Green Bay locomotive going to England via CN

[atrainguy60]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns- ... 7274.story

I wonder if this will go through MI.

[NSSD60M]

Hmm, very interesting find. I couldn't imagine anymore of a direct route that it travelling through Michigan, enroute to Halifax, NS.
That's going to be something to look out for, as the effort comes to fruition.

Thanks for posting, Atrainguy

[Standard Railfan]

I suggest that this move might happen a a lower speed to avoid an expensive embarrassment. CN might route this move to the Sault Ste. Marie gateway. The CN route to the north offers some advantages. No Amtrak or higher speed freights in the way. Less opportunity for an "interaction" at a highway crossing. The weak link in this scenario is the weight limits of the bridge across the St. Mary's river. CN would also lose the PR opportunities available to them.

[MQT3001]

I suggest that this move might happen a a lower speed to avoid an expensive embarrassment. CN might route this move to the Sault Ste. Marie gateway. The CN route to the north offers some advantages. No Amtrak or higher speed freights in the way. Less opportunity for an "interaction" at a highway crossing. The weak link in this scenario is the weight limits of the bridge across the St. Mary's river. CN would also lose the PR opportunities available to them.

Wouldn't that route via the SOO involve running over that "dangerous" track

[SW]

No, that is the E&LS. From Green Bay, the engine would move NE on CN (ex-CNW) to Marinette, where the line turns north and more or less parallels US-41 to Powers, where it turns east. From there, to Gladstone and on to the Soo.
http://cnebusiness.geomapguide.ca/

[atrainguy60]

Your welcome. So it probably won't be coming through the lower peninsula then.

[NSSD60M]

Your welcome. So it probably won't be coming through the lower peninsula then.

While going through the UP would definitely be the "scenic" route, I'd put full faith in it travelling through the LP. If all the concern of an embarrassing mishap was truly the case, they'd have routed that huge reactor on the 36-axle Schnabel car some other way a couple summers ago. They too had all sorts of restrictions for passing/being passed by other trains, and a myriad of other concerns. They made it just fine

[AARR]

When I open the link I get a blank page. Which engine is it? And why does England want it? Thanks.

[SD80MAC]

When I open the link I get a blank page. Which engine is it? And why does England want it? Thanks.

It's some sort of British steamer.

[SW]

When I open the link I get a blank page. Which engine is it? And why does England want it? Thanks.

