The Kamloops Heritage Railway is a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. The railway used to operate throughout the year running trains within Kamloops. The train was pulled by restored

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

#2141, the "Spirit of Kamloops". The museum is currently on temporary static display. #2141 was built in 1912 by the

Canadian Locomotive Company The Canadian Locomotive Company, commonly referred to as CLC, was a Canadian manufacturer of railway locomotives in Kingston, Ontario. Its works were on the south side of Ontario Street between William and Gore streets on Kingston's waterfront. ...

, in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

- built for the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

, prior to it being absorbed into the

. The locomotive is a

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

, 'Consolidation' class of steam locomotive built for branchline use as well as drag freights . Originally a coal burner, the locomotive was converted to burn oil in 1954, and retired from active duty in 1958. #2141 was sold to the City of Kamloops in 1961, and placed on display in Riverside Park until restoration work began in 1995. The restoration was completed in 2001, and #2141 pulled trains for the KHR from May until December each year. A second restoration took place from 2013 to 2015, with the engine running again in August 2015. The locomotive was also featured in the movie Gold (2013). Tickets for excursions were sold at the ticket office, located at #3-510 Lorne Street, right across from the old

Kamloops railway station Kamloops station is a railway station in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the overnight stopover point for the Rocky Mountaineer train service to Jasper and Banff from Vancouver. The station was originally built for Canadian Na ...

. In 2020, the Kamloops Heritage Railway was reduced to temporary static display. This was due to the increased amount of freight traffic, mainly the export of American coal through Kamloops via

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

to the Canadian National Kamloops North yard via the rail bridge over the

North Thompson River The North Thompson River is the northern branch of the Thompson River, the largest tributary of the Fraser River, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originates at the toe of the Thompson Glacier in the Premier Range of the Cariboo M ...

. A new board of directors have made plans to have 2141 back in operational service by 2026, with Canadian National offering to let KHR operate on 71 miles of the Okanagan Subdivision, between Campbell Creek and Vernon. A boiler inspector surveyed the locomotive and stated that little work has to be done in order for operational use.

References

External links

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footage of 2141 operating on Vancouver Island in 1958
{{Canada heritage railways Heritage railways in British Columbia Transport in Kamloops

See also

References

External links