Diesel Engine "1762"

If you walk to the very end of the boardwalk at the Kensington Train Station, you will see the diesel powered train "Engine "1762" and its caboose parked quietly along a small stretch of railroad track. Though "Engine 1762", and all other trains on Prince Edward Island for that matter are not used for travel anymore, they still remain a fascinating part of our history. What is now Prince Edward Island's Confederation Trail (the long, gravel-covered trail that extends from the western to eastern tip of PEI) used to be, in fact, the railway tracks on which these trains ran! Read on for the history of our local train.

Kensington's "Engine 1762"

The diesel train "Engine 1762" found its final resting place on the old Kensington railway grounds in 1990. This engine was made by the company CN in 1960 in Montreal, Quebec, when CN attempted to completely dieselize their system. "Engine 1762" started its career at the Montreal Yard Diesel Shop. It was later sent to the Maritimes and assigned to a job in Moncton, New Brunswick. Later it was principally used all throughout eastern Canada as a freight train and also on secondary passenger runs and switching assignments. In June of 1986, after twenty-six years of duty throughout the Maritimes, "Engine 1762" was retired. In 1987, when it was announced that the railway lines on Prince Edward Island were being abandoned, the train was at an extremely high risk of becoming scrap metal. However, a Summerside resident named Lowell Huestis decided to make "Engine 1762" a tourist attraction. The Town of Kensington was asked if they would like to provide the final home for this train. On Friday, November 16, 1990, an extremely optimistic group of residents decided that they would help the old engine travel the rail one last time, to make the trip from Summerside to Kensington. "Engine 1762" rolled into Kensington around 4 PM that day, where it remains even today. This train is a valuable link to our past and a relic of the age of railways on Prince Edward Island.