I recently read the book "Canadian National Steam Power", written by Anthony Clegg and Ray Corley. This book was an authoritative work on CN's steam locomotives. It was written in 1969 and is a little dated, perhaps. I am not a steam locomotive expert by any means, but it was an interesting read.
The book starts with a brief history of CN, especially of its major founding railways - the Canadian Government Railways, the Grand Trunk Railway and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the Canadian Northern Railway, and the Central Vermont Railway. All of these railways eventually became part of the Canadian National Railways, which became today's CN.
There was a lot of discussion about renumbering of locomotives as the railways merged together, along with different classes of steam locomotives and retirement of old locomotives as the CNR came into being.
Other, smaller, railways were also merged into the CNR, such as the Kent Northern in New Brunswick and the Inverness Railway in Nova Scotia.
There is a tremendous amount of data in this book. As I said, I'm not a steam fan, but I think it would be a great resource for those who enjoy steam locomotives.
I enjoyed reading the first half of the book, with the details on the history of the CNR and the steam locomotives that were acquired by the CNR both before and after it was formed.
The data section left me a little cold, but at the risk of repeating myself, I'm not a steam fan.
PS - you could instead buy Canadian National Steam! by Donald R. McQueen, which is based on this book based on Clegg and Corley's original book. There are also eight roster books that follow on to that book.
Schaerbeek train station - Train World - Brussels, Belgium
In February I visited Train World outside Brussels. This is a new museum dedicated to the history of trains in Belgium. It is located in the grand old train station in the municipality of Schaerbeek in the Brussels capital region.
Getting There
To get there, I took this train from the Brussels Centraal station to Schaerbeek - another Siemens Desiro ML trainset.
Train at Schaerbeek
Another train zoomed past while I was on the station platform. It's a busy spot, as you'll see later.
So many trains!
I walked over to the museum building by going down the stairs to the tunnel under the platforms. In Belgium it is quite common to have a tunnel under the platforms so people can switch platforms without crossing tracks, as it would be very dangerous to cross the tracks and it is strictly forbidden.
Schaerbeek is a tram stop and there were plenty of trams around.
Trams at Schaerbeek, Belgium
These are Bombardier T3000 "Cityrunner" Flexity Outlook vehicles. Each of these 5 segment vehicles can seat 54 people (total capacity 184) and can reach a maximum speed of 70 km/hr, although I think that's unlikely in normal use.
The interior of the station is large and airy, filled with freestanding model cases and some art areas for kids. The models include early Belgian locomotives and train stations. Along the back is a large enclosed area - probably an old ticket counter - that contains various collections including ticket punches, railway uniforms, and even old computers.
Belgian railway uniforms
That was interesting, but frankly I was getting a little disappointed that this was all there was. I had expected more.
I followed a few other people out the back door and found myself behind the station, where there was an old passenger car and a steam crane / "stoomkraan" / "grue a vapeur" named Juliette. The builder's plate said it was made by the Craven Brothers in Manchester, England in 1912 and was a 35 ton crane.
Back of Schaerbeek train station / Train World with steam crane
Those European couplers and buffers are so different than the North American version.
Couplers and buffers
There was a path along the back that I followed, which led to a large, modern looking building. This is what was inside:
Belgian steam engines!
OK, so there was more than I initially saw! This was good.
Belgian Steam Engines
These were early Belgian steam engines, from 1844 through 1905. Note the one closest to the camera has no cab at all; the engineer stood on a platform behind the boiler. That must have been exciting!
Type 51 steam engine, 1880.
0-6-0 tank engine.
Max speed 45 km/hr
How about a little detour into the history of railways in Belgium? Sure!
The Belgian state was involved in railway development very early on, right after the Belgian Revolution in 1830 where Belgium split from the Netherlands. The first steam passenger railway in continental Europe was built between Mons and Antwerp (through Brussels) in 1835. A Liège-Ostend followed.
Several private railways did spring up afterward, but by 1912, 94% of the railway mileage in Belgium was owned by the state. By 1958 Belgian railways were fully owned by the state.
Steam locomotives and railway design was initially heavily influenced by British designs. Belgium operated with steam power for many years, until electrification of the lines began in 1935.
Today the vast majority of Belgian railway mileage is electrified, with diesel-electric locomotives operating as switchers in yards and powering maintenance trains.
