what kind of shape is 265 in can she get "hot" in the future?
Milwaukee Road 265 is at the Illinois Railroad Museum and has been since being removed from a park in Milwaukee about 30 years ago where it was long known locally as "Old Smokey." It is in decent shape appearance wise but there is no thought to reviving the engine; it was heavily vandalized before being moved
It donated some usable parts to the better known 261 which is still partly disassembled and has been the subject of a dispute between the operators and the museum in Green Bay which owns the engine and recently tried to sell it. The director of the Green Bay Museum has recently taken another position. Whether that means a more enlightened position regarding the 261 remains to be seen but there is always hope. No chance of it steaming in 2010 alas - and possibly, never again.
Dave Nelson
dknelson <snip> The director of the Green Bay Museum has recently taken another position. <snip>
<snip> The director of the Green Bay Museum has recently taken another position. <snip>
One can only hope that his motivation for taking a new position resembled that of business executives who resign "in order to spend more time with my family".
He resigned to become the head of the Wisconsin Veteran's Museum in Madison WI. Telzrow is a professional museum guy not a railroad guy. He won no friends during this 261 debacle that is for sure. On the other hand keeping a railroad museum going in these times is no easy task either, so give the guy whatever credit is due him. Personally I was never going to visit the museum again so long as he was in charge and I imagine others felt the same way so I think the positive things he did there became counter productive in the long run.
You know natural history museums tend to sell or discard or trade exhibit material all the time but in the world of art museums, selling off the collection to raise money is just considered taboo. I think he had a natural history museum director's attitude towards a collection that we railfans regard more more like an art museum. Every artifact is sacred to us because the chance of it being saved was so small. I know some guys were horrified at what he sold off or had scrapped but as a practical matter other museums are letting similar stuff just rot or rust in the fields. The end result is pretty similar.
The fact that some items that he sold or discarded had been donated with dedicated funding is harder to forgive. There will never be another GB&W wood reefer for example.
With that chapter over we can all move on but the main hope now is that with new personalities involved maybe the entrenched positions regarding 261 can be rethought.
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