Scottsdale railroad park plans major upgrades

Scottsdale's McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, born not from any historic connection the city has to the railroads but simply from the passions of Guy Stillman, is the envy of other communities, and plans are in the works for major renovations.

Once complete, the park would have such things as a new building with better public access to large model railroad displays built by volunteers, a larger pavilion for birthday parties and events, and a more dramatic entrance. Plans also call for a users' guide to direct patrons to under-appreciated gems such as a railroad car that carried three U.S. presidents.

About 400,000 people a year come to ride the park's miniature train.

"Guy was an interesting fellow," said Bob McNair, the park's senior recreation coordinator. "The train we have here is the train that used to go around his backyard."

The 30-acre city-operated park, on the southeast corner of Indian Bend and Scottsdale roads, opened in 1975. McNair said he occasionally gets calls from people in other communities who want to start a similar park.

"The up-front capital to do something like this would be astronomical," he said.

The reason Scottsdale has such an attraction is that the McCormick family, of McCormick Ranch, donated 100 acres to the city, of which 30 were set aside for the park, he said. Most of the buildings and equipment were donated or bought by Stillman and the nonprofit Scottsdale Railroad Mechanical Society over a period of 30 years.

Scottsdale was never a railroad destination, McNair said.

"There aren't any tracks anywhere near here," he said.

But that fact doesn't deter the crowds, which include railroad buffs and families with young children. On Monday afternoon, about 50 parents and young children took advantage of the nice weather at the playground.

"This place is a madhouse on the weekends," McNair said.

Gerald Brazelton, a retiree who has worked part-time as a museum guide at the park for about three years, said he has loved trains ever since receiving his first model railroad at six years old. Now, he brings his grandchildren to the park.

"I think the best part is the legacy that's left for future generations," Brazelton said. "There's presidential history, there's railroad history. It covers so much."

McNair said the city has hired architectural firm Holly Street Studio to draft a master plan update for the park. The study will detail proposed improvements like the location of a new 10,000 square-foot model railroad building. The new building would provide public access to three miniature train displays now only observable through glass windows, he said.

Two cabooses now in the birthday pavilion would be moved to the park's east side to create a more attractive entrance, while the interior of a larger railroad car at the pavilion has been renovated to accommodate birthday parties.

The consultants also are expected to draft a guide to the park detailing some of the lesser known features, such as a Pullman railroad car that carried Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman.

"It was basically Air Force One before they flew," McNair said. "It's still one of those hidden things that nobody knows about."

The park also hosts Arizona's piece of the "Merci Train," one of 48 boxcars donated by France to the U.S. after World War II. The cars were filled with gifts to the American people in each of the then-48 states as thanks for liberating their country.

"This is one of the few that's still around," McNair said.

Other proposed improvements include building a new structure to house the hobby shop, and turning the existing hobby shop building - an actual railroad depot from the northwest Valley city of Peoria - into the railroad museum's entrance, McNair said.

"Right now you just go up a ramp," he said.

The park also boasts a desert arboretum, and a large locomotive engine that formerly hauled copper in southeast Arizona.

"There are so many components of the park that people don't know about," McNair said.

About $400,000 has been budgeted for the master plan update, and construction could cost an additional $4 million, he said. About $2 million of that would come from proceeds from the city's previous sale of the remaining 70 acres of land donated by the McCormicks, he said. The balance would be raised by the nonprofit from private donors.

The park has an annual budget of $1.4 million. Although admission is free, it brings in about $1.1 million in fees from concessions, rides, event reservations and souvenirs, McNair said.

"There may not be a lot of money to do these things but at least we're identifying things we want to do in the future," he said.