Here's an overhead photo that I took on my way out. One of the nice things about this museum is that you get overhead views of most of the collection.
Steam it up!
Transition
Builders plates
After the first steam engine gallery, I walked through a display of railway clocks and a room with a "grab bag" of railway signals, signs and other miscellaneous railway items. I liked the clocks a lot.
Railway clocks at Train World
Steam and Trams
Type 12 "Atlantic" steam engine 12004 at Train World in Belgium
This was impressive.
The second large gallery contained several early self-propelled passenger cars, and this impressive green steam engine.
12004 is an SNCB Type 12 locomotive, built for fast boat trains between Brussels and Ostend. They were inspired by the Canadian Pacific Railway 4-4-4 "Jubilee" locomotives and were fully streamlined, except for openings to access valve gear and other items. These locomotives were capable of speeds up to 140 km/hr (87 MPH) and must have been quite a sight speeding along the rails.
There were a few early passenger cars here, as well as a mail / express car. Check out the interior of this self-propelled car. The seats look beautiful but probably weren't all that comfortable!
Interior of passenger vehicle at Train World
The controls for this vehicle don't seem to be very complicated.
Not a lot of controls on this vehicle!
I liked this electric tram. I think it's a "Motorwagen Type 551"
Electric tram in Train World in Belgium
The Semi-Modern Era
Series 64 locomotive at Train World
The next (and final) gallery contained several relatively modern pieces of railway rolling stock. I really liked this series 64 locomotive. You could go into the spartan cab and look around, and also walk underneath the locomotive to see it from below.
One thing I didn't realize is that the engineer sits on the left side of the cab. In North America, the engineer sits on the right side, and the conductor sits on the left. Before you ask, Belgians drive on the same side of the road as we do in North America.
View from the cab
The above photo shows the view from the cab of the locomotive. There are several passenger cars and another locomotive in the same gallery. There's another level above with various displays and nice views of the equipment from overhead. This gallery has direct track access to outside.
I really liked this little piece of equipment:
It's like a self-propelled caboose
The sign said this is a "Lorrie Type 7" / "Draisine Type 7" from 1949, capable of 40 km/hr. The word "Draisine" is used to refer to auxiliary human or engine powered machines used to transport rail workers. In North America these would include velocipedes, hand cars, and speeders. This little guy looks like a caboose - with a lot of windows - but it has its own engine.
As I mentioned, there are several passenger cars in this gallery. One is from the Trans Europ Express (TEE) (not Trans-Europe Express, the song by electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk).
This was a first-class train service that covered most of Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, before being replaced by more localized train that also offered second-class service.
There's a Canadian connection here, as a couple of former TEE trainsets came to North America in the early 1980s. Eric Gagnon has some information here.
Also in this gallery are two royal carriages. I peeked in the windows and they look very nice inside, but they are not open for tourists. Hopefully they will be opened up at some point!
At the end of this gallery, visitors climb up a few levels to an overhead walkway that takes them back through all the exhibits, from above. Great views abound!
Along the way, there is a train simulator! I would have liked to have tried it but there were a few families using it, so I kept going.
Finishing Up
There is a gift shop at the end of the museum, featuring the usual collection of train toys and books. Here the books were in Dutch or French, so they were of limited use to me! I didn't buy anything.
I really enjoyed my visit there and I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in trains. It's also a great destination for families to spend a couple of hours exploring.
Once I wrapped up, I went to the train platform to catch my train back to the Centraal station in Brussels. Alas, I missed my train, so I had to spend most of an hour waiting... which was great for railfanning! That's in my next post.
My wife and I visited the Revelstoke Railway Museum last September... on my birthday, in fact. It had been on my "bucket list" and a visit here was a key piece of my big birthday trip.
We visited the inside of the museum first - featuring steam locomotive CP 5468 and CPR business car #4 - and then toured the outdoor rolling stock before returning to the inside and the gift shop.
CP 5468
Overhead view of CP 5468
The star of the show is CP 5468, a 2-8-2 Mikado steam locomotive. The museum's main building is practically built around this locomotive, with lots of room around it for viewing plus a second level "balcony" so you can see it from any angle.
