(The following story by Mary Gottschalk appeared on the San Jose Mercury News website on February 7.)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A group of volunteers is working to give future generations an understanding of the lure and the lore of the railroad and a time when steam engines rolling across steel tracks helped the Santa Clara Valley develop and grow.
The San Jose Railroad Museum and Park is the shared vision of more than 200 members of the California Trolley and Railroad Corp.
Established in 1982, the nonprofit group’s mission is “to preserve and reflect the rich legacy of rail transportation in the Santa Clara Valley for the educational and recreational benefit of current and future generations.”
For the past 15 years the group has been planning for a steam railroad museum it expects will attract 200,000 visitors a year.
Now, that goal is in sight.
Its chosen site is 11 vacant acres bounded by Coleman Avenue, Highway 87, railroad tracks and the Guadalupe River. It’s near Guadalupe River Park & Gardens and San Jose MarketCenter and across the tracks from the brick warehouse with the distinctive Hart’s sign.
It has the added cachet of being near the original site of the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad yard, established in 1864 when the first passenger trains arrived in San Jose and just two blocks away from the Basset Street train depot that served San Jose from 1883 to 1935.
It is here that the group wants to reconstruct the 1899 San Jose Roundhouse that stood on Lenzen Avenue until 2000, when it was deconstructed, palletized and put into storage
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to make way for the CalTrain maintenance facility.
For the past few months Rod Diridon, president and founder of CTRC, and Ken Middlebrook, vice president of membership, have been making presentations to San Jose business and neighborhood associations asking for letters of support.
On Feb. 13, they will take those letters and ask the San Jose Parks and Recreation Commission for support. By the end of the month they hope to also have the support of the San Jose Historic Landmarks Commission and the City Council.
Diridon says support from the city will allow U.S. Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda to ask the federal government to purchase the land and donate it to San Jose for the museum.
“Mike and Zoe are both working on it,” Diridon says. “If the city asks them to do this, then they’ll proceed.”
The land is now owned by Union Pacific. It was purchased from a Spanish land grant holder in the 1860s by the Central Pacific Railroad and has remained in railroad hands since.
How much the property would cost is unknown, but Diridon believes that the $14 million already allocated for a bridge that is now no longer wanted would go a long way toward purchasing it, although he admits, “It might take some additional funds.”
Timing is important, he stresses, because of March legislative deadlines for action this year.
“It’s not costing any more money; it’s just reorienting funds,” Diridon says.
He says if Congress acts this year, he’s hopeful that negotiations would begin and Union Pacific would grant advance permission for the environmental review process to begin.
In a perfect scenario, Diridon says work could start within a year or two.
“We have 50 contractors who have volunteered to build the museum and volunteers to run it. All we need is the setting,” he says.
The CTRC has a proven track record at History Park San Jose where it has already invested more than 200,000 hours of volunteer work.
They constructed a trolley barn and a half-mile trolley line through the park and are working on a mile extension to connect History Park with Happy Hollow Park and Zoo.
Additionally, CTRC volunteers have restored nine vintage trolley cars that the Valley Transportation Agency operates in downtown San Jose.
The group has also raised more than $5 million and acquired an additional $2 million worth of materials to support their work.