24 September 2001
Chugging History Fires Imaginations: Cheers Greet Restored Train
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Premier Ralph Klein and CPR CEO Rob
Ritchie.
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Calgary Alberta - The tracks rumbled long before the
Empress came into sight.
Then came the sound - the chug, chug, chug of the oil-fired engine, the clanging of the massive iron wheels.
Finally - to rousing cheers - the great, old locomotive appeared, billowing steam as it rolled down the rails.
"There's something about a steam engine that you can't explain", said a beaming Steve Shapka - a retired Calgary train
engineer - as he watched the CPR Empress roll into downtown Calgary on Sunday. "My first ride in a steam locomotive was a thrill
of a lifetime. There's just something about railroading that gets in your blood".
About 250 people gathered at the Alyth railyard to welcome the newly restored 1930 steam locomotive to its new home in Calgary.
The steam engine is a relic from another era, when rail lines made this nation. It was taken out of service in 1960, and recently
restored by the CPR at a cost of about $1.5 million.
The Empress made the journey from Banff to Calgary on Sunday, with CPR president Rob Ritchie and Alberta Premier Ralph Klein riding up
front on the last leg from Cochrane.
With the hissing, steaming locomotive behind him, Klein - wearing a conductor's cap and overalls - praised the CPR crew which restored
the engine to its glory. He said the restoration will help Albertans retain links to their past. "Old steam locomotives like this
one continue to hold an important place in the imagination of all Albertans and indeed, all Canadians", Klein said. "They
provide a real and important link to the past".
Ritchie said the Empress will be an ambassador for the CPR, travelling to communities across the West in the summer promoting rail
safety awareness for children.
Onlookers were thrilled to tour the massive black and maroon engine.
"My heart was just beating when it came in (to the railyard)", said Mary McPherson, a Calgary woman who brought her two
grandsons - Joshua Herdman, 9, and Jordan, 8, - to see the train. "I loved the train when I was a kid. This is just
wonderful".
In the 1930s, this train was a high-tech marvel. Today's diesel-electric engines can haul twice as much
weight at a fraction of the cost.
Darcie Park, a CPR spokeswoman, said steam locomotives "are very much part of this country's history. This is a rare chance for
people to see this type of machine brought back to life. And this was a great chance for us to preserve a piece of our
history".
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