After much work and a six year process of externally refurbishing and repainting, Canadian Pacific Montreal Locomotive Works (Alco) FA-2 No. 4090 and FB-2 No. 4469 sit resplendently in the morning sun at Cranbrook, British Columbia, on October 11, 2017. Built in 1953, No. 4090 had the misfortune of hitting a snow slide and nosing into Kootenay Lake on March 3, 1956, with repairs and dents from this incident still visible today. Both of these 1,600 hp locomotives were finally retired by CP in 1977 and retained by the railroad for historical purposes. They were subsequently acquired by the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel and moved to Cranbrook in 1992. As a project of the Rotary Club of Cranbrook Sunrise, they were painted in their as-delivered paint scheme with the restoration work completed in 2015. The spiffy units sit alongside CP’s yard on the corner of B.C. Highway 95 and King Street greeting visitors to the Cranbrook History Centre.
