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Nickel Plate 2-8-2 to be Sold at Auction

The locomotive will be sold by Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. to cover unpaid storage fees from the locomotive’s owner. Photo by Bruce Fingerhood. 

Nickel Plate 2-8-2 to be Sold at Auction

A Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive will be sold at auction next month following a legal judgment against the owner for not paying storage fees. Locomotive 587, a 2-8-2 built in 1918, is being stored at the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp., campus in Irvine, Kentucky. 

This is not the first time the locomotive has been in limbo, an unfortunate situation for a engine that was leading excursions in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 2018, the locomotive’s owner, the Indiana Transportation Museum, was evicted from its long-time home in Noblesville, Indiana. The locomotive was purchased by an anonymous buyer and moved to Kentucky. In 2021, it was announced that the buyer was working with Jason Sobczynski, KSHC chief mechanical officer and CEO of Next Generation Rail Solutions, to come up with a restoration plan for the locomotive. 

Those plans never came to fruition and the owner has apparently not been paying their bills to keep the engine at KSHC. As a result, a judge ruled it would be auctioned off to pay for the storage fees. The locomotive, which is currently in pieces, will be available for viewing on Saturday, January 25. Bids will be due at 10 a.m. on February 25, and the winning bidder will be informed on March 3. At that point, the bidder will have 60 days to move the locomotive. 

Visit KentuckySteam.org for additional information. —Justin Franz 

This article was posted on: January 24, 2025