Across the Generations with the 261
by Steve Glischinski
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On September 14, 1993, Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261 became the ninth U.S. locomotive of that wheel arrangement in the past 30 years to be returned to service after years of retirement. Like other such restorations, this one was accomplished by people who love steam. Unlike most, the 261 group is intent on making some money with the project. But more important, the rebirth of Milwaukee 261 has a unique link through three generations of one family.
Frank Edward Sandberg was born on January 3, 1902, in the tiny town of Malmo, Minn., the second youngest in a family of seven boys and four girls. His father was killed in an accident when Frank was 2, and at age 13 he was out of the house in pursuit of employment. By the time he was 18, Sandberg was in Minneapolis working at a sash and door companyfor 35 cents an hour. When he demanded a raise to 45 cents, he wasfired.
He got a job with the Northern Pacific Railway, working three nights a week tending the fires of steam locomotives. One day his brother, Harry, a fireman for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, took him to the Minneapolis roundhouse and introduced him to theforeman. At Harry's urging the 18-year-old was hired. The next night, February 23, 1920, Sandberg made hisfirst trip as a student fireman on a hand-fired K1 class 2-6-2 from St. Paul to La Crosse, Wis. The regular fireman let Frank do most of the work.
The next day, Sandberg fired all the way from La Crosse to Hastings,
Minn., before exhaustion overtook him. Upon arrival back in St Paul, the
supervisor asked how the "kid" did "He did fine,"
said the fireman, and Frank Sandberg was marked up for service. During
his 51 -year Milwaukee Road career, he would run many steam and diesel
locomotives -- including a very special 4-8-4 numbered 261.
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Milwaukee Road embraced the Northern type early. In March 1930 it received one Baldwin-built 4-8-4 numbered 9700. Essentially a stretched version of the road's 4-6-4 Baltics (as the Milwaukee called the Hudson type), the 9700 was acquired for comparison with the 4-6-4's on the 915-mile run between Minneapolis and Harlowton, Mont. As it turned out, 4-6-4's proved equal to the task, and by June 1930 the one-of-a-kind 9700 was assigned to freight service out of Chicago. Classified S1, the 4-8-4 in 1934 was converted to oil fuel and sent west to haul passenger trains on the non-electrified "gap" -- a portion of the railroad's Pacific Extension between Avery, Idaho, and Othello, Wash., linking the two electrified sections. In 1938 the S1 was renumbered 250. By then, the Milwaukee Road had taken a liking to the Northern.
In February 1938 the company's West Milwaukee strops turned out 4-8-4 251, a duplicate ofthe 9700. It was the last steam locomotive built at the shops. Meanwhile, in 1937 and early 1938, Baldwin delivered 30 coal-burning 4-8-4's numbered 200-229 and class)fied S2. Another 10 arrived in 1941 as 231-240. The S2's ran on the Chicago-Twin Cities or Chicago-Council Bluffs main lines, later going west to Harlowton, Mont. Their only regular passenger assignment was on the Olympian west of Minneapolis when it exceeded 12 cars.
Looking as spiffy as the day she arrived
from Alco in 1944, the 261 poses for a night portrait at Soo Line's Humboldt
Yard in Minneapolis on September 15, 1993. Photo: Victor Hand
Frank Sandberg had been with Milwaukee Road 17 years when the S2's arrived. Because of the Depression, he was laid off from late 1929 to 1934, so he took other jobs before he was called back to work. On February 12, 1928, he married Ruth Swanson, who lived across the street from his rooming house. They were married for 35 years.
Sandberg qualified as an engineer in the 1930's, but he remained on the extra board into the mid-1940's before he had enough seniority to run with regularity. He remembers one characteristic of the new S2's very well: "They were good engines, but they were awful dirty. They just poured cinders right into the cab until they put extensions on their stacks and reflector boards on the top of the cab. After a trip on an S2, you came out covered in black soot."
A frequent passenger on Frank's S2 trips was his son, Frank Jr. (or "Sandy"), born September2, 1941, one of two children of Frank and Ruth. Sandy came to love steam, but unlike hisfather, he kept railroading as a hobby rather than a vocation. Three months after Sandy was born, the U.S. entered World War II.
Like every other railroad, Milwaukee Road was busy during the war years, and surging traffic led to another order for steam power. In July 1944, S3 4-8-4's 260-269 arrived, this time from American Locomotive Company. They were the last steam locomotives built for the Milwaukee. The S3's were thoroughly modern engines -- an Alco ad touted them as "the last word in 4-8-4 design." They featured roller bearings, special compensating lateral driving-box devices, and precision firing equipment. Their design was a mixed bag. Because of wartime restrictions on new designs, they combined a Delaware & Hudson boiler with a Rock Island class R67 4-8-4 frame, trailed by a Union Pacific-style semicylindrical tender. The S3's also had Milwaukee Road features: all-weather cab and solid cast pilot with retractable coupler.
