The long-running dispute over Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway No. 3463 — the old steam locomotive that has stood quietly near the Kansas Expocentre for more than 60 years — came to an end recently with the engine likely staying in Topeka, though a Minnesota-based nonprofit will maintain ownership.

The Coalition for Sustainable Rail announced it will raise funds to move the train to a base in Topeka. From there the condition of the engine, built in 1937, will be evaluated with the goal of restoring the train to full operation. If that is out of reach, Davidson Ward said the CSR will restore the train cosmetically. A lawsuit centered on who officially owned the old locomotive was settled out of court and dismissed Jan. 16.

"I'm excited to keep it in Topeka," said Davidson Ward, president of CSR. "It has some significant history with that town. It ran to Topeka many times during its career."

The nonprofit, also known as Sustainable Rail International, first sought the locomotive more than five years ago as part of a biofuel and steam technology project, but a group of Topeka residents concerned about the locomotive leaving the city and being modified challenged its ownership. Last March Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks denied claims by that group, Topeka Children and Santa Fe Railroad, that they were the rightful owners.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that CSR will now work with local partners, including the Great Overland Station, to find a place to restore No. 3463 and house it permanently.

"The bottom line is keeping it here will not only be an attraction for the Great Overland Station, but also for the city of Topeka," said Bette Allen, president and COO of Great Overland Station.

The settlement reached between CSR, the city of Topeka and attorneys for the Kansas Attorney General's office ends years of debate over who owns the locomotive.

The train's saga began in 1956 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway donated the engine to the city of Topeka. The city maintained the train after it moved to the Kansas Free Fairgrounds, where the Kansas Expocentre now stands. The locomotive was moved to its present location near the Shunga trial after construction of the Expocentre began in the 1980s. By 1990 the city no longer wanted to pay for its upkeep and transferred ownership to Topeka Railroad Days.

Originally that organization planned to move the engine to the Great Overland Station, but lacked the funds. In 2011 the group that operates the Great Overland Station — which had by then changed its name to Railroad Heritage, Inc. — entered into negotiations for the locomotive's sale to CSR. Ownership officially transferred to CRS in 2013.

According to court filings in the case, the city had no documentations validating ownership was ever transferred from the city to Railroad Heritage, Inc. A few months after ownership was transferred to CSR in 2013, a group of concerned citizens reinstated Topeka Children and Santa Fe Railway, a nonprofit that was created in 1956 but lost its status in 1973. That group claimed it was given ownership of the locomotive by ATSF in 1956.

In 2014 Topeka attorney Matthew Bergmann, of Frieden, Unrein & Forbes in Topeka, filed a petition on behalf of CRS aimed at ending Topeka Children and Santa Fe Railway's ownership claim. The Kansas Attorney General's office also became involved in the dispute to represent the public interest in preserving the locomotive's intended purpose as a gift for the Topeka community.

In a statement Tuesday, Attorney General Derek Schmidt hailed the settlement.

"We expect this settlement to keep the locomotive based in Topeka, and I am hopeful it also will allow for the locomotive's restoration and productive use," he said.

Originally CSR, which focuses on advancing sustainable steam and other energy sources along with promoting the preservation of historic rail equipment, planned to retrofit the locomotive to burn a wood-based biofuel. The engine would have been the centerpiece of a project testing the viability of the fuel as a stand-in for coal with a modified tender, fuel box and steam delivery system. When the lawsuit arose, CSR shifted gears and worked with the Milwaukee County Zoo to test the fuel on smaller locomotives and will run tests on a full-size engine in Pennsylvania later this month. A partnership with the University of Minnesota allows them to test the production of the biofuel.

"It would not have been irreversible at all and wouldn't have drastically altered its appearance," Ward said of retrofitting the engine. "With our researching moving on down the track, we're ready to focus on our other main goal: preservation."

CSR is in the process of securing funding to move the train to a yet-determined location for a mechanical and structural study. Moving the locomotive alone could cost up to $200,000, and without knowing more about No. 3463's condition, Ward couldn't estimate the total cost to refurbish it.

Ideally the locomotive will move to a facility near the Great Overland Station in North Topeka for study and preservation. If it's determined the engine can run, CSR would like to see it put to use on general railroad track in an excursion role, while being based out of Topeka. If the 80-year-old, 412,380-pound locomotive is too old to run again, Ward said it will be restored to look as it did when ATSF gifted it to Topeka in 1956 and remain on display.

Standing in the shadow of the nearly 90-foot-long engine and tender, Allen imagined an educational display for children near the Great Overland Station. For years the station has had room for a large locomotive with its other train car displays.

"It'll be exciting," she said. "Just to stand up next to those wheels is something."

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Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com

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