The WMRC photo contest special event for 2025 will be the Empress

WMRC photo contest chair Larry Leavens has announced that the special photo event for the 2025 spring open house will be “The Empress”, CPKC’s steam locomotive 2816.  It will be in Winnipeg on display on July 6 from 12PM to 4PM at 949 Jarvis Ave. The train will arrive at 9:00AM on July 6. On July 4 it is moving from Thief River Falls, Minnesota to Winnipeg. On July 7 it will travel from Winnipeg to Brandon. On July 8 it will go from Brandon to Moose Jaw.

CPKC limits the speed of their heritage passenger fleet to 50MPH, but other than the mainline they might not be going that fast. The roadbed on the Emerson sub is not up to the standards for carrying passenger cars, so 40MPH might be a better estimate.

For those wishing to follow the train across the border, the CPKC line closely parallels highway 59 in Minnesota from Thief River Falls to Lancaster. There is no information available as to when it is running on July 4.

The Emerson sub doesn’t parallel any roads after it closes the border into Canada, but there are many level crossings available for photo shoots on highways 201, 205, 23, 305, 311 in Niverville and 210.

There are many photo opportunities after it leaves Winnipeg, especially along highway 221 to Marquette, along highway 26 by Poplar Point and High Bluff, in Portage La Prairie and Town along the Trans Canada such as MacGregor, Austin and Carberry.
   
CPKC strongly cautions that everyone should keep clear of railway property and the right of way, which extends 15 metres (50 feet) from the centre of the tracks on either side. It is unsafe and illegal to be on railway property. Please keep in mind that if you’re rail fanning in places other than level crossings you might be trespassing on private property belonging to others.