "So, he used to tell me all his stories. And as a kid, I used to put the pennies on the track [and] I'd watch the trains go by my house."
Seeing the old steam era alive again was "an unbelievable feeling" for Campbell.
The train is making nine stops as it travels across North America. (CPKC)
This particular train ran throughout the Great Depression, the Second World War and beyond, "averaging at times up to 18,000 miles per month. In 30 years, it is estimated the locomotive ran over 3.5 million miles," according to the CPKC website.
After months of building, testing, tweaking and restoring, it's amazing to see the train chugging across three countries, Cummings said.
"Just that 'whap' of the steam it's just, you can't get it out of your head," Cummings said.
"Once you hear it — I don't know if you're into that, but once you hear it — you're hooked, you're a goner. I know I was."
The train's next stop is in Minot, North Dakota. There's a virtual tour of the locomotive on the Final Spike Steam Tour website, as well as a live map of its tour and stops.