The S3's burned coal, but in 1950 four of them -- 262, 263, 267, and 269 -- were converted to oil and sent west to pull the Olympian Hiawatha and other trains in nonelectrified territory. When 261 was new, it worked out of Chicago, frequently going west to Omaha in freight and passenger service. The S3's were equipped with automatic train stop and also assigned to the Chicago-Twin Cities main line -- the hottest track on the Milwaukee Road. This included the 143-mile La Crosse-Minneapolis River Division -- the bailiwick of Frank Sandberg.
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Frank Sandberg saved the time books he kept while in engine service, and they provide a valuable look at 261's record of service on the River Division. On April 30, 1946, he climbed aboard at La Crosse, departing at 5:15 a.m. with first No. 15, the Olympian. The train arrived in Minneapolis at 8:55 a.m. A comparison with timetables from the period indicates that Sandberg and the 261 did their job well -- the train operated dead on time. Sandberg and the 261 got together again on May 8 and May 10, in each case bringing the Olympian from La Crosse "on the advertised. "
Around 1950, 261 traded its round smokebox door for a rectangular one. The locomotive also received a red Mars warning light on the smokebox. Near the end of their careers, the S3's worked regularly between Milwaukee and Savanna, Ill., on the "Southwestern" route via Beloit, Wis. The 261 was in service a total of only 10 years, going into storage in late 1954, and the following year was the last for regular-service steam. Sister 239 made the last official road freight run on January 4, 1955, taking train 91 from La Crosse to St. Paul, although several 2-8-2's continued to work into the summer in yards at Savanna and the Twin Cities.
That fall, steam came back as heavy grain movements and the transfer of Union Pacific's Chicago-Omaha passenger trains from the Chicago & North Western forced the Milwaukee to briefly return 38 locomotives to service. Nine were 4-8-4's, but 261 was not among them.
Fate intervened in the person of D.C. Everest, president and chairman of Marathon Corporation, a paper manufacturer and a large Milwaukee Road shipper. Everest conceived the idea of a national railroad museum in Green Bay, Wis., and the museum was officially formed in 1956. Everest prevailed on a reluctant Milwaukee Road to donate 261 to the fledgling institution. Everest died on October 28, 1955, the year before title was passed to make 261 the National Railroad Museum's first exhibit locomotive. On a snowy winter day in 1958, the 261 and another acquisition, Soo 4-6-2 2718, were pushed into the new museum by a C&NW Alco switcher.
As steam was retired, Sandy began roaming the country in search of the last operating locomotives. In high school he met Judy Casey and in 1961 they were married. Their first child, Cathie, arrived in 1963. On September23, 1965, their second child, Steven Edward Sandberg, was born. Steveaccompanied Sandy and Frank on cab rides on the River Division. Like his father and grandfather, Steve liked trains -- especially steam trains.
On January 30, 1971, Frank Sandberg Sr. retired. On his last trip, he was at the throttle of train 5, the Morning Hiawatha out of La Crosse. As he brought the streamliner to a stop in Minneapolis, he was surprised tofind hisfamily waiting -- along with newspaper and TV reporters. He came down the ladder of his diesel through a mist of steam and into his family's waiting arms. Without looking back, they walked into the station.
Few could have foreseen it, but Frank Sandberg, 51 years a Milwaukee Road fireman and engineer, would live to see an S3 in steam once more, thanks to his grandson and a group of partners and investors.
A few years after his grandfather's retirement, when Sandy was president of the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM), Steve helped restore and operate the museum's Northern Pacific 4-6-0 328. During the project he met steam expert Gary Bensman, and Steve later joined Bensman's Diversified Rail Services. By his early 20's, the youngest Sandberg had run or fired several engines, including Nickel Plate 2-8-4 765.
In Green Bay, Milwaukee 261 was among several notable displays at the National Railroad Museum, including a Missabe Road 2-10-2, a Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, and a Santa Fe 2-10-4. In 1972, the museum finished a large display building and 261 was put inside. The Milwaukee locomotive later was moved outside again. Its asbestos boiler lagging was removed, and some foam insulation was sprayed inside the firebox -- key steps in preventing rust.
Steve Sandberg had a dream to run mainline steam. Moreover, he wanted to break away from the volunteer steam tradition and operate an engine for profit. In 1991, circumstances conspired to make such an unlikely scenario possible. Twin Cities steam fan Doug Bailey introduced Sandberg to Minneapolis attorney Mike Adams. Bailey had also formulated a business plan for a for-profit steam program, and had approached Adams as a potential investor. Bailey knew Steve Sandberg had the expertise to put such a plan into action.
