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.

-30-

Rust in Piece 261 (spelled wrong intentionally). Well at least we can sit in the cab of of Big Boy at NRM eeehhhhhhhhh. Truely a shame that such a fine engine is going to be parked. I had fun seeing and riding it once, wish I did it more.

The 261 story is in a kinda sad mode lately, but I am not sure it is all bad news. Maybe the economics of big steam don't work in any case. We all thought that somehow it could work, and cited the 261 as an example. I would like to see it still work, but wonder if in the meantime, we need to just settle for other options. Seeing revived historic diesel trains would be cool.

I saw the Zephyr recreation at Portola last month. Maybe the 261 group can work on restoring a Hiawatha trainset. Some original MILW coaches are available in the west at this time. It seems quite a few E units from the line survived as well.

And if they can put some big boiler on the front end every once in a while... Awesome!
O.

Hope they take those roller bearings off the tender, even if it means doing the change to temp bearings right outside NRM's gate.

Steve

Looks like I can shred those Christmas cards now.

At last weekend's Trainfest show in Milwaukee, NRM's booth was telling people who asked, "We officially have no comment at this point, nothing has been finalized one way or the other".

I was told unofficially by someone I'm semi-close to at NRM that it was indeed official at that point, that they were waiting until after Trainfest to make the announcement, simply because they have gotten such a black eye over how this has been, if not handled, at least perceived to have been handled, in the public eye.

I'm a bit surprised about the timing though, I had the impression the plan was a mid December/end of the year plan.

A sad thing, but as the old adage goes, one door closes, another opens.
(At least we all hope)

Cross one NRM off my list of museums to visit.

Mike Stillwell
Buena Vista, VA.

And they actually expect to find another operator who will pay them $$$ for the privilege (not to mention the investment in the boiler work)? They will look doubly like a__es if they attempt to save face by finding or assembling a new operating group and then word gets out that they let the new group have it for a dollar a year after having tried to put the screws to the original Friends.

Farewell 261. Long live 265 (I hope LOL)!

What would folks think of the name of the owning museum on the sides of the aux water car? Yes, they don't own it but that would give them some PR value and doesn't tamper with the engine itself. Sort of like High Iron Company (in NKP typeface!) in the 759 era.

Steve

Requiescat in pacem, 261!

It was a glorious run, but it most certainly is over. The museum's "offer" to the Friends of the 261 was for a ten (10) year lease. The dollar cost would double in the first year to $20,000 and would have increased by a compounded 4% each year for the 10 year term of the lease.

The museum would then have received a locomotive with 33% of its service life back. To amortize the $400,000 to $600,000 cost of the overhaul over 10 years would have been virtually impossible, so an excellent business decision on the part of the Friends to decline this "offer" in my opinion.

The museum has said, in their press release, that they are seeking "other opportunities" for the locomotive and have said to people whom I trust that there's "another group" who wants to lease, overhaul and operate the 261. If so, I hope they have deep pockets, a place to run and rolling stock to pull. But I doubt it.

That's just personal opinion. It will be fun to see what the Friends and the Sandbergs do, going forward. Knowing Steve, I'm pretty sure it will be spectacular. Those folks have the rolling stock, the reputation and the skills to succeed with ANY locomotive they choose.

Good luck to Steve and company!

Doug

Okay, folks, calm down. This is NOT an appropriate response.

There are at least two sides to every "discussion" such as this. Let's look at this from the standpoint of the Museum and Milwaukee Road preservation:

The Museum is now once again in control of one of its prized assets. The loco can be put away in more or less operable condition (save for a few quick changes, that would have been made by Friends of 261 anyway had they continued operating it). Sometime in the future, the door is wide open for someone else to operate the loco, which is, at this point, more than we can say for a whole litany of other former high iron prima donnas (seen NKP 759 lately? PRR "7002," 1223, and/or 1361? Reading 2101/AFT 1? N&W 611 or 1218? C&O 2716? CN 6060 and 6218? CP 2839?) This doesn't even take into account locos that are ready or all but ready but languishing unused (GTW 6323, PM 1225, SP&S 700, NKP 765, B&LE 643, Reading 2102, Cotton Belt 819, ATSF 3751, C&O 614, the list goes on........).

I once interviewed the chief financial officer of Britain's oldest commercial brewery, Young's, which at the time was faced with the difficult decision to move its brewing operations out of a horribly outdated and cramped "historic" facility in London. The company was being criticized in the media for forsaking its history. The executive told me, over a pint of Old Nick, "I have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders. The real estate is now worth more than the business, as good as we are. I may love our centuries of history, but I can't take that to the bank. We're a brewery, not a museum."

The National Railway Museum, as much as some of us might dislike the results, made a business decision. I would honestly expect much the same results had ANY other professionally curated museum been involved. Actually, no: Few, if any, such museums would have permitted such a lease of one of their big locomotives in the first place.

