Revelstoke Railway Museum’s 5500 locomotive slides to new tracks

Locomotive Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) No. 5500 made the slow and calculated move to its new home tracks in a 48 hour long process started Wednesday, Aug. 21. Using a crane, a hydraulics system and jack-and slide method workers shifted the historical diesel locomotive from the set of tracks it has rested on for the last 13 years to the new set it will remain on for the foreseeable future. It’s all part of a long project to restore one of Revelstoke Railway Museum’s (RRM) jewel pieces to its former glory. 

The 5500 was the first of Canada’s high-horsepower diesel locomotives, built in 1966 and marking a shift in Canada Pacific Rail’s entire fleet.

“Today’s modern and powerful diesel locomotives are the descendants of CPR No. 5500 and her sisters,” RRM states on the fundraising page for the locomotive.

The history of CPR No. 5500 has created a dedicated group of fans who have over the years come to RRM to see one of the last remaining 5500 locomotives still in CPR’s colours. Jim Cullen, RRM’s retired executive director, hopes some of those fans will be willing to help the community out in restoring the 5500.

“It’s going to take a lot of resources to do this properly,” Cullen told Revelstoke Mountaineer. Current estimates for a complete cosmetic restoration of the locomotive sit in the $250,000 range. Restoration efforts would be in vain if not for an anonymous local donor who is funding for the build of a pavilion around the CPR No. 5500 to protect it from the elements. 

Still, Cullen explained that efforts to restore and protect the locomotive would feel somewhat in vain if the piece stayed in the former spot at the back of RRM’s lot. That’s what prompted the investigation into what it would take to move the roughly 390,000 pound artifact from one set of tracks to another.

“Why build a roof over this magnificent and highly important locomotive where it’s not going to be visible from Victoria Road?” Cullen asked, noting the main thoroughfare through Revelstoke that runs right along RRM’s property. Still, there was trepidation on whether such a project could be undertaken.

“It’s audacious enough to find the money to build a roof over a locomotive. The even more audacious decision was to move the locomotive and to actually look into it and see if there was even a technology available to do that.”

It’s where local business Straight Up Construction Ltd. comes in, supplying the machinery, manpower and experience for such an undertaking The locomotive was lifted onto large wooden skids with a chunk of track on them to hold the train. A hydraulics pump system then slowly pushed the skids the roughly 50 feet across the yard to the new tracks  

So why not follow the route that brought the 5500 to RRM’s yard and use the existing tracks to move the locomotive to its new spot?

“Our yard is full,” Cullen explained. “There was quite the game of Tetris that went on in conversations, trying to figure out what could we shuffle.”

All the effort, planning and fundraising for one locomotive speaks to how fortunate RRM is to host this piece of Canadian railway history, Cullen emphasized. RRM took a chance at giving the CPR No. 5500 a home by asking CPR about housing the historical locomotive, bringing the piece out of storage. And in November of 2011 the locomotive rolled into the museum’s yard.

Once the CPR No. 5500 is safely down on its new tracks and ready for the construction of a shelter around it, Cullen said the next large project will take center stage.

“We’re going to need the support not just of Revelstoke but of history and train enthusiasts around to bring this locomotive back to the shape it deserves. That’s not a small undertaking.”

Donations are already coming in for the restoration project through CanadaHelps and the museum will remain open to any and all donation amounts until the $250,000 goal is reached.