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Ownership dispute over 1881 steam engine in Ogden unresolved as work on restoration continues

(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) In this 2012 file photo, Maynard Morris climbs a ladder to get a look at the progress being made on the tender car for an engine that a group of volunteers in Ogden comes together every Saturday to work on. They were restoring a narrow gauge locomotive at the Union Station Trainmen's Building.

(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) In this 2012 file photo, Maynard Morris climbs a ladder to get a look at the progress being made on the tender car for an engine that a group of volunteers in Ogden comes together every Saturday to work on. They were restoring a narrow gauge locomotive at the Union Station Trainmen's Building.

By  The Associated Press
 | Dec. 26, 2018, 2:12 p.m.
| Updated: 6:43 p.m.

Ogden • Uncertainty about who owns an 1881 locomotive steam engine in Ogden is complicating restoration efforts.

The Standard-Examiner reports that Salt Lake City donated the engine to the state in 1979 after it sat at Liberty Park for decades. The state then moved it to Ogden for restoration.

Steve Jones, president of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society's Golden Spike Chapter, says there apparently is no paper trail documentation of those ownership changes.

Jones says the dispute led Ogden city officials to briefly halt the work being done by volunteers who have been chipping away at the project since 1992 with the goal of preserving a piece of Western railroad history.

He says they've since been allowed to continue work, but the ownership dispute remains unresolved.

Ogden and state officials didn’t respond for comment.

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By The Associated Press