System before heading back home. The 2001 season had excursions out of Minneapolis and Montevideo over BNSF and TC&W tracks during June and July, with a complete set of Hiawatha passenger cars. The next year, 261 pulled an almost-matching consist between Minneapolis and Chicago. At this point, insurance rates were skyrocketing due to outside events, as well as new Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) guidelines. The Friends of the 261 had an insurance policy to run through 2002, making these trips among the last time that the group could afford to have 261 run solo. In the following months, some major changes were made to the Friends of the 261's operations. With insurance being too high to charge reasonable ticket prices, the group decided to team up with Amtrak. Amtrak is self-insured, so the added cost of excursion insurance was much less. However, Amtrak requires that all equipment meet Amtrak certification. The engine became the second steam engine to become Amtrak-certified, and the Friends of the 261 began to buy or rebuild coaches that would meet Amtrak specifications. The first team-up with Amtrak occurred in October 2003, with the engine's return to old Milwaukee Road tracks between Minneapolis and Winona, Minnesota. These trips were repeated each year until 2011. 2004–2008 In June 2004, the engine made its first return visit to Milwaukee since being restored, overnighting on its way to Chicago to participate in the Grand Excursion: an approximate reenactment of the original Grand Excursion of 1854. It departed from Chicago, arriving in Rock Island, Illinois to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first railroad to reach the Mississippi River. During the Grand Excursion, 261 made day trips to Savanna, Illinois over the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad, and to Bureau Junction, Illinois on the Iowa Interstate Railroad, current owner/operator of the first railroad line to the Mississippi River. The train then traveled north along IC&E rails near the river, making overnight stops at Dubuque, Iowa and La Crosse, Wisconsin. The final leg up to the Twin Cities operated in Wisconsin on BNSF trackage. 261 ran excursions from Minneapolis to Duluth via BNSF trackage in both 2005 and 2007. Three June 2006 excursions were launched from Milwaukee: a dinner train in Friday, June 23 to Sturtevant, Wisconsin, and Saturday and Sunday excursions (24th and 25th) to Wisconsin Dells. For these runs, the train was turned at New Lisbon. These excursions would