16 September 2004 CPR Empress a Delight!   A picture out of history? No, this shot was taken when the CPR Empress steamed through the Pass 3 Sep 2004 on its way to deliver dignitaries to a rededication ceremony at the Cranbrook Railway Museum.   Crowsnest Pass - There was certainly more to the steam locomotive that billowed through the Crowsnest Pass recently than met the eye.   Just ask Sherry and Bruce MacPhail.   The two just happened to hear that CPR Empress 2816, one of the last surviving 51 non-streamlined locomotives owned and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Dirty 30s, was going through the area.   The MacPhails jumped at the chance to hop the train at Fernie and ride it back east to Kipp. They were doubly excited as this was also their 22 wedding anniversary. And, what a way to spend it!   "It was just awesome," said Sherry last Wednesday, still flying high from her weekend experience. CPR Empress came through heading west early on 3 Sep 2004 and made its way back through Sunday afternoon and looked mighty good for being 74 years old.   "It was just unbelievable. It was worth the $130 and a whole lot more," said Sherry, whose sentiments were echoed by Bruce, who said the ride was one of the - if not, THE - best road trips he had ever taken.   While the MacPhails did not get to see the inside of the Mount Royal car, the one in which Winston Churchill used for his Quebec Conference travels in 1943, Sherry did relive many memories from her childhood days aboard trains. You see, her dad Walter Foster worked for the C.P.R. when the first diesel locomotives came out.   "My dad used to work for the C.P.R. in Swift Current and he said that Mount Royal car used to come through Swift Current all the time," recalls Sherry, adding that she rode on many a train as a girl. She said CPR Empress, restored to its 1950 appearance by the company in 2001, is a lot more quiet than what she recalls other trains being. Anyone (and there were hundreds of people lining the track from Fernie to Kipp and R.C.M.P also guarded every railway crossing) who heard the train go through probably wondered at the almost-sweet "swish-swish" it made and its even sweeter sounding whistle.   "They've improved the tracks a lot," observed Sherry. "I remember that clack." But, riding CPR Empress brought many memories home. "The toilets were very original," she laughed. The inside of their particular car was "very nicely done" and offered booth-type, plush seating.