More of "Empress" - CPR 2816

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MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Oct 31, 2002
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Ottawa, Canada
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Here are a few shots taken at Bedell and Smiths Falls CPR yard when Empress was on her return from Montreal to Toronto.

(I am also trying out externally linked photos, so please bear with me if there are technical difficulties...)

Approaching Bedell under full steam doing at least 40mph. It was eerie to hear the steam whistle - a very different sound than an air horn!

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Blasting through Bedell to the delight of about 5 or 6 of us who skipped work that day ;)

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And then she was gone...

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Andrew
 
No such luck - we don't subscribe to the history channel.

Did see a video (borrowed from local club) about "South Simcoe Steam". They were running CPR 136 in 1992 excursion service. She was built in 1883!!! I don't know if she runs today, but what an engine!

I also saw a really interesting National Geographic show on PBS on the end of steam for India's National Railways. Very sad show, but interesting. I talked to my grandfather a bit about it, and he spent a lot of time on the trains in India in WW2, including some of the trains I saw on the show.

The stats were incredible - 1.6 million EMPLOYEES, moving over 12 million passengers PER DAY!!! Holy moly! And really interesting "human" side to the company - railway widows (whose husbands were killed or died (even by suicide) while employed by the railway) are given jobs for life.

Sadly, most of the steamers were purchased for scrap, but a few examples were retained, including the Daarjeeling tea train, a tiny tea kettle of a loco running on 2 foot gauge up 4 or 5% slopes into the mountains. There is a 5 man crew for the tiny tank engine - driver, fireman, coal breaker (who sits on top of the engine smashing big lumps of coal into little lumps) and two sanders - they scoop sand out of buckets and throw it on the rails for traction...!

Very cool show...

Andrew
 
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