Dawn Parker

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – It would make quite a lawn ornament.

The Michigan State University Surplus Store is selling a locomotive with a Spartan green paint job. You can't take it tailgating unless you have some track handy, but it would be a great way to show off MSU spirit.

If you have $600,000 to invest in showing off MSU spirit, that is.

The switcher or switch engine was purchased in 2009 and used to pull coal cars at the T.B. Simon Power Plant. MSU’s Board of Trustees voted in 2015 to stop using coal by the end of 2016, but the plant actually stopped at the end of March, well ahead of schedule. And so the switcher was no longer needed.

“Now we are a coal-free university, we no longer need the train engine,” MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center general manager Kris Jolley said.

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It’s the latest unusual item the surplus store has put up for sale. The store at 468 Green Way in the southwest part of campus has marketed many of the university's unique castoffs, including a Zamboni formerly used at Munn Ice Arena and sections of the ice rink’s former bleachers.

MSU Director of Utilities Robert Ellerhorst said the engine came from Paducah, Kentucky, and was purchased in 2009 for its capacity to move as many as 15 rail cars, more than double the previous number, Ellerhorst said..

The $600,000 price tag was set “based on what we paid for it,” Jolley said. The Surplus Store will accept serious offers, he added, which will be reviewed as they are received.

Jolley said there has been some interest in the engine since the Surplus Store posted a photo late Thursday.

“There’s been a lot of social media engagement and a lot of people checking it out,” he added. “It’d be pretty fun to own.”

Jolley isn’t certain who would buy the engine. It’s possible a train enthusiast could fall in love with it, he said, and take it home.

“If someone wants to buy it and put it in their yard, knock yourself out,” he said.

The engine is in storage at the power plant and may be viewed by appointment. When it sells, Ellerhorst said, the proceeds will go into the university’s general fund.

Contact Dawn Parker at (517) 377-1056 ordlparker@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter at @arwen22266.