Last Thursday nite, I pulled into the railyard at Bensenville Il to load up a trailer with flour for delivery the next day. As I pulled into the yard, there was a line of historic passenger oaches parked on one of the tracks, all painted orange. I recognized the cars as belonging to a group out of Milwaukee that operates a steam locomotive, the former Milwaukee Road 261. They also lease the cars out to other steam engine groups, so I went up to the front to see what was pulling the train.
There sat Canadian Pacific steam locomotive 2816, "The Empress", which is a 1930 model built by the Canadian Locomotive Works. She remained in service until 1959, and a few years back was pulled out and refurbished for use as a goodwill ambassador pulling excursion trains. With a weight of 366,000 pounds, and 75" tall drive wheels, you have to get up close to one of these to realize just how massive a piece of metal it is.
Right now, the train is on a tour of the midwest, starting on Aug 17 and wrapping up on 22 Sep. This weekend they are doing day excursions from Chicago up to Milwaukee and back.
http://www.freewebs.com/steamfans/cp2816.htm
A Big Hunk Of Hot Canadian Steel
Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Burky, Sep 3, 2007.
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Thanks, Burky, for posting this! I grew up very close to railroad tracks and we used to love when the occasional steamer came through. The steamers are, obviously, now gone from our tracks... as are the passenger trains (on which my father often commuted to the city)... but we still have freighters and coal drags traveling the rails. The old railroad station is still there, converted into a small business, and there is still a core of local folks who will spend a lazy afternoon or evening sitting by the station just watching the trains pass by.
(I remember as kids, we were forbidden to go down the embankment to the tracks... but whenever my brother would find 1944 pennies -- 1944 being his year of birth -- he would sneak down and lay them on the rails. After the train would pass, he'd go down and gather his pennies -- all with a sharp crease in them. We had a whole collection of them!
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