The Rogers steam locomotive arrived at Oamaru in May last year as a temporary acquisition for the Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society.
It was to stay in the town for a year, although society general manager Harry Andrew had hoped it might stay two or three years.
It will be stripped in preparation for a shift in September.
Mr Andrew understood it would be trucked to its owner at Mandeville near Gore.
The locomotive was built in the United States about 1870 and later worked between Dunedin and Oamaru in the late 1890s.
Pulled out of the Oreti River where it had been dumped for a stopbank, it was restored and later ran on the Kingston line.
It went to Ferrymead and then to the Tinwald Domain, at Ashburton.
The locomotive had been a drawcard for Oamaru and it was disappointing it had to leave, particularly given it used to work in the town, Mr Andrew said.
Steam and rail member George King (19), believed to be the youngest licensed locomotive driver in New Zealand, said K92 was "great fun" to drive and he would miss it.
• The theft of switch blades and short pieces of rail from the society, between July 19 and 25, has been reported to police.
The new replacement cost for three sets of switch blades was about $21,000, Mr Andrew said.
