‘Rocky Mountains Express’ a vivid, worthwhile train trip

“They once roamed the earth by the tens of thousands.”

The unseen narrator says this of trains in the early moments of “Rocky Mountain Express,” a 2011 IMAX film about the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway that is a companion piece to “All Aboard! The Science of Trains” at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. It is playing in the recently refurbished and renamed Cleveland Clinic DOME Theater.

While not created by or for the Science Center, it works well with the exhibit, says Communications Director Joe Yachanin, as it focuses on the construction of tracks, not really an emphasis of “All Aboard!”

It is a celebration of the great feat of engineering that was the completion of the CPR in 1885, an effort that involved thousands — and resulted in the deaths of hundreds due to the harsh conditions many of the workers faced.

Largely, it is the story of William Cornelius Van Horne, a young American railway superintendent charged with overseeing construction of about 20,000 kilometers across the country.

Viewers will learn about the areas in the Canadian Rockies and elsewhere where laying track was anything but a simple proposition.

Director Stephen Low (“Volcanoes of the Deep Sea”) juxtaposes historical facts with striking modern-day footage of the Canadian Pacific 2816, a preserved steam locomotive, chugging across Canada.

Low’s camera captures the old gal — she was built in 1930 — in all her glory and from myriad inventive angles, but a simple shot where steam is absolutely pouring out of the engine as she moves along the track is among the most memorable.

The history recounted in “Rocky Mountain Express” is interesting, including a section about lakes crews thought they could bridge but that proved too deep for that.

“Trains would simply have to take the long way around, as they do to this day,” the narrator says.

Of course, some spectacular bridges were built — “at the time of construction, the highest in the world” — as were tunnels through the mountains.

COURTESY OF GREAT LAKES SCIENCE CENTER The IMAX film “Rocky Mountain Express,” showing at Great Lakes Science Center, boasts some striking aerial shots of the Canadian Pacific 2816, a preserved steam locomotive.