Michigan State surplus store selling locomotive

A locomotive that was used to pull coal cars at the power plant on Michigan State University’s East Lansing campus is for sale.

The Lansing State Journal reports the locomotive with a Spartan green paint job is up for sale for $600,000 from the Michigan State University Surplus Store and Recycling Center.

Surplus store general manger Kris Jolley says the university is now coal-free, and the train engine isn’t needed any longer. The switcher or switch engine was bought in 2009. The university’s Board of Trustees voted last year to end the use of goal by the end of this year. The plant ceased coal use at the end of March.

MSU Director of Utilities Robert Ellerhorst says sale proceeds would go to the school’s general fund.  (AP)