No. 10531Electro-Motive FP-7 AA Diesel Locomotive, heading up the "Canadian" Streamlined Passenger Train

 Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway started out in 1850 as a twelve-mile run on the Saint Lawrence River northeast of Montreal. By 1885, the road had become transcontinental, with financing by the Canadian government, to compete with the United States cross-country rail system, completed in 1869. The Canadian route stretched from Montreal to Vancouver, some 2776 miles, and by the 1920s Canadian Pacific offered five fine heavyweight Pullman-equipped transcontinental trains daily, including the "Soo-Pacific Express,"  the "Imperial Limited," the "Dominion," and the all-sleepers "Mountaineer" and "Trans-Canada Limited."  

Post World War II, the Canadian Pacific in 1953 ordered 173 new Budd-built lightweight stainless steel coaches, sleepers, and diners, including the new sensation, dome cars (CPR called them "Scenic Domes").  These replaced the aging heavyweight cars in use from the 1920s. Then, in 1955, Canadian Pacific introduced a completely new streamlined train with the new cars, the "Canadian," on the Montreal-Vancouver route, with service starting in April of that year.  The train featured two dome cars, becoming the longest dome-car journey in the world and the premier passenger train in Canada. The food and service were excellent, and the views of the unspoiled prairies, lakes, and mountains spectacular.  Trip time was 71 hours over the 2,880 miles Montreal-Vancouver for the "Canadian" and somewehat longer (12 hours) for her sister train, the "Dominion" (see No. 10393).  Together, there were four trainsets, two transcontinental trains in each direction.  

With the arrival of the jet powered passenger plane and improved national highway systems, passenger train revenues declined in the United States and Canada in the 1960s. Like Amtrak in the U.S., VIA Rail Canada took over passenger operations throughout Canada in January, 1976. The "Canadian" has survived into the 2000s, but as a lesser train under VIA Rail, between Toronto (since 1978) and Vancouver (2007) (the "Dominion" had been retired in 1966).  

In the 1950s, diesel power began to assert itself, being more efficient than traditional steam propulsion. Diesel and steam shared main-line duties in the 1950s, with steam being phased out by 1960 on the Canadian Pacific in favor of the newer multi-unit diesel locomotives, such as Electro-Motive FP-7 diesels (1500 horsepower per unit), introduced by EMD in 1952.

No. 10531 represents an accurate semi-scale model of Canadian Pacific's Electro-Motive FP-7 AA diesel locomotive, heading up the "Scenic Dome" adorned streamlined train the "Canadian" as it would have been seen on its Montreal-Vancouver run in the mid-to-late 1950s and 1960s under diesel power. The train is in "O" gauge by K-Line with five cars in stainless steel silver with maroon stripes.