"I was very happy to have had anything to do with getting 261 back on the rails," Bailey says. His introductions turned out to be crucial. A few days after the encounter, Steve worked as the engineer on NP 328 on a series of trips on Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern out of Winona, Minn. With Steve as engineer, the Ten-Wheeler deadheaded from St. Paul to Winona down Soo Line's old Milwaukee Road River Division. During the trips, Adams was amazed at how many people enjoyed themselves riding the excursions. "Even if the train was late or uncomfortable, no one complained," Adams recalls. "Everyone just seemed to have a good time."
Adams and Sandberg hit it off, and soon Sandberg found himself sitting in a conference room full of potential supporters. "I couldn't believe it at first," he recalls. "When I first heard about it, I figured that they couldn't be serious about starting a for-profit company to rebuild and operate a steam locomotive. But they were serious about going ahead." Adams and Sandberg were able to persuade a group of 12 investors, among them a realtor, a professional athlete, a dentist, and some bankers and attorneys. Many are friends of Adams. They formed North Star Rail Inc. (NSR), with Adams as chief executive officer and Sandberg as chief operating offficer.
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Mike Adams is not really a railfan, but he says he "has the addiction." He is under no illusions about the profit side of the business. "We are running North Star like a business. We pay our bills, provide benefits for our employees, and treat people fairly. We take no shortcuts."
With the incorporation of North Star Rail, Sandberg began the search for an appropriate locomotive. First he looked at NP 4-6-2 2156, leased by MTM from the city of St. Paul. But North Star Rail and MTM couldn't come to terms. "When we couldn't get 2156, we changed focus," Sandberg says. "We developed more business-oriented criteria, looking at factors such as ability to maintain the engine, marketability, and management issues. For example, we ended up seeking an engine which was somewhat 'generic' end couldn't be tied to an existing railroad."
Candidates included Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 4-6-4 4000 in La Crosse and 4-8-4 5631 in Sheridan, Wyo.; Great Northern 4-8-2 2523 in Willmar, Minn.; and Soo Line 2-8-2 1003 in Duluth. Most of these had a big drawback: asbestos lagging, which is very expensive to remove due to environmental and health concerns. Thus emerged a "Catch-22": to inspect an engine properly, the lagging had to be removed. Most cities were willing to allow an inspection, but didn't want to pay for asbestos removal. And NSR didn't want to pay for asbestos removal only to find that an engine couldn't be restored.
The search led to Green Bay, where 261 sat with its asbestos lagging removed. "The 261 also had an advantage because it was thoroughly modern, and could pull long, high-revenue trains," Sandberg says. "I also had people tell me they had never seen a boiler on a display engine in such good shape." It didn't hurt that the locomotive once belonged to the Milwaukee Road, or that his grandfather used to run the engine.
North Star Rail and the National Railroad Museum agreed on a 10-year lease. Removing the engine, however, turned out to be more cliffficult than imagined. Although the spur into the museum had handled the big locomotives into the facility, it had not been kept up for such use. The spur was beset with an 18-degree S-curve, 70-lb. rail, and no tie plates -- all on a steep grade.
The move began on February 13, 1992, when a Fox River Valley Railroad switch crew moved in to pull the engine out the spur. As the train inched up the steep curving grade, 261's wheels derailed at nearly every move. The NSR crew became expert at using rerailing frogs, but as night fell the crew decided to return 261 to the museum and try again the next day. The FRVR engineer kicked off his brake to push the engine back down the grade to the museum. Unfortunately, the diesel/steam tandem picked up too much speed. At the bottom of the hill, the 4-8-4 hit a curve, and the excessive speed and heavy weight of 261 pushed out the rail, derailing three drive wheels.
On February 18, North Star crews moved in with 100-ton jacks to lift each wheel. Three days later two semitruck wreckers were used to slowly winch the 261 up out of the museum to the top of the grade, where FRVR could easily move it. The engine sat at the interchange until March 5, then was moved 2 miles to the the east end of Wisconsin Central's former Milwaukee Road yard. A WC diesel shoved the steamer over to the yard offfice and later it was moved into the old enginehouse. It would remain there while crews prepared its running gear for a move to the Twin Cities.
