Caption: The OBRY's "snow Train" with CP GP9 8249 in charge about to run around the train in Snelgrove before heading back long hood forward to Orangeville. This was an amazing event and to think only about 4-5 of us were out photographing this.. today - this would be far far busier.

The short form of the story is this: After CCGX 4009 died earlier in the week, CP had to loan a unit to the OBRY to continue their operation. Also, on the weekends, the "snow train" was scheduled to run. A CP Geep on a passenger train? I had to go see this for myself. What made this train extra special is the OBRY had a dome and a fourth coach (RDC-9) on site, the train line was frozen, thawing it out was not working (it was very cold) so instead of switching everything out the 4009 and the dome had to go along for the ride. One of the coaches was even painted in CN on one side for a movie shoot "as seen in this picture"(click to see) Unfortunately the CN side was only sunny for this one shot. But the views were nothing short of Breathtaking (Forks of the credit - click to see) as usual. It's a shame this line is done for, it would have made an amazing tourist line.

The 8249 died that day and CP had to send another unit - so they sent brand new 2267 and, a week later, I had to be there to see it lead the train again.. Two years later CP would loan another ECO and it would be used in freight service for a couple weeks. It never happened again. After Trillium took over the CP loaner agreement was still in place but it was never needed and of course, Mayor Brown killed the railway at all costs with the Last train in December 2021 (Lion Liu). Lots more on this site if you want to find more - we covered this line a lot. Regular OBRY hogger Steve Bradley has photos going back a few decades on his profile. Check it out.