Playing on railroad: Replica of historic train is touring Utah cities

SPRINGVILLE — Children seated comfortably on a small-scale train chugging around the Springville Wal-Mart's parking lot Tuesday didn't seem to mind that the wind was a little chilly.

They were grinning from ear to ear.

Hundreds of children have taken a turn on the rubber-wheeled train since it started a tour of Utah last Saturday. The train, a replica of the historic Central Pacific Jupiter, is one of two vehicles This Is the Place Heritage Park special-ordered to look like the locomotives that met at Promontory Summit in 1869, signifying the completion of the country's first transcontinental railroad.

Torie Bartholomew, 5, giggled as she hopped off the train.

"It was good," she said, shyly ducking her head so her eyes were hidden under the cardboard train-conductor's hat perched on her head. "I want to go again."

The ride added a pleasant twist to a mundane milk run, said Torie's mother, Dawnelle Bartholomew, who had three of her children with her.

"My kids just think this is the best trip to the grocery store ever," she said. "They are so excited."

The little train has made its way through 11 of Utah's cities as part of a re-enactment of the historic train's journey across the country on the transcontinental railroad.

The train will make six more stops before meeting its counterpart, the Union Pacific 119, at This Is the Place Heritage Park, where Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will participate in a dramatization of the driving of the golden spike. The event will kick off the 2007 grand opening of the park.

The trains were designed for more than a once-a-year event, however. They were a solution to accessibility issues at This Is the Place Heritage Park, said Cliff Harris, account executive at the park.

Many people have trouble navigating the park's 430 acres, he said, especially the elderly and young children. "Because we are a historical park, we looked to history for a solution," he said. "Utah has a rich railroading history."

Brigham Young University students Jeff Stevens and Nicole Walton sang railroad tunes for the crowd in between trips around the parking lot.

The hubbub aroused the interest of several Wal-Mart employees, who then took a break to try the train out. "I think half my staff is on that train," said Nathaniel Smith, store manager of the Springville Wal-Mart.

Smith said the Wal-Mart location has never hosted an event quite like This Is the Place Heritage Park's touring train.

"My 9-year-old was so mad he was going to miss the train because he had to go to school," he said. "They are stopping by the American Fork Wal-Mart later today, though, so he is trying to get out of school a little early to make it there."

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