Verified on the Museum of Transportation's Facebook page among other places. Snopes is too left leaning to trust.
This was actually a hoax set up by a 13-year old kid who lives in St. Louis. He had called my friend Mary Stahl saying that he was a worker at the MOT. He also called some of my other friends. After a while about 20 so people had heard and we weren't convinced it was real so we messaged the muesum, while we messaged the museum this kid convinced more and more people. Ship it on the Frisco!!! Murphy Jenkins
Shucks! I was elated, but my bubble has busted. After all, remember, the "SF" stands for San Francisco.
This story about the 1522 moving to San Francisco is right up there with Bigfoot sightings and UFO abductions. Before you believe anything VERIFY,VERIFY,and then VERIFY AGAIN! George
Below is a message from Molly Butterworth from the Museum of Transport confirming this is a false rumor. John Chambers This is the resuscitation of an unfortunate rumor that was started on Facebook by a child. We don’t have a curator named Veronica Smith, and we haven’t had any inquiries of any kind regarding the engine for years. Somehow this thing caught on and showed up on Trainorders, RyPN, and who knows where else. The 1522 is still safely tucked away on exhibition in its spot in the Roberts Building at the Museum of Transportation. It would take an extraordinary proposal for us to consider leasing the engine again given today’s economic and operating climate, and selling it would not be considered at all, as it is a cornerstone of our steam collection. However, we’re glad people still think enough of the old girl to get all excited about her and to allow her to be the topic of rumors! Thanks and best, Molly
