Trains magazine is reporting that negotiations between the Friends of the 261 and the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay have been unsuccessful. The Milwaukee Road 261 will return to the museum. The Friends may find another locomotive to restore. Hopefully they will get clear title to the next one.
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Additional Information Contact: Bob Lettenberger
Phone: 920-437-7623, x-16
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 09-15
Milwaukee Road #261 to Return to Museum
Ashwaubenon (Green Bay, Wis.) – In an e-mail dated Tuesday, November 17, 2009, Steve Sandberg, COO of the Friends of the 261, informed the National Railroad Museum that his organization has decided to discontinue operating former Milwaukee Road steam locomotive #261, according to Michael E. Telzrow, executive director of the National Railroad Museum. Per the terms of the current agreement, The Friends of the 261 are now responsible for returning the locomotive to the Museum.
“The Museum wishes to see #261 continue its excursion operations,” stated Telzrow. “The locomotive is a living piece of America’s railroad heritage and offers a unique perspective on a bygone era. For these reasons, the Museum is exploring options which involve continued operation and eventual exhibit at the National Railroad Museum.”
The former Milwaukee Road locomotive is the first piece of railroad equipment acquired by the Museum, arriving at the facility on March 10, 1958. In railroad service, #261 had a brief career as a freight and passenger locomotive from 1944 to 1954. The Milwaukee Road assigned the locomotive to Chicago. From here it worked as far west as Kansas City and Omaha and north to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Having been built under World War II technology restrictions, #261 is a conglomeration of designs that existed at the time.
The Friends of the 261 have operated the locomotive for the past 18 years under a lease agreement with the National Railroad Museum. The 261 has appeared at rail events in the Midwest and eastern states. The locomotive has also led numerous excursions in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Founded in 1956, the National Railroad Museum is one of the oldest institutions of its type in the U.S. The Museum works to foster an understanding of railroading and its significance to American life. Visiting the National Railroad Museum offers you an opportunity to explore our railroad heritage. Sit in the cab of the Union Pacific Big Boy, the world’s largest steam locomotive. View Gen. Eisenhower’s World War II command train. Examine the future of railroading in the sleek 1955 General Motors Aerotrain. The Museum is one of the oldest and largest institutions of its kind in the U.S.
FOR MEDIA USE — Photos of Milwaukee Road #261 are available at the Museum’s website – http://www.nationalrrmuseum.org/en-Us/n ... fault.aspx.
News Release
Contact: Steve Sandberg
Friends of the 261 to return Milwaukee Road 261 to National Railroad Museum
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, Nov. 20, 2009:
The “Friends of the 261” was unable to accept the final offer for an extension of its lease agreement for Milwaukee Road 261 from the National Railroad Museum of Green Bay, Wis. As a result, the famous steam locomotive, which was built in 1944 and used by the “Friends” in excursion service from 1993 to 2008, will eventually return to the Museum as a display.
The National Railroad Museum, which owns the 261, and the “Friends” have been attempting to negotiate a new lease for the past several years. The Friends asked for at least a 15-year lease agreement while the NRM’s final offer was for a ten-year term. Friends of the 261 and North Star Rail Chief Operating Officer Steve Sandberg said the decision to return 261 was based on simple economics. “The Museum’s latest offer would only extend us a ten-year lease, but under current Federal regulations boiler overhauls have a 15-year term. The cost for the 10-year lease was $20,000 per year with a four percent increase annually compounding. After incurring the cost of rebuilding the locomotive, the Friends would be paying in addition an average of $25,000 per year for the 10-year period. After ten years we would have to give the locomotive back with 33 percent of its service life still left. It’s hard to amortize the cost of a 15-year boiler overhaul in a ten-year time frame. We just could not economically justify spending $400,000 to $600,000 on an overhaul, plus paying a substantially increased lease payment, for only a ten-year lease term.”
For several years the “Friends” has been cross subsidizing the cost of 261 operations by leasing or chartering passenger cars from a fleet of cars it has built up over the years. This has enabled the not for profit Friends of 261 to keep the 261 in operation – the only privately sponsored mainline steam organization to do so, year after year.
Sandberg said it has been a privilege to restore and operate 261 over the past 15 years. “It has been one of the joys of my life to operate Milwaukee Road 261, especially since my grandfather used to run the locomotive on the Milwaukee Road when it was in regular service. I want to thank the National Railroad Museum for entrusting our organization with this historic engine for the last decade and a half.”
Even with the conclusion of 261 operations, the Friends of the 261 will remain active. The group will continue to charter and lease its extensive fleet of passenger cars for Amtrak and excursion trips. In 2010, the group is working to bring another main line steam locomotive to Minneapolis for several excursions, and, in the long run, may acquire another steam locomotive to restore to operation.