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No tickets needed photo by Andrew Mariman Railroad Park celebrates the model train By SHARI DOWNHILL With the balmy afternoon air in their hair, 4-year twins Eva and Nicholas Comerchero held on as their train rolled into Medford's Railroad Park train station. Tucked away at the end of Berrydale Avenue, just off Table Rock Road, the Railroad Park is one of the reasons their father, Vincent Comerchero, said the Rogue Valley is the perfect place to raise his children. As he gently lifts the siblings off one of the pint-sized train's passenger cars, Comerchero said his family has been regulars at the park since moving to Medford three years ago. After each ride, Eva and Nicholas head for the donation box with their quarters. "It's wonderful of these people to donate the money and the time to do things like this," Comerchero said of the Southern Oregon Live Steamers, the 1/8th scale train aficionados responsible for building and maintaining the park since 1981. "It's the perfect entertainment for parents of younger kids." The Railroad Park is open to the public the second and fourth Sundays of each month, April through October. Rides are free but donations are heartily accepted. About 1,500 people climbed aboard for train rides Sunday, the opening day of the 2001 season. "We have a lot of dreams and hopes for this place," said head Engineer Ralph Hutchens. The group has nurtured the park, situated on the city's old sewer plant site, without taxpayer support since 1981. The Steamers have built an expansive 4,000-foot track system, double-decker car barn and switching yard, crossing gates, train station, tunnels, and a soon-to-be completed 70-foot trestle bridge entirely from private donations and money from their own pockets. Now that the trestle is completed, the track system will almost double. Rather than hiring work out, members rely on their own sweat and collective knowledge of construction. The Steamers share the 6.5-acre city-owned site with the Historical Society, which is working on a train restoration project, and "HO" and "G" scale railroaders. The Southern Oregon Live Steamers operate about 15 trains, all built by club members with a hankering for a taste of the railroad life. Having hordes of children pour into the Railroad Park for afternoon rides makes the Steamers' "hobby" doubly pleasurable, they say. "We love the kids, the look on their faces," Hutchens said. "A lot of people just can't afford to take their kids to the show." But the Steamers "show" is likely the best in town when the trains are running. Hutchens' wife Mary, pinstriped from head to ankle, yelled out for the last trainload of riders to get on. The clack-clack of wheels traversing train track and the shrill call of an engine's whistle piercing the afternoon air began to quiet by 3 p.m. As the last visitors trickled out the front gate the Steamers headed to the car barn en masse. In pin-striped hats weighted with nostalgic pins and name tags, the engineers move slowly, talking in groups about the day and the work still needing to be done. They are tired, but say they love what they do. "We need more help," Hutchens admits. "There are so many things to do, I don't even have time to run my own trains." But Hutchens will likely find a way to climb behind the controls of his hand-crafted steam engine again soon and hear behind him the laughter of children. That, he says, is what makes all the work worthwhile. For more information on the Southern Oregon Live Steamers, call Hutchens at 482-1066. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.