6060: Steam Excursions

I recall in the late 1970s taking a ride on a Canadian National steam train in the Niagara Falls, Ontario area. As it was so long ago and as I was very young, my memories about it are vague: I can recall that the train went over the Whirlpool Bridge and parked there for a moment. Then it went for a trip that perhaps lasted an hour or so. The train was powered by a massive locomotive, No. 6060.

Does anyone know anything about this excursion? Again, as I was a child and without a clue, I do not know if that was a regularly scheduled excursion or if it was just an occasional anomoly. Does anyone posting to this forum have any information about it, by any chance? If so, I'd love to know where it was we actually went on that ride, and if they still offer the excursion.

I rode and photographed the excursions in the mid-1970s. Late 1974, CN ran 6060 from Toronto to Fort Erie, for a dedication of CN 6218 at a park near the Jockey Club (?). If I'm not mistaken, 6218 remains there. I recall from last visit, there were scale live steam engines and trackage at the display.

For the next year or two, CN ran 6060 on excursions from Toronto to Niagara Falls, ON and return. After arrival in Niagara Falls, a shorter excursion was run to Yager, where it turned on a wye. It took maybe an hour or two, with a photo runby thrown in before returning to NF.

I don't know where 6060 ended up. Like most remaining mainline steam locos, I'm sure it's either on display or in storage. Insurance and operating costs spelled the end for steam excursions on class 1 railroads. Logistics of fueling, watering, and turning steamers don't appeal to the class 1s, either.

bluegrass-express wrote:I don't know where 6060 ended up.............

It's at the Alberta Prairie Railway in Stettler.

http://www.absteamtrain.com/locomotives.html