Caption: This short steam train looks all to the world like an early Canadian Pacific Railway train crossing the prairies on the newly laid transcontinental railway in the 1880's...save for the modern Angus-built "action yellow" steel caboose on the tail end.

In reality, this is the train used for filming the CBC's The National Dream series on building the CPR, filmed in 1973. The star is Ontario Rail's former Canadian Pacific A2m 4-4-0 136 (borrowed for filming, and done up as 148). It's seen heading westward across the open prairie fields west of Gleichen, Alberta on the CP Brooks Sub. This may have been after filming the track laying scenes in Cassils were complete, and when 136 was reportedly dispatched under its own steam power westward to Penticton BC for filming the Myra Caynon footage.

Other equipment in the consist are wooden boxcar 500 (an old OCS work boxcar rebuilt by CP), flatcar 221 (converted from an old wooden boxcar in order to get a truss-rod flatcar), a former Intercolonial baggage car (from the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association, done up as a CP car), and wooden first-class coach 141 (rebuilt from an old OCS work passenger car previously on the DAR). The exact number of the CP caboose was not noted.

Eric W. Johnson photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.

More from The National Dream:
Tracklaying: http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=55064
Filming: http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=55074

Geotagged location not exact