Football fans can see the holy grail of Canadian football when it rides the rails into Red Deer next week on a specially retrofitted train.
The Grey Cup, the biggest prize in Canadian football, will make a stop at the railyards in north Red Deer on Sept. 19. Its one of 100 stops on the the Grey Cup 100 train tour across the country.
The Red Deer stop will be from 1 to 4 p.m. at the rail station at the corner of Edgar Industrial Drive and Johnstone Drive .
The train includes a museum car filled with football memorabilia.
There will be photos of CFL players and historical images of Canadian football. There is a team car built to resemble a dressing room and one dedicated to the Grey Cup itself.
The Grey Cup car, museum car and team car are open to the public.
The tour is to stop in 100 communities including all 8 cities with Canadian Football League Teams. It will also visit Charlottetown, Moncton, Halifax and Quebec City. The Grey Cup will also be transported to a number of communities not accessible by rail.
The train left Vancouver’s Pacific Central station on Saturday and makes a 4,100 km journey before ending up in Toronto on Nov. 17 just one week before the 100th Grey Cup game on Nov. 25.
Mark Cohon, commissioner of the Canadian Football League, says the goal is to bring the Grey Cup to as many Canadians as possible.
For dates and times of other stops as well as more information about the tour go to www.greycuptour.ca
The tour, which has a number of business sponsors --- including RONA and Telus -- took two years to organize including striking deals with Via Rail, CP and CN.
“There are so many freight trains moving across this country. So where you can put your train, how long it can be in a station is all part of it,” Cohon said earlier this summer.
The Grey Cup trophy was donated by Governor General Earl Grey in 1909.
For more details about the Grey Cup 100 Tour go to www.greycuptour.ca