Former Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261 tip-toed through the wye at Duluth, Minnesota on 2-June-2007
TORONTO, ONTARIO - A long-rumored decision became official today. In a press release, the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin announced that Friends of the 261 Chief Operating Officer Steve Sandberg had decided that the organization would not sign an additional lease for former Milwaukee Road steam locomotive #261. Instead, the engine will return to the museum in a cosmetically restored state. After fifteen straight years of excursions ending in 2008, the 261 may never steam again.
Restored steam locomotives, like all steam boilers in their class, are required to be re-certified every fifteen years in a process that often costs well into six figures. The 261's "boiler time" was known to be up in September 2008, so the annual fall trips of the 261 were scheduled earlier than autumn foliage that year to get them in before the locomotive would need to be disassembled for the work. Always nervous about these certifications, I made the decision to travel to Minnesota to ride the last trip, chasing a trip the day before. That decision seems pretty wise now, as I had my chance to enjoy one of the premier mainline steam locomotives one last time.
Former Milwaukee Road #261 was on its home rails at it crossed the Mississippi River at Hastings, Minnesota on its next-to-last run on 13-September-2008
Things started to go sour before the boiler work had made much progress. The National Railroad Museum made it clear that they wanted much more money (double in the first year) than in previous leases for the locomotive, and would only agree to a 10-year lease, rather than 15 or more. The Friends of the 261, officially known as Railroading Heritage of Midwest America, Incorporated, were already struggling to maintain a working organization that ran excursions with the existing lease, prior to the recession. They stopped most work on the locomotive while negotiations proceeded, but the museum didn't budge much. Those hoping for eventual resolution were not heartened when the museum, running a national convention in August, could not come to terms with the Friends of the 4449 and the Friends of the 261 to bring the "Daylight" locomotive #4449, then stored at the 261's shop in Minneapolis, to the convention.
Rumors have been flying for some time about what the Friends of the 261 might do if terms could not be reached on the 261. Most of the speculation surrounds locomotives at the Illinois Railroad Museum, including "sister" former Milwaukee Road 265. Whether the highly mechanically skilled and business savvy Sandberg organization will tackle another locomotive remains to be seen, but at the very least, one can expect guest locomotives from other organizations to be visiting the Twin Cities in the immediate future. The 261 may be finished, but the organization and its marquee rolling stock (including a former Milwaukee Road full dome and "Skytop" observation car) is not.
My final picture of former Milwaukee Road #261 would prove to be this one at Harrison Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 14-September-2009, as the locomotive pulled away from its last train and headed for the shop, its fires to be cooled for the final time
This blog has a certain attachment to the 261, as the first time blog entries were made outside of Toronto was on the trip to ride what proved to be the 261's final run. In one of the first margin notes, I stated that I was looking forward to the return of the 261 to the rails. Now, I'll just have to state that I'm looking forward to whatever Railroading Heritage of Midwest America, Incorporated comes up with for its future.
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