Located on the southern shore of the Detroit River (which flows from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie), directly across the river from Detroit (Michigan), Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada. It is divided in two by the Ouellette Avenue, its historic main commercial street, which runs north-south, perpendicular to the Detroit River. At the end from the river of the avenue is Dieppe Gardens, one of the 180 parks of the city, in which is resting a Pacific type 4-6-2 steam locomotive named Spirit of Windsor.
The introduction of the 4-6-2 design in 1901 has been described as "a veritable milestone in locomotive progress". On many railways worldwide, these steam locomotives provided the motive power for express passenger trains throughout much of the early to mid-20th century, before either being superseded by larger types in the late 1940s and 1950s, or replaced by electric or diesel-electric locomotives during the 1950s and 1960s.
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) employed several Pacific classes, beginning with 39 locomotives of G1 class, built between 1906 and 1914 by the CPR at its Angus Workshops and by the Montreal Locomotive Works. One of these, No 5588, is the one located in Dieppe Gardens in Windsor. Built in the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1911, it saw many years of freight and passenger service in Southern Ontario before being retired in 1961.
In the same year, members of the Canadian Transportation Museum found the locomotive at the Canadian National rail yards in London (Ontario), and in 1962 the Historic Vehicle Society of Ontario (Windsor) launched a public campaign to save it from the scrap heap and to bring it to Windsor for the edification of future generations. Christened the Spirit of Windsor, No. 5588 was dedicated to the Community on May 6, 1965.
References
Spirit of Windsor - The City of Windsore official website
Spirit of Windsor Engine 5588 good as new - CBC News
Sender: Denise Forsythe (direct swap)
Sent from LaSalle (Ontario / Canada), on 27.04.2013
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