Link worked for me, but here is the article:
Meg Jones Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
May 4, 2012
GREEN BAY —
The mighty steam engine named after Dwight Eisenhower is about to get its passport stamped again.
Almost half a century ago, the locomotive and coal tender traveled from England via rail and sea to Green Bay, where it has attracted thousands of train fans and World War II history buffs to the National Railroad Museum.
Soon it will head back across the pond for the 75th anniversary celebration of the world speed record for steam locomotives. The record wasn't set by the London and North Eastern Railway A4 locomotive housed in a climate-controlled building in Green Bay. But since there are only six surviving A4 steam engines in the world, the Eisenhower is highly sought after.
The dark green locomotive and tender are attached to two rail cars used by Eisenhower as a mobile command headquarters in England during the planning for the D-Day invasion in 1944.
Aside from the Green Bay museum's A4, there's one at a Montreal museum and four in England.
Officials from Britain's National Railway Museum in York, England, contacted the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay last year to see if the Wisconsinites would part with the historic locomotive for two years.
"It's one of the pieces we love," said Jacqueline Frank, executive director of the Green Bay museum. "We definitely are sad to see it leave, but it's an opportunity for us because it will spur us to change our exhibits and do some preservation projects" while the locomotive and tender are overseas.
It's common for museums to lend artifacts to each other. Most museum pieces don't weigh 122 tons, though. And moving a steam locomotive and tender is not like shipping a Van Gogh.
Since the Green Bay museum's A4 hasn't chugged along tracks in decades, it will be jacked up and moved to the other side of the museum building to train tracks that connect with an old Wisconsin Central Railroad spur. One or two large cranes will place the locomotive on a flatbed rail car -- the tender will be moved the same way a day later -- and then transported by Canadian National Railway to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where it will be joined by the A4 at the Montreal museum.
Both locomotives and tenders will then travel by sea to England, still on the same flatbed rail cars, where they'll be transported by train to the museum in York. The flatbed cars are lower than American flatbeds because many old rail bridges in England are lower than their counterparts in America, explained Frank.
England's National Railway Museum houses the country's collection of historically significant railway vehicles -- either built in Britain or operated on British railways -- and is considered one of the premier rail museums in the world.
Transportation costs will be paid by the British museum for the exhibit celebrating the steam engine speed record of 126 mph set in 1938 by an A4 called Mallard. Organizers are discussing using one of the A4s in an attempt to break the old record.
Meanwhile, Eisenhower's staff cars, which are outfitted with a conference room, sleeping cabins and beds adorned with green Army blankets, will remain in Green Bay. When Ike traveled, the cars sported bulletproof plates on the roof and sides.
Visitors to the Green Bay museum have until mid-July to see the A4 locomotive before it leaves. The engine will be gated off for the move, although spectators will be able to see it prepped for the journey. The actual lifting will be done after the museum has closed for the day.
While the locomotive and tender are on their British sojourn, Green Bay museum officials plan to spruce up the two Eisenhower staff cars by painting interiors and exteriors, replacing furniture and installing new interactive features.
The National Railroad Museum gets about 75,000 visitors each year. Eisenhower visited Green Bay for the train's dedication at the museum in 1964.
Though it was named after Eisenhower, the locomotive actually never pulled the supreme allied commander's heavily armored rail cars during World War II. After the war, it continued to be used for passenger service and was dubbed the Dwight D. Eisenhower in honor of his service. In 1959, Harold Fuller, the Green Bay museum's board chairman, asked the British Railway Board if it could be purchased.
The British Railway Board rebuffed attempts to acquire the Eisenhower because it still had many years "of sterling service in front of it," according to museum archives. Two years later, Fuller tried again and, after hundreds of letters and telegrams, the National Railroad Museum managed to buy the locomotive and tender.
It traveled under its own steam to the Southampton docks in England, sailed to New York and then chugged to Green Bay in May 1964. The two staff cars used by Ike followed four years later.
Railway Museum
For more information about Green Bay's National Railroad Museum, go to nationalrrmuseum.org

[CSX_CO]

For anyone who hasn't been, I recommend the National Railway Museum. A bit 'off the beaten path' up there in Green Bay, but the main museum building is worth it. Big Boy inside, this engine, plus a couple of pullman cars. They had a Pullman exhibit when I was there in the summer of 2010. Pretty interesting.

Walking around in the barns outside is your typical museum 'stuff'. Great peices, all of which need TLC. However, they do have a loop of track, and do offer rides.

Practice Safe CSX

[MQT3001]

For anyone who hasn't been, I recommend the National Railway Museum. A bit 'off the beaten path' up there in Green Bay, but the main museum building is worth it. Big Boy inside, this engine, plus a couple of pullman cars. They had a Pullman exhibit when I was there in the summer of 2010. Pretty interesting.

Walking around in the barns outside is your typical museum 'stuff'. Great peices, all of which need TLC. However, they do have a loop of track, and do offer rides.

Practice Safe CSX

Hmmm.....I see an excuse to take the cross-lake ferry

[bctrainfan]

Wow! The shipping & handling charge is gonna be a bear!

[NSSD60M]

Looks like it's on the move and reported in CN Kirk yard:

http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/loc ... to-england

How in the world did it even get that far without so much as even a nudge on any board??

[atrainguy60]

UpNorthBob on MichiganRailroads.com said that yesterday he caught an eastbound train in Davison at about 1:00pm with some flatcars with a tarp covered locomotive. He also said that the tender was uncovered. It sounds like the engine has gone east through MI already.

[SD80MAC]

Yup, went through Durand about 10:30 yesterday morning.

[MagnumForce]

Railohio had pictures of it on the move, south through Wakesha at the beginnning of last week FWIW.

[railohio]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/railohio/7732733166/

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/railohio/7732732964/

[NSSD60M]

Good coverage of that, RO. Looks like you're about the only one that it didn't sneak past. I did see a couple shots from a CN yahoo group, but that was about it. Nice catch, but the dang blanket takes the fun out of it.

[dmitzel]

A little off-topic, but here's a short video I shot along the old Great Central Railway north of Leicester ("Lester") while in the UK a couple of weeks ago.

http://youtu.be/mnOR4CGMhgE

I'm hoping to carve out enough time to ride the line next time I'm over there.