Middleton Nova Scotia - Big things are on the horizon at the Middleton Railway Museum.
 
And by big, we're talking in the realm of 75 tons.
 
"We're focusing on getting a real, live, train," said Dianne Hankinson LeGard, who chairs the board overseeing the Middleton Railway Museum.
 
The museum is in line to receive the 115-year-old steam locomotive that sits on the grounds of the former amusement park in Upper Clements.
 
The Municipality of the County of Annapolis purchased the theme park property in the spring with the intent of making it available for the development of Gordonstoun Nova Scotia, a private boarding school project first announced in December 2018.
 
Annapolis County's municipal council recently unanimously approved the Middleton Railway Museum Society's request to receive the railway artifacts that were once prominently displayed at Upper Clements Park.
 
The related council motion states that the society will be given the steam engine, coal tender, four box cars, water tower, baggage cart, all rails, railway ties, bolts, anchors, spikes, and the boardwalk, as long as the railway society takes care of relocating the items and covers the associated costs.
 
A Municipality of the County of Annapolis news release circulated 20 Aug 2020 said Adam Cudmore from the Dartmouth-based A.W. Leil Cranes & Equipment recently assessed and measured the locomotive in an ongoing effort to plan out how it can be safely relocated.
 
Coun. John MacDonald, a council member with 35 years of experience working in the railway industry, identified the rails from Upper Clements Park as artifacts from the 1887 Intercolonial Railway.
 
"That's the railway that ran from Bridgewater up to Middleton and from Nictaux to Port Wade," said MacDonald in the County of Annapolis new release.
 
"That was old Intercolonial Railway turf. And 1887? I challenge you to find a chunk of that anywhere. It's good stuff."
 
Bill Linley, a Port Lorne resident with extensive knowledge of locomotives, is also offering his expertise in advance of the move.
 
He's in the process of writing his fifth book about railways.
 
"An engine very, very, similar to this one probably ran on a mixed train carrying freight and passengers on a daily basis between Lunenburg, Bridgewater, and Middleton until the 1950s," he said in the related County of Annapolis press release.
 
"On a tri-weekly basis, the train continued to Port Wade until the late 19-teens where the iron ore was shipped to the refinery at Londonderry. It (the ore) came from Nictaux."
 
Hankinson LeGard is working to secure the financial support necessary to move the locomotive to its new home 61 kilometres down the line, in the Heart of the Valley.
 
"We'll be looking for funding for this because it's going to be expensive," she said in an interview.
 
The museum sits shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a lot of work is underway behind the scenes.
 
They plan to reopen in 2021, bigger and better than ever before.
 
A small group of dedicated volunteers with a wide range of skills and wealth of knowledge about all things related to rail is planning "oodles" of upgrades, Hankinson LeGard said.
 
"We're hoping next year we're going to be open full time."
 
She said a moving company has indicated that the locomotive can be rel
 
ocated, but they are still waiting to hear more specifics about how it will be done and how much it will cost. The museum's society is also in the process of trying to purchase the railway property in Middleton from the Province of Nova Scotia.
 
"It's been a long haul, I'll tell you," said Hankinson LeGard.
 
She hopes the newly acquired railway attractions from Upper Clements Park will spark a renewed interest in what the museum has to offer.
 
She points to a replica operator's desk as one example.
 
"No other station in the Valley has that," she said.
 
The plan is to become a well-known hub of Dominion Atlantic Railway artifacts, and more, within the Annapolis Valley.
 
"We've got a collection there of photographs that no other museum has, all train-related."
 
Hankinson LeGard readily recites historic facts about Middleton's important role as a railway station serving both freight and passenger trains within the Annapolis Valley.
 
She said she's always loved trains, even travelled the country and beyond as a rail passenger herself.
 
"It's just a fascinating way to travel."
 
Ashley Thompson.

  The unidentified locomotive appears to be an ex-Canadian National Ten-Wheeler. Middleton station lies on the Dominion Atlantic's old route so bringing a CN engine there is mixing metaphors somewhat.