Full Dynamics

My hat goes off to the engineer of this thing... holding back that kind of tonnage on a grade like this is probably no easy task. Not to mention that the rails were soaked and slippery. If anybody gets a chance to visit this area, make sure you catch a train climbing the Loop. It's amazing. I remember seeing 674 (the empty version of the train in the picture) climbing Crowsnest with only one unit! I could hear all 4300 horses pulling for everything they were worth. When it got close, there was sand and exhaust spraying everywhere. The engineer opened the window, smiled and gave me a thumbs up! They were probably only doing 5 or 6 MPH.

Awesome experience!

I caught one of thoes Crowsnest trains at Frank back in 2005. It had 2 CEFX SD90s up front, and a UP SD90 shoving the rear. They made a hell of a noise in that Canyon, and seeing it down from the Frank Slide observation deck made it all that much more remarkable. The Crowsnest pass is a wonderful place, and the trains are just as great.