The Trains Magazine website is reporting that the two stored TALGO VIII trainsets in Milwaukee may be moving to storage at the Amtrak shops in Beech Grove, outside Indianapolis.

Apparently TALGO, Inc. is paying for the move and storage pending negotiations with the state of Michigan regarding use of the trains on Wolverine Service trains between Chicago and Detroit/Pontiac.

These are the two sets built for the proposed Hiawatha Service extension to and from the state capital, Madison, which was scrapped in 2010 when Scott Walker was elected governor.

Because of the legal hassles between TALGO and the state of Wisconsin over the alleged breach of the contract between them over these sets and their custody fight, I'm curious as to whether the state would try to block their movement out of Milwaukee.

That kind of incident has occurred before. I remember reading about the late 1960s controversy involving former Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 #3, the "General", when the city of Chattanooga, Tenn. physically blocked the locomotive's movement through the city and seized it when the L&N was moving it down to the Atlanta area.

The city claimed ownership of the "General" because of its longtime presence in the city's old Union Station. It was moved out (apparently in the dark of night) by the L&N, which wanted to restore it for the centennial of the April 1862 Andrews Raid in which the locomotive was seized by Union soldiers in a bid to disrupt the Confederate use of the W&A.