Go ahead. Go to the B&O Museum and ask to lease C&O 4-6-4 490 on such terms. Or B&O 4-6-2 5300. Go to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, or the California State Railroad Museum, or the Canadian Railway Museum, or St. Louis MOT, or the Henry Ford Museum, or Travel Town. Or Steamtown, or Cass. Ask to lease one of their "spare" steamers for ten or fifteen years to fix up and operate on the main or your short line. Let me know what response you get.

The reality is that in the strictest of museum operating protocols, such a lease really flies in the face of proper curatorial policies. I wouldn't be surprised if such leases would actually violate the standards regarding accreditation. There are museums out there where such possibilities may exist--Green Bay has demonstrated its willingness for the past fifteen years (if not in price); Kentucky Railway Museum was willing to work with Southern regarding 2716 a generation ago (and we can regard that as a cautionary tale, in hindsight); and the fact that we can openly discuss some other options such as IRM/265 is a good sign that some flexibility may still exist.

NRM Green Bay still has a lot to enjoy--probably the best looking UP Big Boy and GG1, both under cover, for starts. Two nice big buildings, paid for in part, no doubt, by 261 revenues. They've been cleaning house, getting rid of "albatrosses" they admit they no longer can care for. For an operation relatively "out of the way" and not at the public teat, they do pretty well.

Should I trash the EBT because they no longer have four steamer available for our riding pleasure? Should I condemn the RR Museum of Pa. for not letting 1223 continue to run on the Strasburg? Should I still be boycotting NS because they stopped mainline steam 15 years ago? Heck, why don't I condemn UP for not letting "foreign" steam on their railroad?

We don't have the luxury of such pettiness anymore.

I never heard what the Friends counter proposal was. One may presume it would have been for the full life of the overhaul. Perhaps they were offering less on the money side than the old lease if the economics have changed and/or having done this stuff for years they have real world experience to guide their offer. BUT if in fact they were offering to continue to pay on the same terms as the old lease then it's hard to see how this is such a great decision from a musuem fiduciary standpoint unless they do in fact have someone waiting in the wings to run the engine. Unless such an entity has large external resources it seems unlikely that such a lease as NRM demanded would take place.

And since NRM's statements seem to go towards 261 as cash cow and not "we want our engine back to display and preserve" one must discount the latter. So how, from a $$$ standpoint, are they better off with this outcome?

Steve

If they were discussing or negotiating the lease at all, then "we want the display back" doesn't really cut it. Aside from that, and assuming that there isn't some far-fetched situation where one wing of the Museum was "negotiating" without the approval of the BOD which quickly overruled them and wanted the loco back..... is there a way to announce the end of the lease which DOESN'T make the whole situation look bad or sad, aside from basically claiming Sandberg & Co. wanted to "rip off" the Museum? Of course, you could just say the loco is coming back, with no mention of the lease negotiations at all, and we just look like some bunch of conspiracy wackos as a result...............

I can think of a far more inappropriate response, other than stating that I will voice my opinion with my dollars. I do think that the museum board should know that there can and will be some negative response to the position they have taken.
I don't think it is a fair comparison to put the 261 up against other tourist operations that have not to date, not felt the need to put their stock out for lease to private owners. NRM set up a precedent for their own organization, in which they reaped benefits, both financial and PR based, that they would not otherwise realized. Their actions to date, appear to be aimed at increasing the revenue stream from 261, rather than to bolster thier collection (a fair portion of which looks horrible) with a presentable locomotive. Come to think of it B&O has leased out a least 1 loco I am aware of for a movie role. I am sure there was a financial benefit for the museum, but I'm also quite sure that Will Smith didn't restore the Mason to operating condition.

The above is my opinion. You may not like it, but barring a stunning discovery of plans by the NRM that contradict all we have learned so far, you won't be changing it.

Regards - Mike Stillwell
Buena Vista, VA.

Sorry Sandy, it seems obvious the rationale had nothing to do with curatorial standards and everything to do with lease terms. If the BOD had set policy that leasing artifacts was improper, they sure wouldn't have followed it by negotiating a lease.

Many museums have colections devoted to being used in interpretive service. Why couldn't that include use in partnership with a responsible outside vendor with the resources to make it happen?

dave

The ten year lease does not allow enough time to earn back monies spent on the overhaul. With the economy the way it is and the uncertainty of the insurance industry any operation is taking a huge risk investing in big steam. Imagine a plan is worked out to meet the requirements of earning enough revenue over the ten year lease. Then 3 years into said lease there is a meltdown in the insurance industry. The economic conditions wont support fare increases and then the wheels stop turning. A longer lease allows for a longer time frame to ride out such a storm.

If the museum is so certain they big steam is a "sure thing" and a "cash cow" then they should become partners and put up the monies for the rebuild and they can share in all of the big money when it comes rolling in.