CN 6060 STEAM SPECIAL

Canadian National 6060 was in the last group of steam engines built for the Canadian National in 1944. These Mountain type 4-8-2s were used in both freight and passenger service until steam ended in 1959. The locomotive is stationed at the Alberta Prairie railroad in Stettler, Alberta today, and runs period trips, to give 2-8-0 number 41 a break now and then.

We centered a western trip around a scheduled trip in 1999, since the longest possible trip was to be a June 20th run from Stettler to Coronation. The normal run to Big Valley is around 14 miles but this would be 60 miles one-way.

We get there early and enjoy some in-cab scenes showing veteran engineer Harry Home teaching a crew-member the art of lighting a fire in this oil-burner. Next we see the preparations by the crew and some switching to get the train ready for the run.

We follow the train and get several good trackside views of the train eastbound to Coronation, and a couple of westbound views, which were run tender-first since there was no way to turn the train in Coronation. The line to Coronation was operated by a short-line regional railroad and the line was not profitable enough, thus it has been abandoned.

This makes the 6060 trip significant and historical in many ways. Speeds are not great but they are likely a little faster than the Big Valley trip however, overall it is good to see 6060 out on a lengthy run in this video. We have fond memories of 6060 from the 1970s running out of Toronto, and then in 1986 when we shot it to Vancouver from Jasper. It is an elegant locomotive and the only operational 4-8-2 in North America.

58 Minutes $24.95