To celebrate the 2021 merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railways, a historic tour was created featuring the Empress 2816 – the first steam locomotive to traverse Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
The idea of watching this steam locomotive in motion got me planning a train chase. Something I had never done before. So where to start? I spent a few evenings poring over maps and satellite images to identify key spots – sweeping curves, bridges, areas with photogenic backgrounds, and the south side of the tracks so the sunlight (if any) would highlight the train. I have not traveled much through this area of Alberta, so it presented a unique challenge in keeping pace with and getting some impressive photos of the Empress 2816.
While at the Final Spike Steam Tour in Calgary, I asked around to get some additional information. The estimated Calgary departure was for 9am and a planned stop in Carseland was a starting point, but the rest would hinge on luck and my planning. I had read that the top speed would be between 80-100km/h, so I knew I would need some distance between viewing spots.
A total of 8 locations were saved into my GPS in order so I could quickly select my routing on the fly. If the train was ahead of me, I could skip one and navigate to the next one in hope of reaching that location before the train passed. Out of my 8 locations, only 5 had me there in time to get set up for photos. The locations with the locomotive pin are the locations I made it too, and the generic pins are missed locations.
Friday morning, I arrived at the CPKC head office and starting point of this Final Spike Steam Tour at 8:30am to make sure it was still there and had not departed yet. Since it was still there, I headed to a location that I picked out that would offer a backdrop of Calgary city center skyline. I set up for 9am and waited. Was a cool morning and a haze in the air. A freight train passed by heading towards Calgary, so I used this opportunity to test some photos. This train had a locomotive in reverse at the tail of the train, therefore it looked like it could be coming towards me, however in fact it was traveling away from me.
Around 10:30am a few distance steam whistles could be heard. One last check of camera settings and the next thing one could see the steam smoke rising in the distance. The wind, coming from the north, didn’t cooperate and ended up blowing some of the steam towards the city skyline for some of the photos.
The next photo turned out as I had hoped. Well, other than I wish I had more space in front of the train. I tried to use Photoshop AI to expand the photo, but it didn’t look natural. The photo taken milliseconds before this had the Calgary Tower hidden from view by the steam. Good thing I’m not getting paid for the shot.
Seeing how quickly the train was getting up to speed, I quickly got back to the car and headed to my next location. I had quick access out of the city from this first location and was able to make it to the next location. This location was picked due to the clean background and quick access.
As I drove to the second location, one could see the steam rising from the locomotive along the horizon, so I was happy to see I was in front of it and arrived at this location in time. I had a couple of minutes to get set up alongside many other photographers and people. Only 22 minutes from Calgary, the train zipped by, and it was cruising!
The first image at the top of this page was taken at this location, along with the following photos.
Quickly getting back into the car and setting the next location GPS route, I realized, I won’t be able to make it due to the speed the train was now moving. So, I skipped to the next location which was the west side of Carseland where the train was going to have a stop. The roadway also had a sort of train. The line of people in their cars following the train progression. When I arrived west of Carseland, the steam locomotive was already there and stopped for a break.
Since it was blocking the road to cross the tracks and follow the road into Carseland, I decided to skip this location and move to the next location just east of Carseland.
This next location had a nice curve in the track as it came to cross the highway. I enjoyed arriving with some time to spare and was able to setup and get ready. A whole 5 minutes! Only 17 minutes after driving by it stopped at Carseland. Once again it was pushing hard to get up to speed.
I liked how these images turned out. The locomotive was burning a bit rich and had some nice contrast steam. The color of exhaust you see coming out of a steam locomotive’s smokestack indicates how efficiently it is burning fuel. Darker or blacker smoke is an indication that small fuel particles (coal, wood, fuel oil, etc.) have made it through the firebox unburned and are therefore wasted.
Two other historic locomotives were also along for the ride. Locomotive 1401 and 4107 are a FP9A diesel-electric locomotive originally built for CN in 1958 & 1957 and transferred to VIA Rail Canada in 1978 & 2006. Both are painted in Canadian Pacific’s famous Tuscan Red and grey colour scheme. The steam from The Empress 2816 is keeping these two hidden a bit. This location with the curve in the track provided a great view of the historic cars the train was pulling.
As the train crossed the road, it was full steam ahead. I quickly got back into the car and headed east, all the while seeing the steam smoke rising ahead of me on the horizon. The prairies haven’t seen a sight like this in years and was almost like traveling back in time to the 1930s when steam locomotives ran these the tracks.
My next location I had selected was 90 kilometers ahead of this last stop and a 50-minute drive along the Trans Canada Highway. For the first 30 minutes, I was worried I wouldn’t make it to my next location as the steam train sped on ahead of me and I couldn’t get ahead of it. The next location was one of the only bridges over water I could find.
I arrived in time; however, I knew it was coming quickly. I quickly got to my spot and set up the main camera on the tripod and secondary camera around my neck. Within 10 minutes, one could see the smoke rising on the horizon and within a minute it was crossing the bridge.
This spot worked out nicely and had the sun highlighting the side of the train allowing the colours to pop. This spot really allowed Locomotive 1001 shine, with its bright colour scheme. This locomotive is Canadian Pacific’s first of its kind hydrogen fuel cell-powered freight locomotive.
At this location I barely had enough time (under a minute) to get the drone up in the air to record the train. Here is a frame from that video. I’ll upload a summary video later.
Snapped a nice image of Locomotive 1401 and 4107 crossing the bridge here.
My next selected spot was west of Brooks as the train ran under the highway bridge. This location may have been reachable if I hadn’t flown the drone and got on the road right away. The 20-minute drive of 35 kilometers by car ended up putting me there after the train had already passed by. I had only one other location planned and my only hope of getting there in time was if the train stopped in Brooks for a break. The last location was only 20 kilometers from the missed location.
As I arrived in Brooks, I was glad to see people lining up along the tracks in anticipation of the train passing by. I assumed it wasn’t going to stop long in Brooks, so I quickly made my way to the last location. I had about 20 minutes to get the drone ready and line up the final photos.
I stumbled upon this location while doing my satellite reconnaissance. The Brooks Aqueduct was built by Canadian Pacific between 1912 and 1914 as part of an irrigation system to provide water to the arid farmlands of southeastern Alberta. The aqueduct stretched over three kilometers, it was the longest concrete structure of its kind in the world and included the technical innovation of an inverted siphon which carried water under the CPR mainline track and up to grade again.
The location of my final spot was the section of track that went over the aqueduct.
And this was where I waved farewell and hope the team a wonderful trip to Mexico City.
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