Project manager believes Headwaters Junction proposal a great opportunity for city
Your Neighbor - A column by Kelly Lynch| News Sentinel
Editor’s note: Kelly Lynch is a director for the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, project manager for Headwaters Junction and director of Lynchpin Creative, which assists clients with image building and storytelling. The Your Neighbor column is written by a member of a local nonprofit group and appears frequently in Neighbors.
“Big, bold, transformational.” These are the words used by community leaders and Legacy Fort Wayne to describe an idea to bring a world-famous train downtown. But what’s so bold and transformational about a train? Just about everything.
To commemorate the project that elevated the railroad along Superior Street in the post-World War II era, the city of Fort Wayne installed a massive steam locomotive in Lawton Park. In 1979, what was once a broken monument was restored to operation by a group of volunteers called the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.
No one could have known it at the time, but steam locomotive No. 765 would become an international attraction operating passenger train excursions and appearing all over the country as a larger-than-life sensory experience, teaching tool and ambassador for the city of Fort Wayne.
No. 765 is a rolling Hollywood production, creating, as Walt Disney called it, “a happening” in every town it travels through. This is no ordinary history lesson. It’s an icon of Midwest industry and innovation. It is Fort Wayne incarnate.
Few cities can claim they have their own train, let alone one with a proven, 30-year following. No. 765 experienced 50,000 visitors from all 50 states and five countries in 16 days alone in 2011. The engine traveled more than 3,000 miles in 2012, where up to 3,000 people daily enjoyed the sights and sounds of our rocket ship on wheels.
But how can the success of this people-magnet help Fort Wayne?
Enter Headwaters Junction, an idea that has been endorsed and supported by a number of neighborhood and civic organizations for several years, thanks in no small part to the power of the train.
Recognized by the Legacy Fort Wayne initiative as a plan with “community support and catalytic potential,” Headwaters Junction is an effort to make mixed-use development along our riverfront unique, entertaining, educational and vibrant with the train.
With yearlong programming and events, and a railroad connecting other area attractions to downtown, Headwaters Junction is an opportunity for Fort Wayne to set itself apart from others in the Midwest with not just its offerings, but with its vision to embrace its own strengths, assets and identity.
Community plans for North River, the undeveloped former railroad yard and scrap site along Clinton Street and the St. Marys River, have long called for the site to eventually host some sort of regional attraction to complement mixed use along the riverfront. This can be that attraction.
For a city once so industrious and hyper-connected because of the railroad, it’s an attraction that’s authentic, with the capability to bring 100,000 or more visitors downtown every year.
The Legacy Fort Wayne initiative recognized the opportunity to include engine No. 765 and its vintage stablemates, which are stored in a facility east of New Haven when not in use, in initial studies for riverfront development.
What would it be like to have a dinner train downtown or our very own Polar Express? What could a 1944-built time machine and its thousands of visitors do in helping make downtown a destination?
Imagine a street car taking visitors to the zoo; shops, restaurants and river tours set against the dramatic, animated backdrop of the train and its environment; annual programming and events using the train as the centerpiece.
Just as you need not be a fan of baseball to enjoy an evening at Parkview Field, you need not be a student of history to be entranced by an attraction as versatile as the train. Just as a simple baseball game has helped bring the masses to discover downtown, this locomotive and its counterparts are our pied pipers waiting in the wings.
At our current facility east of New Haven, we’ve had visitors come and picnic in the grass just to watch us work on the train. When’s the last time you went back in time on your lunch break?
There is a reason this was one of the top three ideas in public voting and why it survived two years of deliberations on how to promote the “cultural, recreational, public and economic well-being of Fort Wayne,” and to help establish the city “as a place of pride and opportunity for all.”
This is not another strip mall. It’s not a museum. This is one-of-a-kind community potential, the kind the Legacy Fort Wayne initiative said “should not be overlooked.”
As City Council and the mayor’s office weigh development possibilities, tell them this train deserves to have a home where it can really benefit the city that preserved it.
It’s time to take it to the next step.
Tell them that, if we’re going to remake Fort Wayne, let’s do it in a way that actually says something about our city, in a way that sets us apart and inspires thousands along the way.