CP 5468 was built in 1948 by the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). The locomotive weighs 124 tons (without tender). This beast is 89' long and is 15' 6" high at the smokestack.
This locomotive was displayed at the Canadian Railway Museum (Exporail) in Delson, Quebec from 1963 to 1992. It came to Revelstoke in 1993 and is, I believe, still owned by Exporail.
I guess, technically, it is owned by the Canadian Railroad Historical Association (CRHA), which owns and operates Exporail.
Speaking of the CRHA, the Revelstoke Railway Museum was founded by the Selkirk Division of the CRHA. The Division was formed in 1986 and looked at Revelstoke as a home for a museum because of its rich railway history and proximity to Craigellachie, where the "last spike" was driven on the CPR.
With the support of the city, who donated the land, and local businesses, who donated material and time, the volunteers of the CRHA worked to build the museum.
Two volunteers, Ernie Ottewell and Fred Olsson, went to Delson to prepare CP 5468 for travel to Revelstoke. It left on September 29, 1991 but developed an issue with a rear wheel that forced the locomotive to stay in Ontario over the winter.
Construction started on the main building in 1992 and opened to the public in 1993. CP 5468 arrived and was cleaned and polished up for display as the centerpiece of the collection.
But there's plenty more to see beyond the steam engine!
Business Car #4
Business car #4
CPR business car #4 is on display beside the steam engine. This car is partially restored inside with a nice set of table settings.
This car was built in 1931, I believe, and went through several name changes and makeovers. It spent 10 years as the "River Humber" before being refitted as "Cape Humber" in 1941, then "Cape Ray" in 1946, and Official Business Car #4 in 1963 before being retired in October 1992.
Railways sure like to squeeze the last bit of use out of everything!
I'm not sure what this car is being restored back to... it started as a buffet-solarium lounge car, which is quite different than what it is now.
Up Top
Upper level of the Revelstoke Railway Museum
The upper level of the museum is a mezzanine floor, basically a balcony that goes around the building. It gives a lot of great views of the top of the steam locomotive, and there are displays along the walls and in the aisle. You can see several station signs and many photos on the wall in my photo above.
One end of the second level features a model train layout operated by the Revelstoke Model Railway Club.
Part of the Revelstoke Model Railway layout
This railway depicts portions of the CP Revelstoke subdivision, with an emphasis on the portion from Revelstoke east to Rogers Pass.
The Outside Collection
Outside the Revelstoke Railway Museum
There is a large collection of rolling stock on the south side of the museum. These cars are either maintenance-of-way (MOW) or freight cars, plus one diesel locomotive - CP 5500.
Snow plow CP 401027 in Revelstoke, BC
Track 1
One track has caboose CP 437477, flat car CP 421237, service car CP 404116, flanger CP 400573, Jordan spreader CP 402811, and plow CP 401027. You can go inside CP 401027, which is nice if a bit spartan.
Inside snow plow CP 401027
Track 2
Outside braced box car CP 184254
The second track is short and only has 3 cars - an unnumbered steel box car, beautifully restored outside braced wooden boxcar CP 184254, and a newly painted but unnumbered baggage car.
Baggage car in Revelstoke
Track 3
Freight cars at the Revelstoke Railway Museum
The third (back) track has a collection of freight cars, with a double track snow plow on one end and a diesel locomotive at the other. Multimarks abound!
The double track plow, CP 400823, is quite interesting. These are pretty rare in comparison to the more common wedge plow.
Double track plow CP 400823 in Revelstoke
These plows were designed to deposit all plowed snow only on one side. This allowed them to plow double track (two parallel tracks) and sidings, without dumping half the snow on the adjacent rails.
I don't know how well they really worked. If you were plowing double track with only one plow, you'd have to plow one track, dumping the snow onto the other track; then back up and do the other track. Like most plows, this has an extendable "wing" to help direct the snow farther away from the plowed track, so maybe they could avoid putting too much snow on the adjacent track.
Behind the plow is a graffiti covered boxcar with a very small door - not sure why - with CP script under the graffit. Next is CP tank car 400126, followed by steel boxcar CP 401607 proudly bearing a multimark, then coal car CP 353119 and this car, a former steam generator car converted to a robot car.
Steam generator / robot car in Revelstoke
I've never seen a CP steam generator car. These cars contained steam boilers (with water tanks) to provide steam for heating passenger cars.
