(Note: This is the first in a multi-part series examining the Texas State Railroad and its uncertain future.
(Come Sept. 1, the Texas State Railroad is set to become a static display — unless ongoing efforts to save the train by residents of Anderson and Cherokee counties and East Texas legislators prevail.
(Local staff and volunteers have been working hard to save the train. For some it is a reminder of trips and adventures in the past. For others it offers a chance to experience something that will become a wonderful memory for them.)
(The following story by Megan Middleton appeared on the Tyler Telegraph website on May 6.)
TYLER, Texas — The Texas State Railroad steam train slowly tunnels its way through the lush green foliage of East Texas on a crisp, cool spring morning.
White steam wafts into the open-air train car that gently rocks back and forth as passengers head for their destination. The rhythmic clickety-clack of the train on the tracks is muffled only by the loud, sharp blow of the whistle that causes children to cover their ears and squeal.
Parents snap photos of their babies and of each other aboard the historic steam engine. Children snack on popcorn and candy, while others stare almost mesmerized at the greenery passing by outside. Grandparents hold on snuggly to grandbabies.
Generations of families sit near each other, talking and laughing — brought together that day for a ride on the Texas State Railroad.
“It’s awesome!” 8-year-old Ashlyn Martin said.
Ashlyn was riding the train with her parents, grandparents and cousins on a Saturday in March.
Her mother, Amanda, last rode the train with her mother and family members in 1980.
Twenty-seven years later, the family was back to enjoy the ride with the next generation.
“We feel bad that it took the threat of losing it to really make us come out here,” said Amanda Martin, of Grand Prairie. “We took for granted that it was always going to be here. … We always meant to.”
It is the possibility that the Texas State Railroad may no longer carry passengers for a day’s excursion between the cities of Rusk and Palestine that recently has brought an influx of people to ride the train.
Last year it became clear the train that has carried tens of thousands of locals and tourists through the pine forests of East Texas could come to a screeching halt because of budget constraints imposed on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which runs the Texas State Railroad State Park.
A threatened end to train rides was narrowly avoided in December when funds were found to keep the railroad moving through Aug. 31.
Come Sept. 1, however, the train is set to become a static display — unless ongoing efforts to save the train by residents of Anderson and Cherokee counties and East Texas legislators prevail.
‘ALL ABOARD’
Vicki Buller’s 4-year-old grandson was anxiously awaiting his chance to ride the Texas State Railroad the day in March they ventured from Livingston to Rusk for the excursion.
“He was afraid we were going to get rained out,” Ms. Buller said. “We had to get up at 6 o’clock this morning to get ready. And, of course, about every 30 minutes, it was, ‘are we at the train yet?’
“This is something completely new for him.”
Those who ride the Texas State Railroad range from young children to 80-year-old ‘kids,’ said Robert Crossman, railroad superintendent. Those who come include school groups, church groups and reunion groups. And they come from everywhere — all over the state and even foreign countries.
It’s the throw back to “yester-year” that attracts visitors.
“Stand out here on a foggy, rainy day with your iPOD turned off — it could be 2007 or it could be 1937,” Crossman said. “It’s a slower pace, less hurried — and people seem to enjoy that.”
The clicking of the wheels, the sound of the steam and the whistle “takes you back to your grandparents’ day,” said Julie Heineke, a passenger from the Austin area who rode the train in March.
The desire to find some “nostalgia” and the fear the train would soon no longer be running brought the Heinekes to Rusk.
“It’s going to be a loss if they do close it,” Mrs. Heineke said. Her husband, Stephen, said it would be “devastating.”
The day they rode the train marked the first train ride for their 3-year-old grandson Ethan, who played with a toy train while aboard the real thing.His mother hopes he always has that love of trains.
“Maybe one day he’ll save one,” she said.
Vicki Buller said it would be a “terrible loss” if the Texas State Railroad were to stop running.
“I think it’s real important for the children to be able to experience this,” she said. “This is just beautiful country. It’s a good way to keep the past alive, for children to know that it wasn’t always as simple as jumping on an airplane or getting in a car and taking off. This was the way people traveled.”
Angela Smith, a third-grade teacher at Brooklyn Elementary School in Brooklyn who brought students out for a ride on the train as a field trip, wanted the kids to see the train is still there.
Ms. Smith said they talked about the chance the train could close.
“If we don’t show them what’s here, then there’s no chance of saving anything because they have to grow up and it be important to them,” she said. “I think it would be so sad for this to end.
“I think it would be one of the saddest things that could ever happen, really.”
She said it is important for students to see history is still alive and realize that “we need to preserve this.”
A ride aboard the Texas State Railroad offers a great adventure for children, said Joyce McMilland of Dallas, who rode the train in March with a church group.
“I hope they will keep it open for that reason,” she said. “They ought to make every effort to keep it going.”
SAVING THE RAILROAD
Efforts have been under way for more than a year by residents from the cities of Palestine and Rusk to keep the wheels of the Texas State Railroad turning — including contracting with a private operator to possibly run the train.
That effort has evolved into legislation to create an “operating authority” that could lease the train to a private operator, in this case, American Heritage Railways, which runs the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in North Carolina.
The legislation that would make that possible has passed out of the Senate and is currently pending before the House and could be voted on Monday or Tuesday. Even if the House approves the legislation, funding for a transfer to a private operator would still need to be hammered out in a budget conference process, which is ongoing for the rest of the legislative session that ends at the close of the month.
Proponents of this legislation say that after exhaustive looks at multiple options, they feel this is the best one for the long-term success of the railroad. But opponents to the bill want to put the brakes on the creation of this public-private partnership and find a way to keep the Texas State Railroad in the hands of Parks and Wildlife, which they believe would be better for the railroad.
Whatever the method of saving and funding the railroad winds up being, Amanda Martin wants to have the chance to someday repeat the new tradition of riding the Texas State Railroad with the next generation of her family.
Just like she rode with the train with her mom 20 years ago, “I would like to be able to bring my daughter with her daughter one day,” she said.