Ex-Pacific Coast Terminals number 2024 at Heritage Park - Date/Photographer unknown.

30 September 2012

Teams Full of Steam as They Haul Vintage Train at Calgary's Heritage Park

Calgary Alberta - Age was not a factor as train fanatics young and old basked in locomotive history Sunday.
 
"The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway was instrumental in the settlement of Western Canada," said Barb Munro with Heritage Park, which over the weekend hosted Railway Days, allowing visitors to check out steam engines in action and ride in a caboose, among other things.
 
"The park is just full of little boys and big boys excited to ride the train."
 
Among the events going on Sunday was the eighth annual "Pulling the Past for the Future" train pull in support of the Special Olympics.
 
Five teams of 16 people each, including Special Olympics athletes, were tasked with hauling an 80-tonne vintage train just over nine metres, said Insp. Doug Kinloch with the Canadian Pacific Police Service.
 
Each team had two pulls.
 
The "CP Track Renewal Titans" won with a best combined time of 21.06 seconds, said Kinloch, adding the runner up team trailed by just 0.03 seconds.
 
"The challenge is to break that inertia and get it going," he said.
 
"Once you do, there's a huge burst of energy."
 
The teams had to raise a minimum of $1,000 each for Special Olympics Alberta, but a final tally was not available Sunday afternoon.
 
Meanwhile, CP also hosted its Spike Driving finals, which see the top men and women competitors from across Canada and the U.S. drive spikes into softwood railway ties.
 
The competitors, three women and eight men, each used a 4.5-kg hammer called a spike maul to strike the spikes, which have a contact point the size of a dime.
 
"Our employees actually do this on a day-to-day basis," said CP spokeswoman Salem Woodrow.
 
"They actually travel to repair the tracks using this technique."
 
The finalists who competed in Calgary Sunday were winners of regional "spike offs".
 
Samantha Briley of Ontario took to top women's spot after pounding in two spikes in 34.18 seconds.
 
In the men's division, which sees competitors hit three spikes each, the top time was snagged by Brian Jones of Manitoba with 20.69 seconds.
 
Jenna McMurray.