Ex-Canadian Pacific Railway 2-8-0 Consolidation class N2b number 3716 - Date/Photographer unknown.

7 October 2012

Summerland Heritage Train Steaming Hot on 100th Birthday

Summerland British Columbia - The railway workers call it history in motion.
 
Visitors are flocking to Summerland, B.C., for a ride on a tourist train powered by a steam locomotive that turns 100-years-old this year.
 
The 3716 was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in November 1912 at Montreal Locomotive Works.
 
Ron Restrick, general manager of the Kettle Valley Steam Railway, says it has played an important role in the Okanagan and Kootenay regions.
 
The train hauled everything from lumber to agricultural goods, just about anything that could be placed into a boxcar, or onto a flatcar.
 
Visitors were welcomed to rides in the train on Saturday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Prairie Valley Station as part of the Spirit of Summerland Centennial Celebration.
 
"It's a multi-dimensional experience," Restrick said.
 
"It was a workhorse because of the location and the trackage," he added. "The 3716 was built for power, not speed."
 
The locomotive has undergone two restorations.
 
The first was in the 1970s, after which it was used as a museum train for the province of B.C.
 
For 21 years, it was the backup locomotive to the Royal Hudson 2860, on B.C. Rail's Hudson excursions from Vancouver to Squamish, B.C.
 
In the mid-1990s, the train was pulled off-line. But in 2001, the Kettle Valley Steam Railway successfully bid for the chance to restore and operate the locomotive.
 
In 2003 there was a second restoration. Two years later, the steam engine was back on track.
 
Its first run was on 22 May 2005. The 3716 has been steaming up the tracks ever since, pulling the cars for train rides at various times in the spring, summer, and fall, including special rides during holidays.
 
Scott Trudeau.