Race is on to save Mesa Pioneer Park train

Southern Pacific steam locomotive No. 2355 has been a landmark for almost 50 years behind the basketball courts and horseshoe pits at Mesa’s Pioneer Park.

“Pioneer Park is the train,” said Valerie Vigil, 52. “The train is Pioneer Park.”

Vigil has lived in Mesa for 25 years and is president of the Phoenix-Mesa Horseshoe Club that uses the park. “As long as we’ve been pitching horseshoes, it’s been here,” she said.

But the train, which has been in its current location since 1958, has deteriorated in recent years and work needs to be done to preserve it and contain the asbestos that fills the boiler and cab.

The city will start an $11,000 asbestos removal project on Monday, but that will not be nearly enough to restore the train to its former glory.

A recent audit puts the price tag at closer to $350,000 to restore the train and move it to a more prominent location at the park. The City Council approved a citizen-based committee this month to raise the money from private sources.

The committee has 60 days from its first meeting on Feb. 20 to raise $10,000 to demonstrate public interest in the project. If the committee falls short, the rusting engine could be sold to the highest bidder.

Mike Holste, assistant director of the Mesa Parks and Recreation Department, said he is trying to remain neutral on the issue. But his family has a history with the train.

“My kids grew up climbing on it,” he said. “Everybody that’s lived in Mesa has banged their head or scraped a knee on it.”

Currently, the train is tucked away near the playground at the back edge of the park and is enclosed by a wrought-iron fence installed by the city in the early 1990s for liability reasons.

Holste said the city has three options for the train’s future:

If the money can be raised in time, the train will be restored and remain in the park. If not, the council will consider offers to either move the train to Chandler or sell it to a museum in California.

“We love the train, but it’s become so costly — $350,000 for a train that’s caged in.” Holste said.

Mesa resident Lizz Gutierrez, 26, said removing the train from the park would be a tragedy. She said her family has lived in Mesa for generations and they all have fond memories of the train.

“I used to climb up on the bells on top and dig down in the dirt underneath it,” she said.

Now, the train is off limits to children, but a colony of feral cats has made their home in the rusting hulk.

A California-based company expressed interest in buying the train in April 2006. Carrizo Gorge Railway officials said they would restore the engine and place it on display in a railroad museum, where visitors would be able to ride it. They offered to pay Mesa $5,000 and all costs to move the train to their museum in El Cajon, Calif.

The Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler also expressed interest in the train in May 2006, and a second California company, the Niles Canyon Railroad Museum, has also made an offer to buy the train.

But public outcry put a halt to the deals, and the Mesa City Council began investigating options to restore the train.

The council hired Scott Lindsay, president of the Steam Operations Corporation, to assess the cost of restoring the train and moving it to a more prominent location. Lindsay came up with the $350,000 figure.

If the train is sold, Holste said the money will probably be used to restore the area around the park, but the final decision will be made by the City Council.

Many residents at the park this week said they will watch the fate of the train with interest.

“As long as I’ve been out here, it’s been here,” said Trisha Hoshaw, 40. “It’s part of the park. My grandfather used to play horseshoes in front of that train."

What: First meeting of the Citizens Fundraising Committee to discuss the train at Pioneer Park

When: 6 p.m. Feb. 20

Where: Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities Office, 200 S. Center St., Building 1, Mesa

Information: Call (480) 644-5783 or e-mail melanie.dykstra@cityofmesa.org