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Fall
2004
Canadian
Pacific Railway Employee Communications
Room 500 401-9th Ave S.W. Calgary AB T2P
4Z4
Partners: Past,
Present & Future
Hostesses in
period dress greeted the guests at the Gala Dinner on the night before the official
opening of the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel.
What do you say about relationships that have
lasted more than one hundred years and are still going strong? If you're an innocent
bystander, "congratulations" seems about right; but if you're one of the
partners in question, you probably want to be a little more outspoken in your
expressions of thanks and goodwill for the future.
Just such an opportunity presented itself in British Columbia one weekend this
summer, when an official museum opening in Cranbrook and a rededication of a public
square in Fernie afforded those two prosperous towns in the East Kootenays the
chance to reaffirm their mutually beneficial relationship with the CPR. And vice
versa.
"It's a heritage that deserves commemoration", says the web site of
Cranbrook's Canadian Museum of Rail Travel. "Cranbrook began in 1898 because
of the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway, whose yard complex is still located
in the heart of town". And commemorate it they have, with great style.
"The museum is preserving an important part of the Canadian railway heritage
story - through the eyes of the CPR", said Garry Anderson, executive director
of this showcase tourist destination that now doubles as, in Garry's words,
"Canadian Pacific Railway Pavilion West".
Tours of our Royal Canadian Pacific luxury rail cruises frequently
visit the museum, to the delight of those onboard. "Guests on the RCP are
always surprised and impressed with their visit to the Canadian Museum of Rail
Travel", said Don Heron, director of passenger rail for CPR. "These folks
are typically very well-travelled and they recognize it as being a
world-class museum. I am always proud to escort our guests here".
What's not to like? "We have our own entrance beside the track", says
Don, "and the prominent Royal Canadian Pacific stencil on the
door, along with the large decorative maps on the walls of the museum, remind
visitors that CPR is proud to play a role in Cranbrook".
Appropriately enough, CPR's steam train, headed by locomotive 2816 - or "CPR
Empress", as it's known in many a railway community across the system, brought
excursionists into town for the grand opening of the museum at its new location on
Van Horne Street in downtown Cranbrook.
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Mayor Randal Macnair, Mike Tomney
of the Fernie Arts Station, and CPR Vice-president Paul Clark
unveiled Canadian Pacific Station Square in Fernie.
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And it was CPR Empress that steamed triumphantly into Fernie two days later to pay
its respects to another valued partner.
"CPR is proud of its history in the Fernie area", said Paul Clark, CPR
vice-president of communications & public affairs, as he took the
stage alongside the town's mayor Randal Macnair. "CPR and Fernie have a linkage
that encompasses the past, the present, and the future. We were instrumental in the
creation of the community and the opening of the coal mines, and we are pleased to
play a part in its on-going development with the redevelopment of
Canadian Pacific Square. Together we will move into the future as rail in this area
enters a new era with the transportation of grain, potash, and merchandise in and
out of the northwest U.S. through this vibrant community.
CPR historian Jonathan Hanna will be working with Fernie to restore the CPR
passenger station - the center piece of the rededicated square - to its original
turn-of-the-20th-century look.
"We thank the Canadian Pacific Railway for its continued support of the
community of Fernie", said Mayor Macnair, to the cheers and applause of the
healthy crowd in attendance at the early afternoon ceremony and a piercing blast of
the steam whistle from CPR Empress.
This CP Rail News article is copyright 2005 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.
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