A few years ago I traced the history of what happened to GN #1246 after the Woodland Park Zoo here in Seattle auctioned it away in 1980 to Fred Kepner, whose dream of a locomotive museum never materialized. The Consolidation, donated by the Great Northern in 1953, was at the zoo all through my childhood.
After it was shipped out, No. 1246 sat on a siding with other of Kepner's acquisitions at Merrill, Oregon and slowly rusted away. As Kepner aged, he began entertaining offers for sale of his equipment, but he always wanted untenable amounts of money to let them go. Last time I checked, No. 1246 was still sitting out in the dry Oregon sun, home to bees.
Today, I happened to go looking for a photo of the locomotive online, and I stumbled across this happy news:https://www.trainmuseum.org/index.php/2-uncategorised/61-great-northern-locomotive-1246
I knew Kepner had died, but I had no idea that a deal had been reached and that 1246 was coming home to the Puget Sound area. The best news of all is that it's already here!
The only thing I'm bummed about is that I didn't know it was coming, because it would have been worth a day off from work to see it arrive at the Snoqualmie Depot.
Note: The tender in the historic photo here is one that was not typical. It was used once with 1246 when there had been an accident, but they've found a more suitable tender to go with the engine for its return to glory.
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
As I recall there was considerable discussion about this on RyPN over the years, and you could go through and see more of 'the story'.
Overmod, do tell. What is RyPN?
EDIT: Ah, I see it. Thanks!
RYPN is Railway Preservation News
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space