The Countess of Dufferin
Countess of Dufferin - First steam locomotive in Western Canada. Located in Railway Museum.
Transported by barge down the Red River, the Countess of Dufferin arrive in
Saint Boniface on October 8, 1877.
Named in honour of the wife of the Governor General of Canada, this
wide-funneled, wood burning locomotive was built by Baldwin Locomotive
Works, Philadelphia in 1872, for the Northern Pacific Railway as Number 21.
It was used in the construction of the Pembina Branch and sections of the
original east-west C.P.R. line.
After service on the Emerson-St. Boniface run, the Countess of Dufferin
worked in a British Columbia lumberyard where it was found in 1909. With the
cooperation of Canadian railroad companies it was returned to Winnipeg where
it had opened the railway era in the Canadian West.
The "Countess" was built at a cost of $9,850 (plus delivery charges of
$400.00). During 1872 to 1875 she operated in Minnesota and the Dakota
Territories, traveling some 119,362 miles.
To ease Northern Pacific's financial woes, #21 was offered for sale, along
with some flat cars. Joseph Whitehead, a railway contractor, purchased the
locomotive, a quantity of flat cars and a caboose from Northern Pacific in
1877, paying $5,300.00 for the locomotive. Whitehead named the locomotive
after the wife of the Canadian Governor General. In October, 1877 the
"countess" and caboose arrived on a barge in Winnipeg, to assist in the
construction of the Pembina Branch between the United States boundary at
Emerson and St. Boniface and north to Selkirk. This was Contract 5, the
first issued by the Federal Government for the construction of the CPR
railway that eventually was to link British Columbia to Eastern Canada. Such
a connection had been one of the conditions of British Columbia's entry into
Confederation.
After serving in Western Canada between 1877 to 1907, the locomotive was
found by accident in 1909 disassembled in the yards of the Columbia River
Lumber Company.
The City of Winnipeg instructed its agent to contact the owners and arrange
a purchase for the City. It transpired that the owner of the engine and
sawmill was Sir William Mackenzie, who had, with his partner Donald Mann,
constructed the Canadian Northern Railway. These rail lines opened the
northern plains and were later to become part of Canada's second
transcontinental railway. Sir William donated the locomotive to the City
and, with the cooperation of Canadian Pacific Railway, the components were
brought back to Winnipeg, and reassembled by the shop forces of CPR's Weston
Shops.
The reassembled locomotive was place din Sir William Whyte Park across from
the CPR depot on Higgins Ave. in 1910, later to be dressed up with flower
planters, etc., until 1944. She was then moved across the street to a small
forecourt between the Depot and the Royal Alexandra Hotel. By 1970 she had
suffered drastically from the weather and vandals, so was restored, with the
financial help of George Richardson. She was then placed on show in a small
park on Main at the Disraeli freeway, adjacent to the Manitoba Museum of Man
and Nature.
In October 1977, its western Canadian centennial, Midwestern Railway removed
the locomotive once more to the Weston shops, to await a new home away from
the danger of vandals and weather.
On October 9, 1993 she was once more place don display here on Track 1 of
the former CNR, now VIA RAIL CANADA depot at Main and Broadway. This is an
appropriate location with the links back to Sir William Mackenzie and the
Canadian Northern Railway.
You can notice that the smoke stack has been restored to the 1877 style, and
following restoration will have the cab and paint scheme of the same era.
Basic Data
| Maker's Classification | Class 25 1/2C |
| Wheel arrangement | 4-4-0 American |
| Weight | 64,000 lbs (29,030 kg) |
| Length | 15'5" (15.67m) |
| Height | 13 1 3/4" (4.0m) |
| Width | 8'11 1/2" (2.73m) - can roof |
| Gauge | 4'8 1/2" (1.435m) |
| Drivers | 56 3/4" (1.441m) |
| Cylinders | 15' (0.405m) dia |
| Stroke | 24' (0.609m) |
| Rear dome | steam dome |
| Centre dome | sand dome |
| Front dome | housing for throttle |
| Valve gear | Stephenson link |
| Fuel | wood |
| Boiler | 48" (1.219m) dia |
| Dual steam injectors | to lift water from tender to boiler |
| Couplers | pin and link |
| Brakes | on rear truck only |