I haven't been able to find any official sources, but seems that Santa Fe SD40 5008 has been donated?/given?/sold? to the town of Marceline, MO and placed on display next to the Santa Fe depot.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/19908866@N03/43598200784/in/photolist-JACxCv-29qCb9Y (Jim Strain photo)

Yes the BNSF donated the locomotive last year. Local ex railroad employee (and probably others) have been working hard on it removing all BNSF markings and numbers from it.

This is what it looked like when it first arrived around 12:20AM October 30th 2017

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... 8873_n.jpg

Original post from the city of Marceline:
https://www.facebook.com/MarcelineCity/ ... 68?__xts__[0]=68.ARAmGcKBr_nDCF5JLjTk3QzTHrX73Q5gxKzuWHEeW19HKklSkrKn4lVxSrOpTFMKD2C-b7FtneFqfB7skrdn9fy8p2VEy8n06V64-e_lc-wste7SM89JV_soponyD82nyc2L9LU&__tn__=C-R

Link to the Museum's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/WaltDisneyHometownMuseum


The BNSF also donated SD-9 1727 to Brookfield, Mo which is about 10 Miles west of Marceline. It has been setting on a siding next to the depot since it arrived around the same time as the Marceline unit and nothing has been done with it that I can tell. It was coupled up to a running SD70ACe last week though so maybe they are finally going to do something with it?

What's interesting is the railroad's perception of the value of donating a surplus locomotive for display, even in the Diesel age. If the locomotives are potential operable, that's quite a stash of electrical and mechanical components remaining on board. Let's hope the municipalities have learned some techniques for maintaining the gift.

The IC "GP10" at Homewood, IL is only an empty shell.

I made my fireman student trip on 5008, from Emporia to Wellington on the 188 train, so I was glad to see it preserved, Ft. Mad-KC engineer Sam Bailey has almost single handedly has got it back to looking like a Santa Fe unit again, and it looks good He lives close by, and like me, is happily retired. Look for "Friends of 1708" on FB, Sam keeps it updated with photos of the work he has done on it.

Yes, Sam has put a lot of hard work into it! It looks better and better every time I go back to Marceline.

From the City of Marceline Facebook page November 12, 2019



Lots of great changes for 5008 in the last 2 years since she was donated to Marceline. Sam has her looking great inside and out.

A May 19, 2023 article posted on Railway Age that is attributed to the BSNF Railway Corporate Communications department:
Old Friends: Retired BNSF Engineer Restores Locomotive He Operated for 41 Years

Has anyone experienced in historic interviewing sat down with Sam Bailey to capture as many of those stories and recollections as could be 'elicited'?

There is the edge of history's wing, uncertainly close...

Clean, but appropriately battle scarred. She'd sure look nice coupled up to that caboose just visible out the engineer's window.

I second the motion to have Brother Bailey properly interviewed. Most of the old rails I've gotten to tell me stories have griped that nobody listens to them. The stories I've collected are mostly fading in my memory, disappearing into nothingness along with my good sense. Nobody much listens to me, either.

Marceline was the train order stop and sometimes crew change half-way between AY Tower (Argentine Yard) and Fort Madison up until the mid-Eighties.

If they have the ambition it would be nice to move the headlight back up between the number boards, where it was when delivered until the early Nineties when all Santa Fe headlights were moved to the short hood at great cost. The whistle was also moved to the long hood at that time (supposedly to avoid workman's comp claims from trainmen who had their ears blasted when the engineer forgot they were on the pilot) which gave it an odd muted sound.

I believe the last stop at Marceline was around 1995 ish for the ATSF. My Dad got transferred out around 91/92. I have the newspaper with pictures in storage.

You may be right, I was trying to remember when they closed Chillicothe (twenty miles from me then, half-way between Corwith/Chicago and Ft. Madison) and I think it was the same time they closed Marceline, and many other crew change stops.