CAPE CANAVERAL — Last month, the Florida East Coast Railway pulled NASA locomotives No. 1 and No. 3 from Kennedy Space Center on their way to new homes.

Their departure closed another chapter in the story of the space shuttle program’s retirement.

One of the trains’ primary responsibilities was to haul large solid rocket booster segments from the Jay Jay yard near Mims, Fla., across the river to the Launch Complex 39 area.

The NASA Railroad cost $1.3 million a year to operate and maintain by the end of the shuttle program.

The space agency had already given away Locomotive No. 2 last year, to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami.

On April 10, Nos. 1 and 3 rolled north past the Vehicle Assembly Building, crossed a drawbridge over the Indian River Lagoon and into the Jay Jay yard for the last time.

No. 1 will be used by the Natchitoches Parish Port in Natchitoches, La. No. 3 is headed to the Madison Railroad in Madison, Ind., for regular freight service and passenger excursion train service, NASA said.

Re-post from USA Today 05-24-15
Original Story Here