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(The Associated Press circulated the following article on March 15. Jim Clark is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.)

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. — If it’s got wheels, Jim Clark likes it.

Clark, owner of the Tombstone Mercantile and president of the Arizona Western Heritage Foundation, gave up the fast-paced life of the motion picture industry to settle down in Tombstone. But after five years, he has found himself drawn back to providing trains for movies.

Clark said he was coaxed out of retirement by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks Productions. His company, the Santa Clarita Railroad Co., is providing trains for railroad scenes in the 12-hour movie series called “Into the West.”

The company has three divisions: the operating department, coordinating department and safety department, Clark said. Each is responsible for a different aspect of film production.

According to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, each of the divisions of the company perform a “significant amount of behind-the-scene work, such as building box cars, laying track and renovating old steam engines.”

Born in Milwaukee and raised in southern California, Clark was always attracted to trains and vehicles.

He drove drag racing cars for a while. “Trains used to be the logo on the side of my race car,” he recalled. In 1985, Clark established his railroad company. It is the first company to exclusively supply railroad equipment to movie producers, according to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

It was movies and trains that brought Clark to Cochise County in 1999. He was in southeast Arizona shooting “South of Heaven, West of Hell.”

He visited Tombstone and other areas of Cochise County and decided to leave California.

At first, he rented a house in Tombstone and commuted to California when he needed to work on a movie. Then in 2001, he moved permanently to Tombstone.

“Everything kind of filled my soul here,” Clark said of his decision to move to Tombstone.

He recalled that he evaluated the community and settled on a business. “It (Tombstone) really needed a fine quality antique store,” he said.

So he opened Tombstone Mercantile with partner Tina Miller. The store features movie memorabilia, period clothing and other trappings of the Wild West.

He also started building a new home, patterned after the 1900-style territorial home on Sharp’s Ranch in Patagonia. Next, he moved his father and aunt from California to Tombstone.

Though Hollywood is still seeking Clark’s services, he still has Tombstone and Cochise County on his mind.

In 2001, Clark founded the Tombstone Western Film Festival, which was put on by the Arizona Western Heritage Foundation.

“It’s going good. Last year was the most successful ever. We actually made some money,” said Clark.