OGDEN — State officials have agreed to turn over ownership of Locomotive 223, a historic 1881 train engine at Union Station, to the City of Ogden.

In turn, city officials say their plans are to resume stalled restoration efforts once the transfer is complete. “The intention has always been to continue the restoration efforts once the ownership transfer that began decades ago was finalized,” Damen Burnham, redevelopment manager in Ogden’s Community and Economic Development Department, said Friday.

The Utah Historical Society’s Board of State History approved the transfer plans on Thursday. The Utah Historical Society has owned the train since 1979, according to a statement from the agency, but state and city officials have been deliberating its future ownership since at least 2019, according to prior Standard-Examiner reporting.

“With the 100th anniversary of Ogden’s Union Station in 2024, we hope that clarifying 223’s ownership will allow the city to move forward with efforts to restore 223 to its former glory,” Kevin Fayles, assistant director of the Utah Historical Society, said in a statement.

Beyond next year’s centennial, Ogden and Utah Transit Authority officials plan a major overhaul of Union Station, owned by the city, and the grounds around it, some of it in UTA hands. Those efforts are ongoing.

Locomotive 223 has been the focus of strong sentiments stemming from moves in 2019 that led to the halt of restoration efforts of the train engine, which operated from 1881 to 1941 on various Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad lines in Colorado. The volunteer restoration efforts were spearheaded out of Union Station by the Golden Spike chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society but suspended after more than 25 years by Ogden officials stemming from safety and liability concerns.

The latest turn of events surrounding Locomotive 223 was news to Steve Jones, head of the Golden Spike chapter. Given the city moves in 2019 that led to the suspension of his group’s work with Locomotive 223, he’s not sure what will happen now.

“Who knows. Ogden City has not been very good at maintaining any of the collection,” he said, also referencing the declined condition of the Merci Train boxcar on Union Station grounds. “It’s hard to tell what they’re going to do with 223.”

Though it’s seen better days, Ogden officials last June agreed to allocate $175,000 to help restore the Merci Train boxcar, a gift from France in 1949 meant as a thanks to U.S. contributions to its post-World War II rebuilding efforts.

Details of restoration efforts of Locomotive 223 still have to be worked out. Among the likely initial steps, according to Mike McBride, spokesperson for Mayor Mike Caldwell’s administration, would be solicitation of requests for qualifications from firms potentially interested in handling the work.

The Locomotive 223 boiler is sitting outside on the northern end of the grounds of Union Station. The other parts, including the cab and the tender, which holds coal, are in the nearby Trainman’s Building, according to Jones.

Jones said the cab and tender have been restored and rebuilt, though the boiler still needs attention. “There’s been a lot of progress made,” he said.

Locomotive 223 is the last surviving train engine built by Grant Locomotive Works of Patterson, New Jersey, that was not re-gauged and one of two Grant locomotives still in existence, according to the Utah Historical Society.

Jones said the engine was built to run on a narrower gauge track than what is standard today. If it’s to be restored with the goal of returning it to operation, he said, it would need a line of track where it could run “and that doesn’t exist,” he said.

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