Thieves pick apart historic locomotive

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - It's not your typical train and it's not your typical train heist. Thieves didn't rob the historic locomotive that so many New Mexicans love, instead they picked it apart.

Volunteers who have worked for a decade to get the locomotive running again, say what is really heartbreaking is the thieves will likely sell the parts for scrap metal for a few bucks.

For nearly five decades, Santa Fe Railway Steam Locomotive 2926 was in Coronado Park near downtown. For many New Mexicans, the giant piece of powerful steel and metal was a part of their childhood. 

"When I was little, we always drove downtown and we always went by the park to see the locomotive," said New Mexico Steam Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society volunteer Rick Kirby.

In 1999 the City sold the locomotive to Kirby's all volunteer organization for $1 to restore the old steam engine. For the past decade, they've been working on that. But Monday night  they say four men in a white van were caught on surveillance camera cutting a fence and taking off with the original break beams and brackets from the 1944 locomotive.

"These items are not replaceable. There were 30 of these locomotives built and only six left in the United States," Kirby said.

Kirby says volunteers will do their best to recreate the parts, but it will be difficult. He's afraid the men who stole them will sell them for scrap.

Members of the Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society say the crime happened on federal property near Menaul & 8th, so they contacted Albuquerque Police and Homeland Security.

They've also notified scrap metal companies around the Albuquerque area and the country, alerting them about the stolen locomotive parts.