88 CLASSIC TRAINS FALL 2019visitors are welcomed on specific occa-
sions. The engine will be back out on the
road September 21–22 and 27–29 when it
returns to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic
Railroad’s former Baltimore & Ohio line
south of Cleveland for a series of excur-
sions. More information is available at
http://www.fortwaynerailroad.org.MILWAUKEE 261
In July 1944, Allied forces were evict-
ing the Japanese from Burma as Alco
delivered 4-8-4 No. 261 to the Milwaukee
Road. The Northern and nine other
members of the S3 class did their share of
shouldering the railroad’s flood of ton-
nage between Omaha, St. Paul, and Chi-cago. With its 74-inch drivers, it was as
much at home on troop trains as it was
on long reefer blocks. But dieselization
meant the 261 was out of a job by 1954,
presumably headed for scrap.
Happily, the engine was one of two
Milwaukee 4-8-4s saved, the other being
265, now at the Illinois Railway Museum.
The 261 ended up in the collection of the
National Railroad Museum in Green Bay,
Wis. Along came what is known today as
the Friends of the 261, an organization
that initially leased, restored, and began
operating the 4-8-4 in 1993. Now with
more than a quarter-century of excursion
operation, mainly in the upper Midwest
but spanning from New York to Mon-
tana, the 261 is fully owned by the Friends
and is maintained at the organization’s
shops in Minneapolis. On tap for this fall
are September 21–22 Gourmet Express
dinner train operations on the Twin Cit-
ies & Western’s former Milwaukee Road
main line west from Minneapolis. For
more information, visit http://www.261.com.UNION PACIFIC 844
If there’s a first among equals in thisFort Wayne Railroad Historical Society crew members relax after bringing NKP 765 into Chica-
go’s La Salle Street Station in June 2017. Metra hosted 765 in 2016, ’17, and ’18. Robert S. McGonigalClassics Today
WEST VIRGINIA. BY RAIL.
Six Trains. Three Depots. Elkins, Cass, Durbin.
CALL 304.636.9477 • MTN-RAIL.COM
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