MR 261 On The Move!

What a spectacular picture.  Snow on the ground, blue sky and steam!  Thanks for sharing.

 

BTW......

 

MR 261?  Isn't that a magazine?

 

The MR reporting mark belonged to the McCloud River Railroad.

 

The Milwaukee Road used MILW as their reporting mark.

For what it's worth, that was a non-revinue "test run" on the Twin Cities & Western RR.

Is that new track? The building looks a lot like one near the picturesque west side of Minneapolis, where there was just a giant empty field in the early 1990s.  I would walk there on my MSP overnights.  Even trespassed once and walked across the stone bridge over the Mississippi.

 

Delighted that this thing still runs!

No, there has always been track there, though there may have been some realignment due to the construction of Target Field. This shot was taken from the Washington Avenue bridge in the warehouse district of North Minneapolis. This is about two miles from Minneapolis Junction, where the shop is located.

 

The stone arch bridge is about a half mile south of there, and is now paved for foot and bike traffic. No more trespassing required.

Great photo...very good to see her back out and under steam. 

 

Chris

Great picture, but it's increasingly hard to think of the snow here as "spectacular". Another 3.5  inches fell last night!! O well, it's only snowed in May once....

Nice photo,thanks for posting the 261 update.

Dan

A few more great pics of her....

 

 

 

  I have noticed that as for a steam locomotive 261.Didn,t oparate all that long before she was retired.Another thing is that a lot of steam locomotives had horn and whistle.261 looks pretty  cool in your picture.Good catch man 

Notice 261 is running without the mars light.  Personally I like it better especially if they would now center the bell.  I saw a photo from the 50s and that is way it ran without the mars light.

I agree, I wish the would center it as well.  Now it just looks out of place off to the side.

 

Chris

I was out running around today, and my travels took me within a mile of the shop, so I decided to swing by, on the off chance I might catch a glimpse of her. The weather was nice, and the door was open, but without crossing the tracks, I couldn't see inside.

Interesting to see that they keep a tarp over the Skytop of the Cedar Rapids. I read somewhere that they had a real problem with leaking.




Only 17 days til her Duluth run.

I found video of this "event". Snow on the ground on April 20th.

 

It seems like " only yesterday" that 261 was to be put on static display never to run again.

 

Nice video...thanks.

 

Chris

That's awesome.   And no diesel trailer.  It just looks so much better, more authentic.

That's because it was a non-revenue movement, i.e. NO PASSENGERS.

 

When they operate their excursions, under Amtrak insurance, I'll bet there will be an Amtrak diesel behind the auxiliary tender.

If I remember correct, few years ago, saw it ran from/to Twin Cities to Duluth without any diesel locomotive on BNSF track. It has passengers.

I think you need to clarify what you mean by "a few years ago", since MIL 261 has been out of service since about 2008 or maybe even 2007. Mil 261 needed the FRA mandated 15 year inspection, plus extensive running gear overhaul, then there was all that delay negotiating with the Greenbay Museum over work to be done vs. ownership.

Checked Google and the date was June 2-3, 2007. My mistake. it DOES show Amtrak locomotive behind tenders! Dont recall see it when I was chased it from Cambridge to Braham, MN

All I'm saying is it looks so much better without the diesel trailer.  In my humble opinion.