Saturday 5/25/2024 - CP 2816 Runs from Shreveport, La To Kindleton, Tx
In April 2023, the Canadian Pacific Railroad (CP) completed its acquisition of the Kansas City Southern Railroad (KCS). This resulted in a railroad that stretches from Calgary, Canada to Mexico City, Mexico. For the first time in history, one railroad connected the three countries. To celebrate this, the new CPKCS decided to bring back to operation CP 2816, affectionally known as The Empress to pull a Final Spike Steam Tour. This tour started in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on April 24th and ended it's southbound journey in Mexico City, Mexico on June 7th.
Along the way, The Empress had media and public events in cities important to the new rail line along the way. In our area, an event was held in Shreveport, La on May 24th and another was held in Laredo, Tx on May 28th. The schedule between those events, called for the CP 2816 to run from Shreveport, La to Kendleton, Tx on May 25th. Kindleton has an intermodal yard just southwest of Houston, Tx. The train would spend May 26th at Kindleton for maintenance and then run to Laredo, Tx on May 27th.
The Empress's train consisted of a slew of lightweight and heavy weight CP and KCS coaches. The CP's pair of FP7 units (1401 and 1407) provided assistance. In Kansas City, CP 7013, a heritage painted SD70ACe was also added to provide more muscle for some of the upcoming grades in Mexico.
The Empress herself is a 4-6-4, H-1b class locomotive. She was built in 1930 by the Montreal Locomotive Works. She sports 75 inch driving wheels making her really apt to fly if she wants to. She was initially restored to operation by CP in 2001 after a two year restoration. The CP operated her in excursion service until 2012 when new leadership at the CP ended the program. She was stored in Calgary and with the announcement of the merger, started an overhaul to pull the celebratory train.
More on CP 2816, The Empress can be found here on it's wikipedia page.
Along the way, The Empress had media and public events in cities important to the new rail line along the way. In our area, an event was held in Shreveport, La on May 24th and another was held in Laredo, Tx on May 28th. The schedule between those events, called for the CP 2816 to run from Shreveport, La to Kendleton, Tx on May 25th. Kindleton has an intermodal yard just southwest of Houston, Tx. The train would spend May 26th at Kindleton for maintenance and then run to Laredo, Tx on May 27th.
The Empress's train consisted of a slew of lightweight and heavy weight CP and KCS coaches. The CP's pair of FP7 units (1401 and 1407) provided assistance. In Kansas City, CP 7013, a heritage painted SD70ACe was also added to provide more muscle for some of the upcoming grades in Mexico.
The Empress herself is a 4-6-4, H-1b class locomotive. She was built in 1930 by the Montreal Locomotive Works. She sports 75 inch driving wheels making her really apt to fly if she wants to. She was initially restored to operation by CP in 2001 after a two year restoration. The CP operated her in excursion service until 2012 when new leadership at the CP ended the program. She was stored in Calgary and with the announcement of the merger, started an overhaul to pull the celebratory train.
More on CP 2816, The Empress can be found here on it's wikipedia page.
The KCS line from Shreveport runs south through western Louisiana to Dequincy, La. There it turns west on a straight shot to Beaumont, Tx. In Beaumont, it merges onto the Union Pacific and runs on trackage rights to and through Houston. This route is mostly on the Southern Pacific sunset line aligment. Past Houston, in Rosenberg, Tx, the KCS breaks out onto its own line again for the run to Laredo, Tx. The CP 2816 was to tight up just past Rosenberg in Kindleton, Tx as the KCS has an intermodal yard there. The schedule that was posted on railfan sites showed the CP 2816 leaving Shreveport at 7:00am, arriving in Beaumont at 12:30 for crew change and servicing, and then into Kindleton by 6:30pm.
A good friend of mine, Blake Bogs, met me at my house in Katy, Tx (west Houston) at 8:00am and we were on the road. Our original plan was to setup just past Beaumont and us leaving at 8:00 would put us in position by 11:00 or so. The CPKCS had a tracking page on their website but for some reason, it wasn't updating that morning. Luckily for us, we had some friends who overnighted in Shreveport and were chasing it south. About an hour south of Shreveport, the CP 2816 stopped due to a malfunction with it PTC equipment. This delayed the train for about an hour. With this news, we stopped in Beaumont to scout the lift bridge over the Neches river and then continued driving east. Reports were that The Empress was still a good ways off so we continued our trek all the way to DeQuincey, Tx arriving there about 11:45am.
DeQuincy has a beautiful KCS depot that was built in 1923. The museum was located in the wye that was formed from the Shreveport / Beaumont line and the branch line that goes to Lake Charles, La. It has since been restored into a railroad museum and was a nice spot to sit and wait for The Empress. Our friend who were chasing down from Shreveport eventuality cut the chase and joined us at the depot. The 2816 ended up stopping just before town for servicing, making Blake and I wish we would of driven a bit out of town to catch it so we could have doubled up the location. We ran into several familiar faces as we waited. With us waiting out in the sun, and getting pretty sunburned, the CP 2816 finally showed up at 1:38pm!
A good friend of mine, Blake Bogs, met me at my house in Katy, Tx (west Houston) at 8:00am and we were on the road. Our original plan was to setup just past Beaumont and us leaving at 8:00 would put us in position by 11:00 or so. The CPKCS had a tracking page on their website but for some reason, it wasn't updating that morning. Luckily for us, we had some friends who overnighted in Shreveport and were chasing it south. About an hour south of Shreveport, the CP 2816 stopped due to a malfunction with it PTC equipment. This delayed the train for about an hour. With this news, we stopped in Beaumont to scout the lift bridge over the Neches river and then continued driving east. Reports were that The Empress was still a good ways off so we continued our trek all the way to DeQuincey, Tx arriving there about 11:45am.