GENERATOR CAR
With the advent of electric heat on board trains, they became obsolete and were retired or repurposed. This one was indeed repurposed into a "robot car".
Robot cars held the radio equipment that allowed the engineer in the lead locomotive to remotely control other locomotives farther back in the train. No special equipment was required in the other locomotives - they were connected to the adjacent robot car, which looked like another locomotive to them and was able to control them with the "MU" (multiple-unit) cabling standard on almost all locomotives.
Today the radio equipment is built into most locomotives and robot cars aren't required.
CP 5500
CP 5500
Locomotive CP 5500 is an important piece of the collection, in my opinion. This locomotive is an SD40, built by General Motors' Diesel Division (GMD) in London, Ontario. This unit was the first SD40 built by GMD, in 1966.
The SD40, and later model SD40-2, was the most common diesel locomotive on Canadian Pacific for many years. In the past ten or fifteen years, they have been displaced by more modern power and many of these locomotives have been retired or rebuilt into "ECO" units. There are only a few SD40-2 units still operating on CP today.
DRF-30A2 = Diesel Road Freight - 3000 horsepower
CP 5500 was rebuilt to SD40-2 specifications during its lifetime. It was retired in 2001 and donated by CP to the museum on August 17, 2007. The museum intends to repaint it to its original paint scheme, maroon and grey with "script" lettering.
Good old Dofasco trucks
There are lots of SD40-2 units working industrial jobs at grain elevators and other locations, but they will dwindle in number over the years. I'm glad the museum has this unit.
I liked this high-rail truck!
CP Rail System - high-rail truck
Interpretive Displays
Interpretive displays
I've been a total railfan and focused on the rolling stock first. There are a lot of interpretive displays in the museum, and they are very professional and well done. The displays are focused on the area around Revelstoke, as they should be.
I really liked this "drumhead" display, showing some of the signs displayed at the ends of CP passenger trains.
Drumheads
Diesel Simulator
Diesel simulator
Another of the many highlights of the museum is the diesel simulator. For a toonie ($2), you can drive a locomotive through the Rockies using a real locomotive control stand.
This was a lot of fun. The screens show the "view" and you can apply brakes or throttle as indicated to take your train out on the main line, and take a short drive before bringing it to a safe stop.
Keep your eyes on the road, man!
Well worth two bucks.
Gift Shop
The museum has a well-stocked gift shop. I bought a few BRMNA books.
I really enjoyed our visit to the Revelstoke Railway Museum. This is a first class facility and well worth a few hours.
Outside the Revelstoke Railway Museum
I visited this museum during my 50th birthday tour... read on!
The only sound Is like a diesel’s distant thundering I’m a desolate town With a railroad station where my heart should be - Stephen Fearing, "The Station"
We started the third day of my 50th birthday trip in Cranbrook, British Columbia. My original plan was to travel from Cranbrook to Craigellachie via Golden, and spend the night at the impressive hotel in Three Valley Gap. However, in our research, my wife and I discovered that the hotel didn't have wifi and had a few other things we didn't like, so I ended up booking a hotel in Sicamous, BC. Anyway, let's go. Another long post.
Finishing Up Cranbrook
Before we left Cranbrook, I wanted to photograph the former Elko, BC station as well as the A-B set of CP 4090 and CP 4469. These are all on display just outside the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel in Cranbrook, on the original location of the museum. I didn't have time to do that the previous evening as we rushed to Creston to photograph the grain elevators before darkness fell.
Former Elko train station in Cranbrook, BC
The train station was built in Elko in 1901. It was moved to Cranbrook in 1987 and heavily rebuilt inside. It's now home to Phoenix Antiques.
Next to the train station is the former Cranbrook CPR water tower. This beautiful old tower looks pretty good!
Let's turn now to the stars of the display, CP 4090 and CP 4469.
CP 4090 is an MLW FA-2 locomotive, and CP 4469 an MLW FB-2 locomotive, both built in 1953. These first generation diesel-electric locomotives had 1600 horsepower each under the hood. The two are similar mechanically except that 4090 has a cab for the crew and 4469 does not. That's why 4090 is called an "A" unit and 4469 is called a "B" unit. These locomotives were built as freight engines and do not have steam generators, although they do have steam lines to "pass through" steam.