Running westbound at track speed, 261
lays a blanket of coal smoke and steam over the Wisconsin countryside
near Stockton, just east of Stevens Point, on September 18, 1993, the
first day of excursions out of North Fond du Lac. Photo: Steve Glischinski
Getting the locomotive ready was difficult. Inspections revealed that the roller bearings and pedestal liners for the Commonwealth tender trucks were gone, having been removed prior to arrival at the museum. Without them, 261 could not be moved to the Twin Cities. A nationwide search for replacements was begun.
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4-8-4 SPECTRUM: HOW 261 STACKS UP
Where do Milwaukee Road's S3's fit into the spectrum of North American 4-8-4's? Their driver size is right at the middle of the range (69-inch to 80-inch), and their weight is above the median for the type (the lightest 4-8-4's, Toledo, Peordia & Western 80-85, were just 361,000 pounds; the heaviest, Santa Fe's 2900-class, 510,150 pounds). The S3's tractive effort, a calculated figure derived from driver diameter, piston stroke, cylinder diameter, and boiler pressure is right at the middle of the range if Norfolk & Western J-Class 611-613 are ignored (their combination of 70-inch drivers and 300-pound pressure yielded a tractive force of 80,000 pounds; few other 4-8-4's had much more than 70,000 pounds). The engine's the S3's resemble most closely are the 4-8-4's that Alco built for Rock Island and Delaware & Hudson at the same time. The three groups of locomotives look quite different, but the differences are mostly in smokebox, cab, and tender details. War Production Board restrictions and the practicalities of time precluded new locomotive designs. The S3's are generally considered to have the same running gear of Rock Island engines and the boiler of the D&H 4-8-4's. However, the S3's have the same cylinder and driver sizes as their S2 predecessors and use the same trailing truck, different from the one used on the Rock Island engines, and the D&H engines worked at a significantly higher pressure, 285 pounds. Here's how No. 261 stacks up against today's operating 4-8-4's: |
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The search ended in Kansas City, Mo., where several Union Pacific gas-turbine locomotives reposed in a scrap yard. The roller-bearing boxes on the turbines' tenders were nearly identical to 261's. Several were shipped to Green Bay. New roller bearings were purchased from the Timken Company, and the bearings were sent to the Northern Rail Car in Cudahy, Wis., where the 261's tender axles were repaired, after which the bearing boxes were modified and installed in Green Bay. It was the biggest hurdle North Star Rail faced.
Next, NSR crews removed all superheater elements and flues from the 261's boiler. Sandberg and Gary Bensman inspected the boiler shell and concluded that it was sound but needed a small patch on the rear flue sheet. Sandblasting of the boiler interior revealed original markings that gave important information about tolerances, information required to win Federal Railroad Administration certification. NSR crews also worked with a set of S3 drawings, preserved as part of the Milwaukee Road Collection at the Milwaukee Public Library.
The 261 finally was towed to Minneapolis by Wisconsin Central during September 20-22, 1992, and was tucked away in North Star's rented facility.
No decrepit old steam roundhouse for 261, no sir. The 261 would be brought back to life in a fully equipped General Electric shop, adjacent to Humboldt Yard of CP Rail's Soo Line. The GE facility, which rebuilds traction motors for diesels, has indoor tracks and overhead cranes. GE not only allowed use of its facility, it rebuilt 261's trailing truck.
Work progressed rapidly. In November 1992 the rear flue sheet was patched. Of the 261's 3800 staybolts, only 150 required replacement. New superheater tubes and flues were installed; major appliances were shipped out for repairs. One highlight of the rebuild was the gold-plating of the throttle and cradle assembly. Why gold? "We wanted to be different," Steve Sandberg says. "Most of the big engines have silver-plated throttles, and we wanted to do something out of the ordinary."
On July 30, the 261 was pushed out of GE and fired up for the first time since 1954. The purpose was to test various components; the locomotive did not move under its own power. All three generations of Sandbergs were present: Frank Sr., Sandy, and Steve, smiling broadly, posed for a photo in front of the locomotive [page 43]. After the fire-up, NSR crews hustled to have the engine ready for display at CP Rail System's employee picnic at Shoreham Shops in Minneapolis on August 21. New jacketing was applied and the engine was painted black.
By the end of August and during early September, the last of the fiberglass lagging and jacketing was installed on the boiler. CP Rail provided an upgraded 26NL brake system used on modern locomotives. By the time the last details of the rebuilding are completed in 1994, the cost will approach $750,000.
Negotiations with Wisconsin Central and CP Rail soon bore fruit. WC President Ed Burkhardt had been a 261 supporter since rebuilding plans were announced. He agreed to have WC host break-in trips between Minneapolis and Chippewa Falls, Wis. The first excursions would operate between North Fond du Lac and Stevens Point, Wis., September 18-19, in conjunction with Soo Line Historical & Technical Society's convention in Fond du Lac. CP said it would allow the engine to return to former Milwaukee Road rails for trips out of St. Paul to Winona and La Crescent, Minn., on September 25-26.
