Selkirk

1929 · CPR Selkirk Class · Work 16 of 1,871

Selkirk, 1929, CPR Selkirk Class

A Canadian Pacific Selkirk locomotive emerging from a spiral tunnel in the Rockies, semi-streamlined front, snow-capped peaks filling the background.

What it was used for
Canadian Pacific passenger and freight traffic over the Kicking Horse Pass in the Rocky Mountains. The original line, the Big Hill, had a 4.5 per cent grade — the steepest main line in North America, with safety switches against trains that got away from their crews. The Spiral Tunnels, opened 1 September 1909, doubled the length of the climb and halved the grade to 2.2 per cent.
What was new
Thirty-six built between 1929 and 1949 — when delivered, the largest and most powerful locomotives in the British Empire. The last of them, 5935 of 1949, was also the last standard-gauge steam locomotive built for a Canadian railway.