They both served in the western region for a few years but proved unsuitable for the mountains, and were redeployed to Ontario.
At one point both locomotives were repainted into CP Action Red with a small multimark at the rear of the car body.
They served until 1977, and were retained by CP for historical purposes. The museum acquired them and moved them to Cranbrook in 1992.
They sat by the former Elko station in primer paint for a number of years until they were restored as a project of the local Rotary Club in 2015.
There was a train in Cranbrook when we were there, headed by CP 8719 and CEFX 1041, with CSX 3043 on the tail end.
I think that building is owned by CP but I don't know its function.
So that was Cranbrook.
Fort Steele
Water tank in Fort Steele
We headed out of Cranbrook on highway 95 en route to Craigellachie. Fort Steele is not far out of Cranbrook and is where the north-south Windermere subdivision meets the east-west Cranbrook subdivision.
It's also the home of the Fort Steele Heritage Town, a historic park / museum providing a glimpse of life in the past. One of the attractions is a steam train, led by locomotive 1077 and featuring some classic railway cars.
I knew the train had ceased running for the season, but I was hoping that I could wander over and take a few photos. We waited a few minutes until the park opened at 10. I went into the ticket office and asked if I could take some photos, and the woman there said it was OK.
However, there was a locked fence around the train loop and I didn't want to go over it. It was pretty clear that they didn't want people wandering around, so I took a few photos from the good side of the fence with my long lens and left it at that.
1077, a plow and ST. MARY RIVER and KOOTENAY RIVER open air cars
The star of the show is #1077, an MLW 2-6-2 steam locomotive built in 1923. This locomotive worked in logging service on Vancouver Island until its retirement in the early 1960s. It was moved to Fort Steele in 1989 and has been working here since 1992.
On display by the station is a compressed air locomotive, quite a unique piece of kit.
A compressed air locomotive
As I was taking photos, I heard a train roll by on the nearby CP Windermere subdivision.
We ended up passing a CP wayfreight as we drove north along highway 95. I didn't stop but I saw it had a couple of ECO units and a lot of lumber loads.
I wasn't really expecting a lot of railway action on this line. My intent was to get to Craigellachie and that was about it.
Invermere
CP 5018 in Invermere, BC
We stopped in the lovely town of Invermere for a little shopping and a little railfanning. Well, we stopped for the shopping and happened to notice a train stopped in town.
CP 5018 and 2287 were idling away down by the river. You can see in the photo above that a railfan was waiting patiently down there with his camera on a tripod. In fact, here's his video of the same train!
You might have to do a little fast-forwarding..
After I took a few photos, we went and visited the shops. It's a lovely town to visit. Stop in at the Invermere Bakery for a nibble!
Spillimacheen
Well over an hour later, we were continuing north along highway 95 just north of Spillimacheen when we saw a southbound coal train, led by CP 8909.
Pretty dull light, I'd say
I performed a quick U turn and caught up to them as they passed the sign 1 mile out from Spillimacheen.
Spilli.. Spilli... spill a machine?
I decided to chase them a bit more, as they were going pretty darn slow (that's a railway term ;). I liked how this one turned out:
On the down low
And.. what the heck, I chased one more time and caught them coming through "town" with a telephoto shot, for variety.
Going long
I waited here while they rolled on by, photographing all four locomotives... CP 8909 and 8577 on the head end, CP 8764 in the middle, and CP 8920 on the rear.
Push push
A track foreman in a CP high-rail truck was patiently waiting for me to get the heck out of the way. Thanks for being patient!
That train was unexpected. I was pleased to catch a "real" train on the road.
Off we went.
Castledale
17 minutes later, I was on the side of the road, photographing another coal train.
CP 8901 somewhere around Castledale
I'm not entirely sure where we were, but let's say it was around Castledale.
The train was stopped. I took a number of photos from the road, but I didn't linger long because it was raining and I feared my wife might be losing patience with my railfanning.
I did try a little rain reflection photography, if that's a thing.
Coal cars in the rain
CP 8901 was on the head end, with CP 8928 in the middle and CP 8935 on the tail end.
Golden
Soon we arrived at Golden. There is a large yard in Golden and that's the first thing you see as you approach the town. I immediately noticed two multimark SD40-2 units working in the yard and took this (blurry) photo of them.
