(The following article by Ellena F. Morrison was posted on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on December 15.)
GRAPEVINE, Texas — So, the Dallas Cowboys didn’t choose Grapevine.
Let’s see a defensive tackle pull carloads of passengers and still have the energy to give a cheerful whistle. Rachel the train, the newest addition to Grapevine’s train fleet, can do all that and more.
Gaylord Entertainment, the parent company of Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center on Lake Grapevine, donated and unveiled the steam engine Tuesday. The locomotive, which has been sitting at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville since 1970, was intended to reside at the Texan.
But the hotel ran out of room.
“It didn’t take long for us to realize that Grapevine would be the right home for Rachel,” Gaylord Chief Executive Officer Colin Reed told a crowd at the unveiling ceremony Tuesday.
The train is smaller than Engine No. 2248, affectionately known as Puffy, so it cannot run on the Tarantula train tracks. Rachel, worth roughly $200,000, and decorated in red and gold, could travel between Grapevine Mills mall and the Texan, or maybe near downtown Grapevine, said Mayor William Tate.
Wherever she goes, the city will have to lay the tracks. The train could go down the middle of a street or a median — like a trolley — or city officials could purchase land for the tracks. City officials are weighing their options.
Grapevine is building up quite a train fleet. In June 2003, Grapevine officials purchased Old 771, a former Southern Pacific engine, after a three-year search. The train is not yet running. Grapevine officials also plan to look for rail cars for Rachel.
“When opportunities come around, we are very willing to enlarge our train family,” said Michael Woody, Grapevine’s communications director.
Rachel is in working condition, but needs some minor outside work before hitting any tracks. Named after the wife of former President Andrew Jackson, Rachel originally hauled coal for the Stine Coal Co. and later, the Southern Clay Co. Mines.