Following World War I the Canadian Pacific Railway continued expanding its network by building new branch lines and acquiring other railways. This brought an increase in traffic on the mainlines and, along with the growing economy of the US and Canada, put a great strain on the main line through the Selkirk Mountains and the Rockies. Since 1918 the CPR had constructed and put into service larger and more powerful steam locomotives of the 2-8-2, 2-10-2 and 4-6-2 wheel arrangements. Under the guidance of Chief Mechanical Engineer William Henry Woodhouse (April 1918 to January 1921) and Chief of Motive Power and Rolling Stock Charles Henry Temple (January 1921 to August 1928) the steam locomotive fleet was modernized and expanded.
But all of these new locomotives were not enough to keep the mainline fluid over the Selkirks and the Rockies. Revenue ton-miles grew from 13,094 million in 1920 to 18,423 million in 1928. Clearly new more powerful and more versatile steam locomotives were needed for the mountains. The task was assigned to newly appointed Chief of Motive Power and Rolling Stock Henry Blaine Bowen (September 1928 to May 1949). The new class of locomotive was to be of the 2-10-4 wheel and designated as class T1a. The locomotive design utilized the same boiler as the two K1a class 4-8-4 Northern types designed by predecessor, Charles Henry Temple. Otherwise in all respects it was a new design for the CPR. Management approval was given for the new locomotives and Montreal Locomotive Works outshopped #5900 in July 1929. Following a brief display at Windsor Station in Montreal, the locomotive traveled west to Revelstoke. Exerting 89,200 lbs. of tractive effort #5900 and her 20 sisters in the T1a class settled down to mainline and helper service between Revelstoke and Calgary. Overhaul and heavy maintenance of the locomotives was carried out at Aylth Shops in Calgary.
Typically a 2-10-4 type locomotive is called a "Texas" type after the Texas and Pacific Railway, the first railway to order the wheel arrangement. The CPR, however, wanted a unique name for their new locomotives. A contest was held among employees and the name "Selkirk" was chosen after the mountain range through which the mainline traversed in Rogers Pass.
Naturally the arrival of new locomotives in a railway town such as Revelstoke generated considerable local interest. Photographer C.R. McDonald of Revelstoke took advantage of the event to take a few post card shots of the new engines. Aptly noted as "CPR Big Engine" on the negatives, he acknowledged the fact of their size and took pains to record pertinent statistics that would show up in each print of the post cards he sold through his shop. These two views are of great historical interest as they were taken when the locomotives were newly arrived. In the view of #5900 standing next to the rotary snowplow, we see a group of mechanics and some official looking gentlemen having a close look at the locomotive. This view shows the fireman’s side of the engine with the air pump and Elesco feedwater pump below the running board. (below)
The other view of #5906 shows the engineer’s side of the engine, which has a very clean appearance with only the two air tanks below the running board. (page 33) Note the smoke deflector on the stack of #5906. Both engines have the rear sand dome in place. This was originally installed to supply sand to the booster on the trailing truck under the firebox. It was found to be unnecessary and was later removed. Photos of T1a'’s with the second sand dome are fairly rare. Note also the inward slant of the upper cab sides. This was to allow for clearance in tunnels and other tight areas due to the size and overhang of the engine when negotiating curves.
The T1a class was supplemented by the 10 members of the T1b class, #5920 to #5929, in 1938 and by the 6 members of the T1c class, # 5930 to #5935 in 1949. CPR #5935 was the last new steam locomotive built for the railway. The T1b and T1c class were built to the semi streamlined design then popular in the 1930s and similar in styling to Royal Hudson #2860. #5931 is preserved at Calgary and #5935 is preserved at Delson Quebec at the Canadian Railway Museum. None of the original T1a class were saved from the scrapper’s torch.
For more information on the "Selkirks" I refer you to Omer Lavallee’s book, Canadian Pacific Steam Locomotives, and to the excellent series of books published by the British Railway Modellers of North America headed by Don Bain. Many of these are available in your local hobby shop. Omer’s book has been out of print for several years although copies do occasionally surface.
