Transport: Farewell, Milwaukee 261

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.

Margin Notes: More on Minnesota

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA - Today, I present some final thoughts from Minnesota.

One of the United States Senate races to watch appears to be the one in Minnesota. The latest poll shows Republican incumbent Norm Coleman leading Democrat Al Franken, but most significantly Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley surging to 13% support, seemingly taking away votes from each of the major party candidates, both of whom lost support since the last poll. If yard signs mean anything, Franken appears poised to sweep the Twin Cities while in the rural areas I saw almost no Franken signs and not that many Coleman signs. Nowhere did I see a Barkley sign. In a state that once elected Jesse Ventura governor (I saw his portrait in the state capitol), though, Barkley may indeed have a significant impact on the race.

The I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River is set to re-open at 05:00 on Thursday. The bridge collapsed in June 2007, so the fact that it has been replaced in not much more than a year, well ahead of the original schedule, is quite a feat. The bridge collapsed about a week after my last visit to the Twin Cities, so one wonders what will happen the next time I visit.

In contrast, and returning to my theme of not understanding the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the speed limit on I-35E through much of St. Paul is 45 miles per hour. There must be an engineering reason for this low limit, but I couldn't discern it. I also find it strange that this main artery is only two lanes in each direction north of the Mississippi. Needless to say, it was stop-and-go at rush hour, but I was surprised to find that rush hour seemed to end about 18:30 on Friday, and I didn't encounter any significant traffic driving around at mid-day on Monday. Most US and Canadian cities would be envious.

An interesting feature of parks in the Twin Cities seems to be facilities for canines. While walking around St. Paul on Friday, I noted that next to each drinking fountain for humans was a bowl at ground level for dogs. In some cases, it was integrated into the human unit by the city while in others it was just a plastic dish seemingly put there by local residents. I thought maybe this was a function of walking through relatively affluent neighborhoods, but I saw the same thing at Minnehaha Falls Park today, so it appears to be more universal.

The idea that AM radio is dying, that its listeners are at least 45 years old and that the new Portable People Meter device used by Arbitron is making the trend more obvious, is a topic I will likely return to in the future. For now, suffice to say WCCO in Minneapolis may exemplify the trend. I found it refreshing to find Mondale and Jones on 830 AM when I landed on Friday, but was surprised to find their bumper music was all songs from the 1960's and 1970's. I thought maybe the old music was specific to that show, but tuning in later in the day found the same trend. Is WCCO actually trying to attract an older demographic? I was certainly left to wonder. Meanwhile, syndicated conservative talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck were on 100.3 FM, KTLK (K-Talk)--it was rather nice to hear Rush in FM clarity.

The reason for my trip to Minnesota was to chase and ride behind the last runs of former Milwaukee Road steam locomotive #261 before it goes out of service for what is expected to be at least a year for a 15-year boiler overhaul. While there are other large steam locomotives operating occasionally on this continent, including former Santa Fe #3751 between Los Angeles and San Diego next weekend, the 261 is the only coal burner in the group--former Southern Pacific #4449, former Spokane, Portland and Seattle #700, and Union Pacific #844 and #3985, for example, all burn oil. I intentionally stood on a highway overpass above the tracks near La Crescent on Saturday just to experience the exhaust filled with coal cinders pouring up toward me, and spent significant time in the vestibules on Sunday, where one did not even need to stick one's head out the window to experience the joys of coal cinders. Sure, it's dirty (I had to wash my hair thoroughly and even noticed when blowing my nose) and one shouldn't wear nice clothes, but where else can one experience that on a mainline railroad today? It's something everyone should do at least once. I will certainly be looking forward to the 261's return to the mainlines.