CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific Kansas City will launch the “Final Spike Anniversary Steam Tour,” featuring 4-6-4 No. 2816 on a Canada-to-Mexico trip to celebrate last year’s Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, on April 24 at its headquarters in Calgary.
A total of 11 stops are planned for the tour, concluding June 4 in Mexico City.
“Our combination on April 14, 2023, brought together two railroads with long and proud histories that together created the first and only railroad network connecting North America,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said in a press release. “This special cross-continental journey of the 2816 steam locomotive serves as a reminder of our past and a celebration of our future. We are excited to share this extraordinary experience with communities across our network as we mark the one-year anniversary of our CPKC journey. The Final Spike Anniversary Steam Tour will be the first ever steam-powered passenger train in North America to traverse Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in a single trip.”
Intermediate stops are scheduled for:
— Moose Jaw, Sask., April 28;
— Minot, N.D., April 30;
— St. Paul, Minn.; May 3;
— Franklin Park, Ill.; May 8;
— Davenport, Iowa, May 10;
— Kansas City, Mo; May 18;
— Shreveport, La.; May 24;
— Laredo, Texas, May 28;
— Monterrey, Mexico, May 31.
Steam tour events in Moose Jaw, Minot, St. Paul, Franklin Park, Davenport, Shreveport, and Laredo will include opportunities for the public to get an up-close look at the locomotive built in 1930 by Montreal Locomotive Works, learn more about the locomotive and CPKC’s history, and see the Puffer Belly Express, a quarter-scale steam locomotive mini-train. In Mexico City, the locomotive will be spotted for public display.
More information and the full schedule is available here.
Left out the whole eastern half of Canada. When will they get it to Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, and other cities. Also on return they need to get to some of the other US Cities like Dallas, New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit, and down to New York.
Oh, forgot.Leave them over night in those crime infested cities the Locomotive would be up on blocks and stripped to the bone.
It would be nice for watchers to see the overnight locations in between. It appears to travel Franklin Park to Davenport on 5/9, but what day does it leave Davenport. There should be good photo opportunities along the Mississippi River between Savannah, IL and Muscatine, IA.
Most people will come to see the Loco… They could give a crap about what CP thinks…
One has to think the route south from MSP to Franklin Park will be old Milwaukee Road Hiawatha territory, including along the West bank of the Mississippi to La Crescent, then LaCrosse, the Dells, Milwaukee, the C&M to Techney cutoff. If so, many opportunities for fabulous pix.
What happened to Mexico City as the end??
It’s still on the schedule. Read again and look at the map, it says the tour will conclude there on June 4. The list is just the intermediate stops.
How and when does CPKC plan to get the engine and train back home?