You’re welcome to stop in at 614 S. Harrison St. at 6 p.m. Thursday to hear a public presentation on Headwaters Junction.
Visit http://headwatersjunction.com and www.fortwaynerailroad.org for more information, or send me a request at lynch@fwrhs.org for a tour of No. 765 at 15808 Edgerton Road, New Haven, and let your imagination do the rest.
Don’t let Fort Wayne miss the train.
Original article here (News Sentinel)
Headwater Junction website (headwatersjunction.com)
Fort Wayne RR Historical Society (fortwaynerailroad.com)
Absolutely no offense to Kelly, or anyone who has put countless hours into the Headwaters Junction Initiative but I think this is a terrible Idea.
1. Bringing tracks and a turntable roundhouse into this area could be a logistical disaster.
2. Fort Wayne needs a functional, efficient, high speed railway system capable of actually bringing people to and from Fort Wayne.
3. I may be wrong, but I believe that coal burning steam locomotive engines are one of the most inefficient, worst polluters known to man.
Without getting into the exact carbon footprint of a one hour “burning coal session” through our beautiful downtown Fort Wayne, lets just imagine this scenario…
You decide to have a picnic at Headwaters Park on a summer afternoon with your wife, kids and dog. Suddenly you hear a loud horn in the distance, and the ground starts to vibrate with a low rumble. Your dog is freaking out, and kids are asking “mommy, what is that sound”? Mom says “don’t worry honey, its just a 802,500 lb steam engine that is about to rip through the park”. “Now kids, put your ear plugs in, and get your masks out”. “Oh, and cover the food, sh!ts about to get real kids!”
Suddenly this magnificent 802,500 lb piece of 1944 technology comes barreling around the corner… As the birds scatter and kids clench mom and dad by the arms you can feel the amazing amount of heat from the 22,000 gallons of drinking water that is being boiled by the 44,000 lbs of coal that is burning within the massive two cylinder Elesco engine. (I realize that the engine does not actually burn 44,000 lbs of coal all a once, nor does it boil all 22,000 gallons of water at once, but it does carry this much)
When the kids ask “what is the train for?”, You might answer, “it is a for-profit short line railroad that serves area businesses.”
OK so obviously kids don’t understand the concept, but can someone please name just one area business that this massive train can serve? I mean, do we really need an outdated 802,500 lb piece of coal burning, water boiling technology to get us around Fort Wayne in the year 2013? I think we should promote cycling with our kids around Fort Wayne to the local businesses. Our kids are overweight, unhealthy, riddled with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer for Petes sake.
We need to get rid of this old fogey mentality that something like an old coal burning train will attract people to this city. It is a proven fact that art, culture, a thriving music scene, low cost of living, a good trail system, sporting teams, employment opportunities, and bicycle friendly communities are what attract and maintain a solid population of young and old.
Fort Wayne is starting to do a very good job of attracting people. Lets not screw it up with a massive loud steam engine please…
I’m sorry but I do not want a huge loud steam engine blowing its horn and puffing its coal smoke throughout our city for eternity…
The Historical Embassy Theatre was originally heated by……you guest it, coal! There is a reason the Embassy is no longer heated by coal, and transportation lines now use extremely efficient energy sources other than coal.
We really need to consider moving forward into the 21st century folks. In my opinion, this project would be a disaster, and most certainly a step in the wrong direction.
In full disclosure, at the very beginning of my grandfathers career at N&W, he used to ride the original 765 from the real turntable roundhouse in New Haven, IN to many destinations out east as an engineer. From the stories he told my cousins and I, it was not a glorious job, nor was it fun to shovel coal into a furnace for days at a time… I am in total support of the preservation and continued operation of this engine. Just not through our beautiful downtown. These engines are really loud!!! It should be fired up a couple times a year, and stored in a museum in New Haven, IN during it’s down time. I’m sure there are plenty of old warriors out there that are willing to shovel coal on this train, but how many people under the age of 30 are looking forward to a future of shoveling coal on this beautiful historical piece of machinery? If this project were implemented and it failed, we would be stuck with a very large ugly expensive mess…
Thank you for allowing me to blow my horn and puff my smoke. In America we can still do this. Lets be thankful.
Hopefully Henry will give of insight as to whether the city has any desire in this project during his State of City tonight. One can only hope