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25 May 2004
Empress 2816 Steams Home to Support the Club des Petits Dejeuners Du Quebec

Montreal - After a 44-year absence dating back to 26 May 1960, CPR Empress 2816 is returning home to Montreal. The Empress is one of 48 surviving steam engines from a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) roster that originally featured 3,257 locomotives, and one of only a handful still in working condition. The Empress will arrive in Montreal at the head of a CPR Royal Canadian Pacific passenger train which left Vancouver 10 May 2004.
 
To mark this major event, the general public will be invited to board a heritage train pulled by locomotive 2816 on Sunday, 30 May 2004. The train will make four round trips in the morning between Lucien-L'Allier Station (commuter train terminal) and Montreal West Station. In the afternoon (departure at 15:30), the train will travel to Ste. Therese Station, in the Basses-Laurentides.
 
Departure times for the morning's operations will be at 07:30, 09:00, 10:30 and 12:00 and tickets will go on sale at Lucien-L'Allier Station starting at 06:30 at a cost of $10 per person for the round-trip shuttles. First come, first served.
 
Tickets for the return trip to Ste. Therese will be sold at the following number: 514-395-5442, credit card sales only. All proceeds from these events will be handed over to the Club des petits dejeuners du Quebec.
 
In addition, between 13:00 and 14:30 p.m. at Lucien-L'Allier Station, the public will be able to admire the vintage locomotive free of charge as well as purchase souvenirs.
 
For this event, the Agence metropolitaine de transport (AMT) will loan three 800-series passenger cars to accompany Empress 2816 on its trek. All three cars were regularly pulled by the locomotive before it ended its CPR career on the West Island commuter run in May 1960.
 
Locomotive 2816 will arrive at Montreal's Lucien-L'Allier Station on 29 May 2004 and remain in the city until 11 June 2004. During this period, locomotive 2816 will travel to Exporail on Thursday, 10 Jun 2004 to help promote the re-opening of the Canadian Railway Museum in St. Constant, scheduled to take place at the end of June. Information pertaining to this event can be obtained by contacting directly the Museum at (450) 638-1522.
 
Built in December 1930 by Montreal Locomotive Works, locomotive 2816 at a cost of $116,555 CPR Empress was a coal-fired, Hudson Class (H1b) locomotive with a 4-6-4 wheel arrangement, which could maintain an average speed of 113 km/hr. (70 mph). Over its career, the steam locomotive logged more than 3 million kilometres (over 2 million miles) in active service for the CPR. Although designed primarily for passenger service, locomotive 2816 also hauled fast freights for more than half of its 30-year operating life.
 
On 6 Nov 1960, shortly after the end of the steam era, 2816 was stored at Glen Yard for conversion to a stationary boiler.
 
After being on display for more than 40 years in various rail museums in the US, locomotive 2816 and its tender were returned to their original owner, the CPR, in September 1998. In 2001, Empress 2816 re-entered active service.
 
Today, locomotive 2816 is the CPR's roving ambassador for special assignments, charitable events and public relations or community relations activities held as part of the company's Community Connect program.