This short, silent 1928 film shows the construction process of a Canadian Pacific Engine 3101 Locomotive at Angus Shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal. It covers the construction of the engine, including manufacture of boiler sheets, driving rods, spring leafs, engine wheels, and regularly wheels. This is followed by all the parts coming together and engineers tweaking final details on the locomotive. The final part of the film shows the 3101 leaving the shop and operating on some routes.
0:08 “The Miracle of a Locomotive”, presented by B.E. Norrish, edited by Terry Ramsaye, produced by Associated Screen News Limited, 0:28 text describing the building of a new locomotive in Montreal, 0:44 a large locomotive being assembled, 1:06 technicians working on the engine, 1:33 nickel being poured into molds to produce parts, 2:03 machine tools finishing the casting and shaping, 2:57 a man shaping a boiler sheet with a machine, 3:24 several men working on finishing the boiler sheet, 4:07 a man welding parts together for the boiler, 4:53 the engine frame being fed into a planer, 5:33 men forging a driving rod and then shaping it with machines, 6:21 men forming a spring leaf, 6:47 man testing the integrity of a part, 7:04 molten nickel pouring into molds, 7:31 an engine wheel pulled from a mold, 7:45 engine wheels placed into pits to cool, 7:53 the locomotive wheels being moved and shaped, 8:34 the body of the locomotive being lifted, 9:11 wheels being prepared to be attached to the body, 9:36 body attached to the wheel, 9:49 close up of the pumps, 10:27 engineers working on the front of the locomotive, 11:14 locomotive leaves the shop, 12:11 operator greasing the wheels, 12:35 coals burning in the furnace of the locomotive, 12:52 driver sets it in motion and begins driving, 13:28 footage from the front while it is driving, 14:30 “The End”
Only two K-1 class 4-8-4’s were built by Angus Shops. They were the only 4-8-4’s on the Canadian Pacific Railroad and were especially designed for the heavy Montreal-Toronto night trains. After dieselization of those trains, the pair were assigned to Montreal-Saint John NB passenger service, then later they were re-assigned to freight service out of Winnipeg. The locomotive shown in the film, Canadian Pacific Railroad K1, a 4-8-4 “Northern” type No. 3101, survives to this day. It was acquired in 1965 for display in Regina, Saskatchewan by the Interprovincial Steel & Pipe Corporation Ltd.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
