Pulse of the Continent, a new documentary about CPKC’s “Final Spike Steam Tour” in 2024, premiered at a Calgary film festival over the weekend with a party attended by the crew and locomotive that starred in it. The event near downtown Calgary marked the first time in more than a year that Canadian Pacific H1b 4-6-4 2816 appeared in public and under steam. 

The new movie chronicles the 76-day, 10,000-mile journey that 2816 and her crew made from Calgary to Mexico City and return in 2024. CPKC restored the locomotive to service to celebrate the one-year anniversary of CP and Kansas City Southern. However, the 2024 trip was historic for several reasons: 2816 became the first steam locomotive to visit Canada, the United States, and Mexico; it was the first main line steam locomotive to run in Mexico since the 1960s; and at 10,000 miles, the tour will likely be remembered as the longest steam excursion featuring a single locomotive. 

Since the locomotive returned to Calgary, it has been stored at CPKC headquarters, and the railroad has been tight-lipped about its future. However, sources close to the railroad say the locomotive is well cared for, and its appearance at the film premiere suggests that CPKC isn’t finished with the 95-year-old locomotive yet.

Locomotive 2816 was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1930. The locomotive ran in regular service until 1960, when it was retired and eventually sold to F. Nelson Blount, the founder of Steamtown. In the 1990s, it was reacquired by CP and restored to service in 2001. The locomotive ran for about ten years before being placed in storage in 2012. 

—Justin Franz