Dusk at Gulf Canada Square
Canadian Pacific locomotive
number 29 at Gulf Canada Square in Calgary, Alberta - 28 May 2009 William
Slim.
Calgary Alberta -
Frozen in time No. 29 is lit by one small light at dusk as traffic whizzes past on the street.
The locomotive rests outside Canadian Pacific's corporate headquarters in Gulf Canada Square, Calgary,
Alberta.
CPR donated this locomotive to the Canadian Railroad Historical Association in 1963. It was first
displayed at the association's Canadian Railway Museum at Saint-Constant, Quebec.
In 1983, the locomotive made the long trip east to the Canadian Railroad Historical Association's
New Brunswick museum and tourist operation, the Salem and Hillsborough Railway (S&H), in
Hillsborough, New Brunswick. There, CP 29 was displayed and operated for a short time on excursion
trains. In September 1987, S&H staff fired up locomotive 29 under a full head of steam to
commemorate its 100th anniversary. Number 29 was last operated in 1989.
Tragedy struck in September 1994 when a deliberately-set fire at the museum's storage
warehouse, alongside No. 29, left the locomotive a burned-out hulk. The Canadian Railroad Historical
Association leased the locomotive back to Canadian Pacific Railway which shipped it 3,300 km
(2,050 miles) west, in the summer of 1996, to CPR's Weston Shops in Winnipeg.
There shop employees meticulously restored the locomotive to its former glory in time for the
1,340 km (840 mile) trip west to Calgary to be displayed proudly in the Canadian Pacific Railway
station garden. On 8 Sep 1996 Hon. Ralph Klein, Premier of Alberta, Calgary Mayor
Al Duerr, and Robert J. Ritchie, President and CEO, Canadian Pacific Railway,
re-dedicated No. 29 at the official opening of Canadian Pacific Railway's new
headquarters.
|
|
