Public Relations and Advertising
Department
Windsor Station Montreal Que. H3C 3E4
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Volume
11 Number 4
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March 25,
1981
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King of Rockies Makes Final
Journey
By Ralph Wilson
Tough Climb:
Facing a tough six percent grade - more than twice as steep as anything the 5934 has
ever encoutered - the locomotive crawls up Heritage Drive, pulled by four York Shaw
building-mover trucks - photos by Nicholas Morant and Ralph
Wilson.
Calgary - For more than two
decades, the massive Canadian Pacific "Selkirk" 5934 sat idle at Calgary's
Mewata Park, posing in proud silence for thousands of tourist and railway buffs'
snapshots.
Then on 21 Feb 1981, the famed "King of the Rockies" began one
final journey - 10 miles south west to its new home at Heritage Park.
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Awe inspiring: Dwarfed by the old Iron
Horse, this tot takes a close look at the
workmanship.
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The 5934 represents the end of an era in Canada's colourful railway history. It, and
its sister locomotive, the 5935 - on display in Montreal - were the last of the
Selkirk series to be manufactured for Canadian Pacific by Montreal Locomotive Works.
Built in 1949, the 5934 was the state of the art in handling the rugged mountain
terrain between Calgary and Revelstoke, B.C. However, the 5934 saw only brief but
faithful service before giving way to dieselization.
Of the 36 Selkirks built between the late 1920s through to the end of the 1940s, only
the 5934 and 5935 remain; the rest were sold for scrap. In fact, were it not for the
efforts of an enterprising group of Calgarians, the 5934 could well have met a similar
fate.
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Was that right at the stop or...: Soon
after freeing Selkirk 5934 from the track bed upon which it stood for 21 years,
CP Rail and York Shaw movers gingely moved the locomotive along skeleton track
on a downtown Calgary street.
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In 1959, through civic and private donations, the "5900 Club" raised
sufficient funds to save the 5934 and have it moved from Ogden Shops to a downtown
tourist information centre. The well-known and respected landmark.
Back then, most everyone thought the arduous move would be the 5934's last. Well, 21
years later, it was on the move again.
On a sunny, Saturday morning, with about 250 spectators on hand, CP Rail and York
Shaw Mover crews gingerly tugged the 449,000-pound locomotive, its
120,000-pound tender in tow, from its park pedestal and, using heavy
building-mover trucks, hauled the 5934 along skeleton track, temporarily
laid along a city street.
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Tied down: Tethered to the track with a
chain Number 5934 spent a lonely night before its final move to Heritage
Park.
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With the street closed off to traffic, the 98-foot-long locomotive was
carefully positioned and secured to await the next day's move - more than three city
blocks to spur track adjacent to the CPR main line.
An even larger crowd, armed with dozens of cameras, was on hand for the second day's
effort. More skeleton track was laid, this time across a local auto dealer's lot.
NO SIMPLE TASK
Moving the 5,000-horsepower 5934 was no simple task given the fact it
was, in its day, the largest, heaviest, and most powerful steam locomotive in the
Commonwealth. The move took months of planning and co-ordination. Yet
the first two phases went off without a hitch.
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"I think it can...": About 500
spectators gathered along the route to witness the last journey of Number 5934.
Here the locomotive faced a grueling climb. As an added safety measure, CP Rail
crews attached an air compressor to the rear of the tender and activated the
tender's brakes... just in case.
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"There wasn't a squeak of protest out of the old girl when we got her
moving", said Calgary Division Engineer Bob Younger. "The people who kept
it up all this time deserve a lot of credit".
Mr. Younger had nothing but the highest praise for all those involved in the
operation, including the many city officials who spent endless hours making sure the
move was made smoothly.
The biggest test, however, was yet to come.
After being hauled onto the CP Rail line, the 5934 was temporarily parked near Calgary
station; then, during the weekend of 28 Feb 1981 -
1 Mar 1981, a yard switcher pulled the 5934 at a snail's pace south to a
siding about a mile east of the locomotive's new home.
Beginning at dawn on 1 Mar 1981, CP Rail crews began laying the first of
the 39-foot track panels along the median lane of a major Calgary
thoroughfare.
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Bob Younger
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Within an hour, the operation was moving like clockwork. And soon after, curious
residents and railway buffs began to gather. By mid-day, the crowd had
swelled to more than 500. Calgary city police were on hand to keep the
shutter-bugs and spectators a safe distance from the crawling locomotive.
Wide eyed children, fresh from Sunday school classes, watched in awe as the
15 1/2-foot iron behemoth inched its way up a six percent grade - almost
twice as steep as the 5934 had ever encountered.
A couple of children began chanting "I think it can, I think it can..."
And, it could.
After clearing the long grade, the rest was literally all downhill.
By 8 p.m., the 5934 was positioned on land less than a stone's throw from the new
track bed.
The next morning, the final move was completed and, once again, the 5934 was in a
position of prominence, a permanent monument to the days of steam and recognition of
the railroad's contribution to Canadian history.
This CP Rail News article is
copyright 1981 by Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their
permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company.
©
2005 William C. Slim
http://www.okthepk.ca
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