Hello everybody,
to make a long story short, I found myself with some time and a vehicle in Alberta four weeks ago. So went for a drive to Banff. The scenery was fantastic and the the Canadian Pacific Railway has their main line going through town which is an added bonus. The next day went for a drive along highway 1A and came upon Morants Curve. Very picturesque and easy to see why it has become famous.
Next stop was Lake Louise, but just went to town and waited for some trains to come by. After about two hours of nothing decided to drive further inland. While on Highway 1 heading towards Golden BC I stumbled upon a crew working on a road crossing. Had to stop and chat with them. Great bunch of guys. They informed that there was no traffic for a number of hours due to track maintenance except for this one stack train. So after it had passed it was time to hop back on Highway 1 and head for Golden BC. On the way there I stumbled across the spiral tunnels but continued. Spend part of the day in Golden and area taking in the wonderful scenery and talked to a couple of gentlemen operating a pair of SD40-2’s which were used for switching purposes. Was surprised to find out that the engines had been derated to 2500 hp.
In the early evening the freights started to roll east again so headed for the spiral tunnels. What a sight and sound when two GE ES44AC’s up front and one pushing doing about 20 km/h while under full throttle headed through the tunnels. It is surprising how much time they are in the tunnels as well. To cap it off the leading two locomotives roared past the observation point about 100 feet below while the pusher was nowhere near the spiral tunnel. It almost seems like the CPR just tags a pusher on the back through the mountains and once past they run