Published: August 20, 2008 10:41 pm            

Railcar back on track

Could return to city after Labor Day

The city’s Interurban railcar is nearing completion, and while it might not make the Aug. 22 deadline, it is expected to be done, a feat which wasn’t expected earlier in the summer.

Helping to turn the corner is the determination of a new yard manager with the Edwards Rail Car Company in Montgomery, Ala., who took on the project about a month ago.

The car was recently put on its trucks, which are the wheels of a rail car, and is being moved closer to the main facility for completion.

Keeping up with the project for the city is Terry Jacobson, the city’s attorney.

“The railcar is actually working towards completion,” Jacobson told the city council Tuesday. “We should be getting it back sometime after Labor Day.”

Although the deadline for the city getting the car back was Aug. 22, cities are discouraged from moving wide loads and large loads on or around holiday weekends when traffic is expected to be more dense.

The extra two weeks will give the city time to complete work on the small length of rail next to the Visitor’s Center, said Connie Standridge, city manager.

“That way, it won’t have to be moved again,” she said.

In 2003, the city set aside $200,000 for the railcar’s restoration and the construction of the protective shed. The city spent $153,426 on the restoration project. The money wasn’t regular tax funds, but hotel/motel taxes paid by hotel guests, and which may only be used to promote tourism.

The project stalled for about three years, primarily because the owner of the company said he misjudged how much would be required to bring it back to its original 1913 factory condition. When he ran out of money, the car was left undone. Only within the last year has the company been willing to undertake its completion. Their goal, according to e-mails from the manager, is to preserve the company’s reputation.

Before the widespread advent of automobiles, the Interurban rail ran trips between Dallas, Corsicana, Waco and Dennison. The Corsicana line stopped service in 1941, and this particular car, No. 305, was used on Waco’s line until it also closed in 1948. The car was discovered in a Granbury trailer park where it had been used as a house, and in March 2002, it was removed by city crews to Corsicana, explained Ron Maxfield, an amateur historian who got involved with this particular Interurban car even before it was brought to Corsicana.

There are similar railcars out there, but none exactly like this project, Maxfield said. A car in Fort Worth was restored to its 1920 condition, and another parked in Plano was restored back to how it appeared in the 1940s.

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Janet Jacobs may be reached via e-mail at jacobs@corsicanadailysun.com

        

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