The 2141 steam locomotive emerging from storage on June 2, 2025. (Image Credit: Kamloops Heritage Railway)

By Victor Kaisar

Spirit of Kamloops

WATCH: Iconic 2141 steam locomotive emerges from storage for first time in nearly six years

Jun 3, 2025 | 4:04 PM

KAMLOOPS — A momentous Monday evening (June 2) for the Kamloops Heritage Railway Society (KHR) as the 2141 steam locomotive emerged from storage for the first time in nearly six years.

KHR Leader of Railway Development Jordan Popadynetz said the milestone followed the successful completion of nondestructive testing (NDT) and inspections of the 113-year old steam locomotive’s boiler.

“We have been working away for months in the back shop reactivating the locomotive, inspecting the engine and testing the engine,” Popadynetz said. “As of right now, things look absolutely fantastic, but we do have a little bit more testing to do.”

TWO & OUT

PETERS: The cost of our collective malaise is children's lives

14h ago

LOOPED IN

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: February 12, 2026

Feb 12, 2026

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Are we any closer to understanding the human mind?

Feb 12, 2026

Built in 1912 — the same year the Titanic sank — the 2141 steam locomotive was retired from active duty in 1958. It was set to be scrapped before it was acquired by the City of Kamloops in 1961.

For nearly three decades, the locomotive dubbed the Spirit of Kamloops was displayed at Riverside Park as a giant playground piece and symbol of the city’s connection to the railway.

It then underwent a lengthy restoration process in the 1990s and in 2002 began offering rail tours for Halloween as well as for Christmas. Those efforts were later derailed first by COVID-19 and then due to a lack of available track time.

Popadynetz told CFJC Today the Kamloops Heritage Railway Society is hoping to have the steam engine fully recertified by July this year. He said the engine last ran was in December 2019 and it was decommissioned when it was put into storage.

“We’ve had professional engineers in and they’ve been all over the locomotive doing all of the necessary tests to get her reactivated,” Popadynetz added. “We also had to strip down the engine, expose the boiler, take out firebox bricks and really get down to the bare nuts and bolts to ensure that every square inch of this engine is safe to operate.”

He estimates its been months of “blood, sweat, tears and passion” to get to this point, noting the Kamloops Heritage Railway Society is still working on its plan to operate a rail tour towards Vernon by next year.

“We’re aiming for July for the engine to come out of its shop under her own full operating pressure and full steam power. We’ll build a whole event around that,” Popadynetz said.

“It’ll be quite a monumental moment for KHR, for our society and for the community as well.”