Milwaukee Road 261 has been Sold
Trains News Wire:
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261 has been sold through rail equipment broker Sterling Rail to a California-based collector, the company reports. The locomotive’s present owners, the National Railroad Museum, had no comment on the possible sale.
The Minneapolis-based nonprofit Friends of the 261 leased the locomotive from NRM and operated it from 1993 to 2008. The engine is presently in the Friends’ Minneapolis shop, having been torn down for its federally mandated 15-year inspection. When talks between the NRM and the Friends on a new lease stalled last fall, overhaul work on the 4-8-4 ended and plans were to return the engine to Green Bay for display.
The 261 was built in 1944 and weighs more than one million pounds. After retiring from the Milwaukee Road in 1954, the steam engine was rebuilt in 1993 and began new life pulling steam excursion rides leased through the Friends of the 261.
The 261 traveled to Chicago in May of 2008 for the making of the movie Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp.
While several stories have been floating around the Internet that the friends will rebuild and operate 261 for the new owner, that’s not the case, at least not yet, says Steve Sandberg, the Friends’ chief operating officer. “Our organization has been engaged in talks with several organizations about the possibility of leasing or acquiring other steam locomotives,” Sandberg told TRAINS. “We have an obligation to our organization and to those we are in discussion with to carry those talks through and see what the outcome will be.” However, Sandberg didn’t completely rule out working with 261’s new owner. “We are looking forward to talking with the new owner to see if there is an economically viable plan where we can cooperate,” he said.
While the Friends has leased the 261 for 15 years, it’s really not a party to the sale, and Sandberg says that he has not yet been formally notified that the sale has gone through. If or when a sale is completed, there are several business issues that would have to be resolved. For example, while the friends were required to carry insurance on the 261 under the agreement with the museum, if the engine were sold, the insurance would be the obligation of the new owner.
