Canadian Pacific 1246 is a preserved G5c class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1946. In 1965, it became one of three G5 locomotives to be purchased by Steamtown, U.S.A. for excursion service. After operating in Scranton for a few years in the 1980s, No. 1246 was sold at an October 1988 auction to the Railroad Museum of New England with plans to restore and operate it, and it was initially put on static display. As of 2023, No. 1246 is stored at the Railroad Museum of New England.
CP No. 1246 at Brockway Mills in Rockingham, Vermont on October 24, 1981
CP 1246 pulling a passenger train at Steamtown USA in Bellows Falls, Vermont, August 1970
Steamtown, U.S.A., was a steam locomotive museum that ran steam excursions out of North Walpole, New Hampshire, and Bellows Falls, Vermont, from the 1960s to 1983. The museum was founded by millionaire seafood industrialist F. Nelson Blount. The non-profit Steamtown Foundation took over operations following his death in 1967. Because of Vermont's air quality regulations restricting steam excursions, declining visitor attendance, and disputes over the use of track, some pieces of the collection were relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania in the mid-1980s and the rest were auctioned off. After the move, Steamtown continued to operate in Scranton but failed to attract the expected 200,000–400,000 visitors. Within two years the tourist attraction was facing bankruptcy, and more pieces of the collection were sold to pay off debt.
Meadow River Lumber Company Shay #1 on static display at Steamtown, Bellows Falls, Vermont, ca. 1974
Locomotives at the turntable at Steamtown, U.S.A., Bellows Falls, Vermont.
Bartonsville Covered Bridge could be seen on excursion trains from Riverside to Chester
Worrall Covered Bridge could be seen on excursion trains from Riverside to Chester