Just saw it on the Trains newswire. Anyone have more information on the condition of 265, the interest in this project, and the like? Seeing 261 is already running, I'm not sure this will work out, but you never know.
Random thought: A 261-265 doubleheader would be very cool.
To me it sounds like another well meaning dream. Those generally get tripped by all those pesky little details that the dreamers have overlooked, ignored, or left to figure out later. Money is often a big one but there are lots of other challenges to resolve before starting any physical work.
According to the News Wire article the guy from IRM seem to think it was unlikely that the membership would allow the engine to be leased. So I'm not expecting much from this group. Sounds pipe dreamy to me as well.
On the other hand does anyone know if IRM ever plans to get any of their steam up and running again?
Dan Metzger
Go seek out the website of the group proposing to repatriate and restore the loco:
http://steammarketinggroup.com/home.html
Read through the language used there, and notice just how closely it resembles either an over-the-top satire of a "business-jargon" sales pitch (where you are paid by the syllable, and the less you can actually concretely say the better), or the result of the severe overuse of something like this (with advance apologies for the descriptive language, but sometimes you have to call it what it is):
http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html
Enough said.
After reading their website I'd agree its sounds like corporate BS speak. They are a marketing company, meaning advertising. My guess is if they were to get and restore 265 it would ind up wearing some corporate logo or something.
I can't name the part, but as I recall Milwaukee 261 has some significant part "borrowed" from 265. At the time of the swap, no one thought it significant as 265 was merely a static display. Does anyone remember what this might have been?
Well, if I read the "Newswire" story correctly, the group that wants to restore the 265 seem to have a lot of enthusiasm, but aside from that they're all over the place.
Enthusiasm's great, that's what gets things started, but if I was IRM I'd want to see a SERIOUS business plan before I'd consider letting 265 go, not a half-plan that bounces around like a ping-pong ball.
OK. I just took a look at the Steam Marketing website, and it strikes me as something Scott Adams would use as a "Dilbert" story line.
Maybe I'm being unfair. The whole business world seems inundated with this Yuppie-MBA Mill-Corporate Speak gobbledegook, so if that's the way these people have been taught to speak and think I suppose they can't help themselves.
I thought of Dilbert too when I saw that. I also wonder if Adams uses that Dack BS generator. It certainly sounds like something the Pointy-Haired Boss would say (and has said)
Obvious plan from non railroad people without a clue.
Randy
I find it interesting that the pictures at the top of the pages don't include a single RR theme... all aircraft and boats. And the animation of the locomotive wheels shows the animator is... well, I'll be nice and shut up now.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
eagle1030 I thought of Dilbert too when I saw that. I also wonder if Adams uses that Dack BS generator. It certainly sounds like something the Pointy-Haired Boss would say (and has said)
I read somewhere that Scott Adams has "spies" in corporate America, well not spies exactly, but a lot of fans who pass on the corporate nonsense they hear and put up with that he uses in his story lines.
The reason "Dilbert" is so funny is because it's so true.
This ambitious project to make 265 run again -- and the perhaps even more ambitious project to purchase land in Milwaukee and construct a large roundhouse, with turntable, to house the engine (and others!) -- was much talked about at last fall's Trainfest in Milwaukee and all I can say is that even the dreamers and enthusiasts were rolling their eyes. Milwaukee has spent a fortune reclaiming that land and it is unlikely that a nonprofit museum it what they had in mind to recoup that investment.
When 265 was on display in Milwaukee it got into a very sorry condition, due to weather and vandals, and the movement to the museum in Union was agonizingly slow because evidently some brass bearings had been taken from the engine and some wood replacements were pressed into service and had to be constantly attended to. It was assumed that at most 265 was for display only and quite properly resources were focused on 261. My own opinion is that we should consider ourselves lucky that 265 was not scrapped and leave it at that.
Indeed some of us are hoping that the change in control at the CP does not create issues for running 261 once it is back in operating shape, presumably later this year. The 261 folks have worked hard to create good relationships with Amtrak, CP and BNSF and without those relationships, track record, and actual railroading expertise, you are not going to be allowed to turn a wheel on a Class 1 main.
I think it is fair to say that Milwaukee rather took 265 for granted when it was on display here and I find it hard to belive there would all of a sudden be such interest in it now as this group seems to think.
Before the engine was taken to Union IL there was some talk of moving it to one of the shopping malls in Milwaukee for indoor display. And at one time I was told some Milwaukee Road veteran employees had carefully squirreled away some steam parts in the old shops buildings in Milwaukee in the hope that 265 would use them. All those buildings are of course long gone, and before then there was a real housecleaning of the buildings and grounds in search of anything that could be sold for scrap.
Dave Nelson
Would be great to see another historic Milwaukee Road locomotive run again, but it appears that it might only be wishful thinking.
I'll keep hoping it happens!
We have too few trains left from that great era of steam!
Gary
I'd rather see the 3007 (Purple Martin) restored, but I'm biased towards Q engines. There is 4 others relatively close to take parts from if they needed...
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