All hail the multimark!
CP 5973 and 5875 were working with CP 9604 in the yard.
We stopped in Golden for a little walk and a quick snack - at a 7/11 I think - then we kept heading west toward Craigellachie. We were coming back to Golden the next day so there was no need to linger.
British Columbia is twinning a lot of the Trans-Canada Highway between Kamloops and the Alberta border. We got caught in some of that construction work and were literally parked on the TCH for about 45 minutes.
Trans-Canada Parking Lot
I think they were blasting rock off the mountain, so that takes time to ensure it's safe after the blasting. We ran into the same thing the next day, but we could actually see the blasting that day.
We passed by Three Valley Gap but didn't stop, except to take a quick photo across the water. Onward to Craigellachie!
Craigellachie
Last spike at Craigellachie
What can you say about Craigellachie? It has enormous historical significance as the location of the Last Spike ceremony for Canada's first transcontinental railway. On November 7, 1885, CPR financier Donald Smith drove an iron spike into a tie to signify the completion of the railway. The spike was badly bent, so roadmaster Frank Brothers pulled it out and Mr. Smith drove another "last spike" in successfully. This one was also extracted to prevent its theft, and yet another ordinary iron spike was driven in and left there.
The site does a good job of commemorating the location and its significance. There are several displays and memorials, and a little "station" / gift shop (which was closed). There was a small but steady stream of tourists wandering around. I took some photos and remarked to my wife that it would be nice if CP sent along a train while we were there...
CP 8556 at Craigellachie
Apparently since it was (almost) my birthday, CP gave me a gift of a train... CP 8556 East came blasting by in the near dark, with CP 8531 trailing and CP 9707 as a mid-train DPU.
The Craigellachie "station" and a passing train
They have a piece of track on display... presumably for photos and to keep people from stepping onto the real track and getting killed. Maybe they have spike driving photos here when the store is open?
Track to nowhere
The famous group photo is on display here as well.
Zoom zoom
Of all the angles I shot while the train went by, I like the next one the most.
The Last Spike
Note the caboose on display in the background. This is labelled as CP 437336, and my Trackside Guide says it was a tourist information booth. It seems very out of place and not part of the display at all.
So that was Craigellachie. Another one off the "bucket list".
Check out Rick Mercer's piece on Craigellachie, including a train ride!
Malakwa
We drove along in the near dark toward Sicamous.. but unfortunately for my wife, I saw a train in a siding and had to stop. I had no real idea where this was, but a little investigation shows the train was in the Malakwa siding (mile 31.9 of the CP Shuswap subdivision).
CP 9367 in the Malakwa siding
You'll notice the train overtaking CP 9367.
I hardly ever shoot with a tripod, but here I made an exception, as this was 7:50 PM and the sun was long gone. I was shooting with my long lens (70-200mm) at 1/15s with the lens wide open (f/4.0), although I was still using ISO 100 to keep the noise down.
I left this one uncropped and mostly unprocessed so you get an idea of how far away I was, and how much light was available.
Overtaking
CP 8822 pulled up beside CP 9367 and stopped.
CP 8822 and 9367 side by side
The doors opened and some crew went back and forth between locomotives. I don't know what was going on here but my guess is that CP 9367's crew ran out of time and 8822 brought a new crew to replace them. Just a guess.
Time for a crew change?
Once they were finished with that, CP 8822 carried on westward.
One quick pan...
CP 8822 at the crossing
CP 8948 was the trailing unit. But wait.. what's that behind 8948?
Long live the Pool!
SMW 850776 is a former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool car. Nice to see another one of those still around!
Sicamous
We finally made Sicamous after a long day of travelling. I'm pretty sure my wife was sic-a-railfanning by this point but she was a trooper and didn't complain. Love that woman.
We checked into the Sicamous Best Western (yay for a free stay using points!) and went for supper at Grandma's and Grandpa's. The food was great but our waitress was a little too perky. Maybe we were just tired after a long day of travel.
Another successful day.
The plan for day 4 was to travel from Sicamous to Golden, stopping at Three Valley Gap and the Revelstoke Railway Museum en route. On a map, it's not a long distance, but I wanted to have lots of time to spend at the museum and of course see a train or two if possible.
