CP 2816, an H1b 4-6-4 Hudson built by Montreal Locomotive Works in December 1930, has recently been restored to service by CPKC to celebrate the merger between CP and Kansas City Southern. As we get closer to the April 24th, 2024 departure of the 2816 on the Final Spike Tour, the steam crew made another successful break in run from Calgary to Edmonton and return on March 18 and 19, 2024.
We catch up with The Empress just north of Olds, Alberta putting on a great show approaching a meet with CPKC 242-18 at Netook. At Netook, we observe the meet and take a look at the 2816 performing a brief servicing stop. We see her underway again at Innisfail, Alberta which is where the CPKC Hydrogen Units are being built and then head north of town to catch CPKC 605, a loaded Potash train at the beautiful wooden grain elevator at Niobe. While the 2816 performed a service stop and crew change in Red Deer, we see CPKC 412-18 switching in the yard before heading up to Blackfalds to watch the 2816 climbing out of the Blindman River Valley. Afterwards, we catch the Empress at Wolf Creek, Maskwacis, Wetaskiwin, Millet, Kavanagh and Ellerslie. The final scenes of the video show the 2816 shoving into the South Edmonton Yard, with the skyline of Alberta's Capital City in the background The train will spend the night here and return south to Calgary the next day.
The Consist was as follows:
CPKC 40B-18:
CP 2816
FPSX 4219 - Auxiliary Tender
CP 35508 - Auxiliary Tender
CP 3084
CP 29114 - Tool Car
CP 99 - Baggage Car
CP 96 - Generator Car
CP 111 - "Vaughan" -
CP 102 - "Ernest 'Smoky' Smith, VC"
0:00 CP 2816 just north of Olds
0:47 CP 2816 at Netook
1:36 CPKC 242-18: CP 8943 meeting CP 2816 at Netook
2:42 CPKC DP unit KCS 4699 meeting CP 2816 at Netook
4:06 CP 2816 at Innisfail
4:43 CPKC 605: CP 8777, CP 8862, CP 8926, KCS 4682 -DP 1x2x1 at Niobe
8:20 CPKC 412-18: CP 8758, CP 8556, CP 8766, KCSM 4655 at Red Deer
9:28 CP 2816 at Blackfalds
11:30 CP 2816 at Wolf Creek
12:04 CP 2816 north of Maskwacis
12:44 CP 2816 north of Wetaskiwin
13:24 CP 2816 at Millet
14:11 CP 2816 at North Siding Switch Kavanagh
14:48 CP 2816 at Ellerslie
15:17 CP 2816 radio chatter at South Edmonton
16:46 CP 2816 power at South Edmonton
18:28 CP 2816 and Edmonton Skyline