DeQuincy has a beautiful KCS depot that was built in 1923. The museum was located in the wye that was formed from the Shreveport / Beaumont line and the branch line that goes to Lake Charles, La. It has since been restored into a railroad museum and was a nice spot to sit and wait for The Empress. Our friend who were chasing down from Shreveport eventuality cut the chase and joined us at the depot. The 2816 ended up stopping just before town for servicing, making Blake and I wish we would of driven a bit out of town to catch it so we could have doubled up the location. We ran into several familiar faces as we waited. With us waiting out in the sun, and getting pretty sunburned, the CP 2816 finally showed up at 1:38pm!
Blake was doing the driving this day and the chase was on. Unfortunately, The Empress was born to be a passenger locomotive and could run. The tracks on the way to Beaumont roughly followed HW 12 but enough trees and distance prevented us to getting a good idea of where the train was. We eventually decided to head for the Neches River lift bridge in Beaumont. Our reasoning was, we were not sure where the 2816 was to risk a cut off from HW 12 and she had to slow down for the lift bridge. And slow down she did. The 2816 stopped just before joining the UP and the line across the bridge, on KCS track to be serviced in Vidor, Tx. So we again waited in the sun in the park by the bridge.
While we waited, the UP sent a freight across for us to enjoy. After about another hour in the sun, the CP 2816 made its trip across the big bridge at around 3:35pm.
While we waited, the UP sent a freight across for us to enjoy. After about another hour in the sun, the CP 2816 made its trip across the big bridge at around 3:35pm.
Now the chase was on. We were hopeful that The Empress was still supposed to stop for servicing as the schedule said but quickly realized that she already had. Between Beaumont and Houston, the UP uses the Southern Pacific and Missouri Pacific lines as directional running. This meant that The Empress was on the SP alignment and closely followed HW 90 all the way to Houston. This allowed for us to get several run by at small crossings just outside of Beaumont and some nice pacing shots as well! There was a crowd and a decent number pacing but nothing that crazy.
Blake really took one for the team by driving this trip and allowed me to get many nice shots along the way. Many times, I was even dropped off while he turned the car around or in the case of the Raywood photo, ran into a store behind me for some drinks. Thanks Blake!
Blake really took one for the team by driving this trip and allowed me to get many nice shots along the way. Many times, I was even dropped off while he turned the car around or in the case of the Raywood photo, ran into a store behind me for some drinks. Thanks Blake!
After Raywood, we dove into Liberty, Tx and setup by the old depot there. We were in a hurry to get setup until the crowd there informed us that the 2816 had taken the siding just before Liberty to allow Amtrak's Sunset Limited around it. The CPKCS really didn't want to run 2816 over 50 mph if possible so Amtack was let around so it could keep time. Can't complain about a Sunset Limit photo! Ten minutes after the Sunset Limited came through, The Empress charged at us, getting her heavy train back up to track speed.
Blake and I were quick out of town and able to get into Dayton right as 2816 did where I was able to capture this going away shot!
Blake and I were quick out of town and able to get into Dayton right as 2816 did where I was able to capture this going away shot!
After Dayton, the HW 90 parallels the tracks for a short while longer and we were able to get The Empress one more time on this stretch.
We headed down business 90 to attempt to continue the case but were not able to catch her. We were debating what to do and if we should just cut to another spot in Houston or past Houston. We decided we had time as The Empress would get slowed down through Houston so we continued on HW 90 business past Beltway 8 and there we saw her stopped! She was just short of the Van Hut Ln crossing getting serviced. There was a little crowd at the crossing and parking was tight. It took some coaxing from myself but Blake finally agreed to park for us to get some shots. It was now 6:15pm and the sunlight was nice!
We headed down business 90 to attempt to continue the case but were not able to catch her. We were debating what to do and if we should just cut to another spot in Houston or past Houston. We decided we had time as The Empress would get slowed down through Houston so we continued on HW 90 business past Beltway 8 and there we saw her stopped! She was just short of the Van Hut Ln crossing getting serviced. There was a little crowd at the crossing and parking was tight. It took some coaxing from myself but Blake finally agreed to park for us to get some shots. It was now 6:15pm and the sunlight was nice!
CP 2816's stop was about 30 minutes and she started rolling again about 6:30pm so we were off as well. We heavily debated if we should just call it a day or what. Options like Memorial Park in Houston and Sugar Land, Tx were offered up, as well as just heading for home after a long day. This time, it was Blake doing the coaxing and so we headed for Rosenberg. There is a museum there and it is a favorite train watching spot in Houston. In Rosenberg, three different lines merge into the twin track sunset line through Houston. So off we went. We arrived a little before 7:30 and the light started to fade. At 7:45pm, Amtrak, again, came through.
At 8:25pm, with the light fading fast, we finally heard The Empress in the distance. With the ISO sensitivity on the Nikon turned all the way up, we waded through the crowd of people at Rosenberg for one last runby of The Empress.
At 8:25pm, with the light fading fast, we finally heard The Empress in the distance. With the ISO sensitivity on the Nikon turned all the way up, we waded through the crowd of people at Rosenberg for one last runby of The Empress.
The Empress had about another 15 minutes of running down to Kindleton, Tx. We turned north for a 30 minute drive to my house to call it a day. The Empress is scheduled to head back north through Houston in mid June but it is looking like that will happen while I will be out of the country for work. I never thought I would get to see Canadian Pacific's famous 4-6-4 down in Texas and it was an amazing time chasing it. Thanks Blake!
Safe Travels,
B (& E in Spirit)
Safe Travels,
B (& E in Spirit)