From Wednesday, May 8th to Sunday, May 12th, 2024, a few friends and I spent a few days exploring the Chicagoland area railroads to celebrate our college graduations from our respective universities.
The main reason for our Chicagoland visit was to see the highly anticipated CP 2816 “The Empress” “Golden Spike Express”. There are quite a few names for this celebratory excursion led by CP’s refurbished 4-6-4 which was revived to travel the route of the recently formed Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) a combination where the Canadian Pacific (CP) acquired the Kansas City Southern (KCS). The territory of this railroad stretches all the way from Canada into Mexico, through the United States, hence being the first railroad to connect all 3 nations on the North American continent, a truly historic event and much reason to celebrate. With the 2816 operating between Calgary, Alberta and Mexico City, our opportunity would be to see the magnificent locomotive in the Chicagoland area and that is exactly what we did.
Watch along as we witness the 2816 visit Franklin Park on display and then we chase it the next day through Western Illinois over the Mississippi River from Bensenville, IL to Davenport, Iowa, for a few hundred miles of witnessing this incredible historic event that will be remembered for years to come across North American Railroading.
Enjoy the video!
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