Yard engine 6275 is one engine that has not gone to the scrap pile. It was purchased by Mr. J.H. Neill. Curator of the Huron County Pioneer Museum at Goderich, Ontario. It is to be preserved for all time to come.

Mr. Neill is fond of old steam engines and has five different old thresher types beginning with the first ones built with the upright boilers up to the last heavy traction type built about 1923. Also an old steam fire engine of 1873. He was bound he would have a locomotive of some kind to complete the line up. He negotiated with the Company to purchase engine 6275 which was retired at Goderich in December 1958.

On 7 May 1959 he was ready to place it at the museum. The CNR drew it up the hill on their tracks from the CPR yards to within a mile of the museum. He then built short sections of track which was picked up by a hoist truck and relayed ahead as the engine moved forward along the streets.

This caused a sensation in the district. Thousands came to see it being moved over the weekend.

Both the CP and CN men of the town piled in to help in the movement in their off hours. And there were plenty of pensioners on hand to do the sidewalk superintending.
 

 
Mr. Neill paid for this from his own personal funds but the Junior Chamber of Commerce has taken hold of it and has formed a company called the Huron Big Pound Engine Company.

Shares are being sold throughout the district at 5 pounds for one dollar or 25 pounds for five dollars. Regular certificates are issued so the person buying these will always have a personal interest in the engine. Thus making it a community project.

Mr. Neill believes that within a few years there will be many who will never have seen a steam engine except in a museum. Now that the engine is in place a two floor addition is being built over it completely enclosing it within the museum. It will never again be exposed to the weather. It will be cleaned and polished and maintained in its present condition.

For the past six years G.J. Currell, a pensioned express messenger from the eastern division has been Mr. Neil's assistant at the museum doing the historical and paper work. He has found this a wonderful pastime in his retirement. Last year he greeted over sixteen thousand visitors at the desk and expects at least twenty thousand this season.