Canadian Pacific 2816 Empress

My fascination with trains has been apparent since getting my first train set as a kid.  My dad actually built a giant table in our basement with a paper mache mountain and tunnel for me to set it up with.  Countless hours were spent playing there.  There's obviously a big difference between those childhood memories and seeing the real thing however.

In August of 2006 the famed Canadian Pacific 2816 Empress came through Medicine Hat, Alberta and I went along for a ride with my folks.  The train is a 4-6-4 H1b Hudson built in 1930, and has become a prestige project for the Canadian Pacific Railway ever since they spent over two million dollars to restore and debut it back in 2001.  

I recently stumbled upon my ticket stub from the trip and was reminded of the pictures I shot.  It's a shame that traveling by rail isn't very economical in western Canada anymore as it's a really cool way to see the prairie. Someday I'd like to travel through the Rocky Mountains by rail, or who knows, maybe return to Alaska to ride the White Pass & Yukon Railway again.