The locomotive was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works (builder's plate No. 2660) and delivered to
Northern Pacific Railway as No. 21 in 1872. It was used in
Minnesota and the
Dakota Territory until 1877 when it was sold for $9,700 to Joseph Whitehead, a contractor for
Canadian Pacific Railway. The locomotive, along with six
flatcars and a
caboose, was loaded onto barges at Fisher's Landing, Minnesota, and propelled by the SS
Selkirk, they were shipped down the
Red River to
St. Boniface, now an electoral district of
Winnipeg, Manitoba, arriving October 9, 1877, at a cost of $440. Upon arrival the locomotive was used on Government of Canada Contract No. 5, the first contract issued in the promised rail link that brought
British Columbia into Confederation. The locomotive was used in the completion of Pembina branch to the U.S. border, linking Winnipeg with
Minneapolis. Next it worked east from Winnipeg to the Lakehead in
northwestern Ontario, connecting with contractors from eastern Canada. In 1883 ownership was transferred and it became Canadian Pacific No. 151. It then worked west from Winnipeg to
Golden, British Columbia (Government of Canada Contract No. 15) where it was last used as a construction locomotive.In the mid-1880s, the locomotive was again sold, this time to the Columbia River Lumber Company, owned by
William Mackenzie and
Donald Mann of the
Canadian Northern Railway. On 28 June 1887, the Countess was used to formally open the new Red River pile bridge completed by Canadian industrialist
Hugh Ryan with Ryan, his wife Margaret, and the
Canadian Pacific Railway Superintendent T. J. Linskey aboard. By the end of the 1890s, Mackenzie and Mann had renamed the locomotive as
The Betsy and used it to power the sawmill. In 1909, the City of Winnipeg learned of the locomotive's existence and convinced the owners to donate it to the city. It was transported back to Winnipeg, restored in the Weston Shop and renumbered CPR No. 1. It was displayed in various locations until 1977, when George Richardson and the CPR spent a considerable amount of money to fully restore the
Countess of Dufferin. The locomotive now resides in the
Winnipeg Railway Museum located on tracks 1 and 2 in
Via Rail's
Union Station in downtown Winnipeg. == References ==