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.

[3] It rolled out of the Shops on June 29, 1946 as the fourteenth member of the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CP) G5c class.

It was initially assigned by the CP to operate in Alberta and Saskatchewan in Western Canada, and it travelled for 655,773 miles during its revenue career between July 1946 and March 1958.

1246 was primarily used for freight service, and records only show the locomotive hauling passengers for a combined total of thirteen months.

The G5c was overhauled for the sixth and final time by the CP at Winnipeg, coming out of Weston Shops on June 15, 1958.

1246 was towed from one of the CP's scrap lines to North Walpole, New Hampshire for static display in Steamtown.

In June 1967, Canadian Pacific 1246 was transferred to the Green Mountain Railroad (GMRR) with the intention of restoring it to operate on their trackage.

[4] The locomotive was restored in 1969, and it was modified with a visor headlight and a mounted bell above the smokebox, and it was given a nameplate with the lettering “F.

However, after falling victim to a roundhouse collapse in 1982, the locomotive was repaired with new flues, and it was painted black again with its visor headlight and mounted bell removed.

1246 began pulling excursion trains over the ex-Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (DLW) line between Scranton and Moscow.

1246 was inadequate for service as it was deemed too light for the heavy grades and sharp curves of Steamtown's new trackage, and the locomotive's flue time was close to expiring.

[3] The new owner of No, 1246 was the Railroad Museum of New England (RMNE), who moved it to their leased location in Essex, Connecticut in April 1989.