July 27, 1957 saw the last steam locomotive arrive at the Musquodoboit Harbour Station and three days later, on July 30, the first diesel electric passed through the town. Canadian National applied in about 1975 to discontinue operation on the line and it was officially authorized abandoned on August 28, 1983. By that time the Musquodoboit Harbour Station had already been closed and turned into a community centre and museum. Today it remains a railway history museum and the Musquodoboit Harbour Visitor Centre, which occupies the station's waiting room. The rest of the station has been restored and refurnished to appear just as it would have while it served the community as a railway station. Inside are memorabilia, photographs, maps, artefacts, posters, tickets, and a small library.
Outside is where the train lovers will congregate. The highlight of the museum might be their small collection of rolling stock which is arrayed around the station. The collection includes a 44-ton GE diesel electric switching engine, a snowplow, a combination passenger/baggage car and a caboose painted in bright Canadian National (CN) orange.
Behind the station/museum building one will find this old diesel switching engine, and ex CN "44 Tonner". The GE 44-ton switcher is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric between 1940 and 1956. Of 390 examples of this locomotive built during this time 10 were exported to Canada, of which this is one. As can be seen below, there is a better than 40% chance that this locomotive was powered by a pair of Caterpillar D342 engines, as this example was a CN engine, likely living its life pushing and pulling cars around, putting together trains in a CN yard. The D342, a six-cylinder inline diesel engine, was one of the more popular Caterpillar engines.
Prime mover options
The locomotives were available with a choice of prime movers. Most were built with a pair of Caterpillar's D17000 V8 180 horsepower (134 kW) engines, but three other engines types were used. Nine were built with a pair of Hercules DFXD engines, and were sold to Chattanooga Traction and Missouri Pacific Railroad and its subsidiaries. Ten were built with a pair of the slightly more powerful Buda 6DH1742, rated at 200 horsepower (150 kW) each. The last four locomotives built had Caterpillar D342 engines, and were sold to Canadian National Railways and the Dansville and Mount Morris Railroad.
From Wiki
Of the many 44 Tonners which survive, there are three known in Canada, this example, one in Ogema, Saskatchewan which, at last report was still in use, and a third in Port Stanley, Ontario, status uncertain.
Historically speaking, the engine was initially designated "7551", a class Y-1-a locomotive. It was renumbered "7752" in December of 1950. It seems to have been again renumbered "2" in June of 1956. GE serial number (or model number) 28300, it appears to have been built in May of 1947. In April of 1965 it was sold to Bowaters Mersey Paper of Liverpool, NS and
acquired by the museum in 1991.
Enjoy the story of Nova Scotia railways at the Musquodoboit Railway Museum on Route 7. Examine the posters, tickets, maps and photographs in the Canadian Northern Railway station of 1918. Don't miss the rare ex-CN GE 44-tonner and the unique mail crane. A DAR combine from Nova Scotia's last mixed passenger and freight train is another highlight. A Visitor Information Centre occupies the waiting room and you will find an ice cream stand beside the quiet picnic grove.
From Nova Scotia Railway Heritage