Steam, On the Way Out

The two locomotives on the front of this post card are a very good

demonstration of the how the old steam locomotives worked right along side the new diesel locomotives until the latter completely took over. These two are both working Canadian Pacific Railway passenger routes. They were photographed by J. F. Orem at the Drake Street roundhouse in Vancouver, British Columbia. The steamer is number 2862, an Hle-class "Royal Hudson" 4-6-4. It, along with three other Hudsons, has just brought the "Dominion" train in from Revelstoke, B.C. The other engine is an FP7, number 1418. The FP7 is on display at a riverside park in Medicine Hat, Alberta today. Their paint is faded and rust is bubbling up here and there, but these fine old engines still impress. It was built in 1952 at the General Motors Diesel plant in London, Ontario. This picture was taken in May of 1956; the last steam locomotive used by the CPR (a Selkirk 4-10-4) was delivered to them in 1949. The last Selkirk was taken out of commission ten years later. Some information about the FP7 was taken from this website: https://www.bigdoer.com/19344/old-things/cpr-fp7s-1418-and-1424/b>

The post card was published by Steamscenes out of West Vancouver, British Columbia. They do seem to still exist. I can find all sorts of businesses selling the Steamscenes 2021 Calendars. But, I cannot find any corporate information on line. I am not sure if this is a parent company or another company in the U.K. with a similar name:http://www.steamscenes-cadeco.co.uk/index.htm