| New arrival at park takes long route but stays on track | | Posted: Thursday, June 20, 2013 10:00 pm
| By MARY NITA BONDURANT
Special to The Messenger
Boys love trains, which is probably why Robert Kirkland, the project’s founder, couldn’t quit thinking about having a train display at Discovery Park of America. Not toy trains; he wanted full-size trains. That’s why he asked Hugh Wade, acquisition agent and volunteer, to “find him some trains” back in 2011.
Wade took the challenge to heart and began the search.
“You can find just about anything on the Internet, if you just put in the correct search criteria,” he said.
In February of 2012, Wade and Union City banker Michael Hagan, who is a train enthusiast, headed to Unity, Maine, to take a look at a tourist-track-system that Wade had found online.
“They had a steam engine with a tender, a lounge car, a dining car, a first class car plus two maintenance cars,” Wade said.
He and Hagan photographed the trains and brought the information back to Kirkland.
Almost a year later, the deal was finalized. And on Wednesday, Kirkland’s dream of having a full-size train display at Discovery Park began to seem very much like a reality as the cars arrived — by rail — in Union City.
Discovery Park of America CEO Jim Rippy said, “Getting them here has been the biggest hurdle.”
So how did they come?
“By train,” he said.
Now that they have arrived in Union City, the real challenge begins.
“The train will be moved from a temporary storage space to DPA within a few days,” a spokesman said. “A company called Wasatch has been commissioned to move them to the depot at Discovery Park and to paint and refurbish them.”
The Obion County Industrial Economic Development Council (OCIEDC) has agreed to put the caboose, part of the Tom Elam estate and currently on display at the Obion County Chamber of Commerce, on the track at Discovery Park to finish out the display.
“Can you imagine the look on the face of a little ‘Thomas the Train’ fan when he gets to see the full-size train cars and actually go inside them?” Rob Kingrey, exhibits facility director, said. Kingrey is the guy who got busy building the depot and track to display the cars at Discovery Park once Wade and Hagan located them.
“The Pullman car is perfect for small events,” Rippy said. This means the train display at Discovery Park will be like most other areas of the park since it will be an interactive exhibit — something not just to look at, but to experience and enjoy.
So if you are out near Everett Boulevard in Union City over the next few days, don’t be surprised if you see a train going down the four-lane. It will be heading to Discovery Park’s train depot to take its place among the historical attractions soon to beckon people from near and far to this small rural town to experience this world class educational attraction.
Discovery Park is a $100 million attraction whose ribbon cutting will be Nov. 1 in Union City’s northwest quadrant between Everett Boulevard and the proposed I-69.
For more information, visit the website at www.discoveryparkofamerica.com.
Published in The Messenger 6.20.13 | | | | |
