Fort Smith weighs buying electric train
City board to consider bid to replicate, replace steam-powered park attraction
FORT SMITH — City officials say they believe they can come up with a solution to continue giving popular small-train rides at Creekmore Park to the young and young at heart.
City directors are scheduled July 11 to consider spending about $56,000 to buy an electric train from a California company that would be a replica of a steam-powered locomotive that was purchased in 1949 and until last year was used to give rides at the city park.
The city received three bids for the new train, Parks Department Director Doug Reinert said. The lowest, at $55,800, came from Western Train Co. of Temecula, Calif. The other two bids came from Action Machine Inc. of Fort Smith, at $83,000, and from Godshall Custom Machining from Shermans Dale, Pa., at $85,000.
The money for the train would come from a parks reserve fund used exclusively for parks expenses, Reinert said.
Reinert wrote to city directors that Western Train could fabricate a replica of the Creekmore steam train with a functioning steam mechanism and any other feature that the city wanted, and it could be built and delivered in 60-90 days.
The train would be battery-powered, could run all day and could carry a large number of passengers, Reinert said.
Larry Newman, 70, said he remembers riding on the Creekmore Park steam train, called the Kansas City Southern 999, as a boy in the 1950s. His children rode it when they were growing up, and now his grandchildren ride a diesel-powered train at the park on a regular basis.
“The train will bring the kid out in everybody,” he said.
The train, which used to run every day during the summer, underwent major repairs in 1988, according
“There are more economic struggles put on us in rural communities,” Cooper said. “We’re busy trying to provide for our families. An ice cream cone that used to cost 10 cents now costs $2.20. People need to work.”
Volunteer fire departments used to be composed of families, with rosters of members that read like a list of generations. Miller was recruited by his brother. Scores of departments include father-and-son combinations.
Chris Fryar, the former chief and a current member of the Oden-Pencil Bluff Volunteer Fire Department in Montgomery County, said his department once thrived on family members.
“There was a time when we’d get groups of families,” he said. “We’d have son-in-laws, wives, daughters.
“Now we’re seeing a generation of kids growing up and leaving,” Fryar said. “They go on to college and move on.”
Fryar said he remembers when he would battle house fires and people who weren’t with the volunteer department would show up to help haul fire hoses and provide water and food for firefighters. That doesn’t happen as often now, he said.
“We’ve become a ‘me-only’ society,” Miller added. “People are self-absorbed and don’t want to share their time.”
The National Volunteer Fire Council, a nonprofit organization based in Greenbelt, Md., began a national recruitment campaign two years ago to help departments find new members.
“Volunteer departments are facing a lot of challenges,” council spokesman Kimberly Quiros said. “A lot of smaller departments are struggling to get volunteers. We are wanting to raise awareness in communities.”
Quiros said a study conducted by the fire council revealed that 79 percent of those questioned didn’t know fire departments needed volunteers.
Volunteers make up about 70 percent of all firefighters in the United States, she said. Of the 29,980 fire departments in the country, 19,915 are volunteer. Members of volunteer fire departments save municipalities about $140 billion a year in firefighters’ salaries, equipment and training, she said.
“There’s a balancing act that volunteer departments are facing between traditional times and the need to adapt to current times,” Quiros said.
There is a high interest nationally among people ages 18-34 in volunteering, but the additional time needed for training and for fundraising are daunting, she said. Many volunteer fire departments are also first-responder units, meaning that in addition to responding to fire calls, members respond to medical emergencies, accidents, hazardous material situations and natural disasters.
“Many people who live in rural communities are commuting to work, or they are moving out,” she said. “There’s not as much time anymore.”
Quiros suggested volunteer firefighters go to local schools to recruit younger members.
“The root of fire service is generational,” Quiros said. “The best way to recruit is by personal invitation. If you can get members who are young, they will stay with departments.”
Cooper said younger members are an asset because of technical changes in firefighting techniques.
“It’s all high-tech,” he said. “We have touch screens and Wi-Fi. It’s all digital when we log fires. Our volunteer generation is now calling for more experience and knowledge in electronics.
“We still need community involvement,” Cooper said. “I still see young people who are not aware that they can be part of a fire department. They can play a role in their community if they want to.
“They just don’t realize that.”