By Justin Franz 

Railroad enthusiasts across North America only have a few hours left on Thursday to see Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern before they officially merged into one to become Canadian Pacific Kansas City. The two railroads were expected to formally combine on Friday, just a month after the U.S. Surface Transportation Board gave them the high green. 

The combined railroad will touch Canada, Mexico and the United States, the first Class I railroad to serve all three countries. At 19,200 miles of track, the combined railroad will still be the smallest of the six Class I railroads. 

On Friday, top officials from both companies were expected to gather in Kansas City for a celebration of the merger. Joining them would be local, state and federal leaders, including Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. On Thursday morning, it also appeared that Canadian Pacific was preparing to change the names of its social media accounts to “CPKC Railway.” It was unclear how that branding would materialize in the field and whether or not locomotives would actually appear with the new name or in a new scheme.