As the excursions approached, NSR crews worked feverishly. Time seemed to melt away, eliminating the possibility of a break-in run. Instead, the ferry move to Fond du Lac would have to stifffice. On September 13, a Soo switcher pulled 261 from the shop and parked it near the yard offfice at Humboldt Yard. The fire was lit that evening. By morning the 4-8-4 had a full head of steam. After a day's postponement, Steve Sandberg pulled back the throttle at 6:52 p.m., September 14, 1993, and 261 moved under her own power for the first time in 39 years.
Frank Sandberg had been in good health despite his advanced years, but in 1992 he entered the hospitalfor cancer surgery. The surgery was a success, but in September 1993 he was hospitalized again for complications from the operation. Ironically, this surgery was scheduledfor the evening of September 14, as his grandson ran the 261 for the first time. The surgery was successful again, but the 91-yearoM man's condition was guarded and hisfamilyfeared the worst. However, the next day, as Sandy visited in a recovery room, Frank'sfirst question was, "How did she run?"
On September 15, the 261 departed Minneapolis on the first part of its journey to North Fond du Lac. With all the machinery yet to be broken in, speeds were held to about 25 mph. Norfolk Southern steam crewman Scott Lindsey kept a close eye on the running gear as the locomotive loped along, making frequent stops for inspection. That evening the train tied up at the old Soo division point of Chippewa Falls, 100 miles east of Minneapolis.
Few problems were found, but one was annoying: the whistle sent steam back across the boiler, obscuring the view ahead for the engine crew. This will be eliminated with installation of a "bell" to redirect the steam.
The only other problem was a faulty weld patch on the stoker pipe. NSR's crew got a real workout when the stoker was shut down and the engine was hand-fired into Chippewa Falls. Repairs would have to wait until the locomotive could be placed on WC's drop pit in Stevens Point. The next day the engine was again hand-fired for the 103 miles to "Point." With repairs made, 261 steamed east the final 90 miles to WC's Shops Yard in North Fond du Lac on September 17. Speed was increased to the track limit of 50 mph and the locomotive ran flawlessly.
At the hospital in Minneapolis, Frank Sandberg's condition was notgood. His condition remainedguarded, and his family's concern mounted. Then Sandy and Judy arrived with a home video they had shot of 261'sferry move. "You could just see his eyes light up," Sandy says. The old engineer complained that he would miss the Winona trips scheduledfor thefollowing weekend. His recovery had begun.
 Steve Glischinski |
On September 18, the 261 roared out of North Fond du Lac with 14 cars on its first public excursion. WC GP30 713 rode behind the tender as insurance, but 261 treated it as just another car, and the diesel wasn't needed. Large crowds greeted the train at Stevens Point, and the train filled up for a 21-mile round trip to Junction City for turning. The next day, 261 duplicated its performance with a 15-car train co-sponsored by the Soo Line group. This time Burkhardt was aboard.
Three days later 261 and train deadheaded to Stevens Point and Chippewa Falls. Destination: the Twin Cities, for the following weekend's Winona excursions. But legal and insurance snags developed over the use of Amtrak's Midway station in St. Paul, and agreements could not be reached in time; the excursions were canceled.
Meanwhile, NSR sought a permanent home for 261 in the Twin Cities. In mid-October BN agreed to lease space in its Harrison Street diesel shop, at Minneapolis Junction in north Minneapolis. The single-track shop has elevated platforms and drop pits and should provide an ideal home for the locomotive. On October 27, 1993, the 261 finally steamed from Chippewa Falls to its Harrison Street and was locked inside for the winter. (The facility is off-limits to visitors.)
The people of North Star Rail are working on a full slate of activities for 1994. When asked about the company's future, Mike Adams says he wants more people to enjoy the steam experience. "We want to run safe and credible operations. I hope someday we can generate enough revenue to have our own train, own a facility to work on our equipment, and possibly even have more engines," Adams says. "But we really want people to have fun and be educated at the same time."
Frank Sandberg will turn 92 on January 3, 1994. Despite his age, his family is optimistic that sometime during the year he will again ascend the steps of an S3, and with his grandson at his side take another run along the River Division to Winona. When this comes to pass, the restoration of Milwaukee Road 261 will be complete.
Three generations of a railroad familly:
On July 30, 1993, the occassion of 261's first fire-up, a proud Frank
Sandberg, Sr. (center) poses next to the locomotive with his son, Sandy
(left) and his grandson Steve. Photo: Judy Sandberg.
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