Kennewick's Columbia Park choo-choo is homeless

WANTED: Inexpensive, secure parking spot near Columbia Park, big enough for a train.

The Kiwanis Club of the Horse Heaven Hills is in the market for a temporary home for its J&S Dreamland Express — that memorializes a fallen Washington State Patrol trooper.

The 90-foot train, which runs on tires rather than tracks, carries thousands of kids and families on tours of Kennewick's shoreline every summer.

The train lost its old home at the base of Edison Street when the city of Kennewick condemned its storage building as structurally unsafe.

The future of the train isn't in jeopardy, but the loss of its home base is creating logistical challenges, said Dick Nordness, the train coordinator.

For now, the train is temporarily housed several miles from Columbia Park at a Port of Kennewick hangar at Vista Field.

While the train can drive on city streets, the distance is awkward and Kennewick police typically need to escort it.

With the summer train ride season set to begin May 5, Nordness is scrambling to find quarters nearer to the "station," next to the Playground of Dreams at the east end of the park near the family fishing pond.

"We're looking at something closer and secured," he said.

J&S Dreamland Express made its season debut Friday and will continue offering rides during the annual kids fishing event at the fishing pond.

It spent the night in Columbia Park, but only because fishing derby organizers secured the pond to protect the newly stocked hundreds of rainbow trout.

"They don't want people walking off with all the fish," Nordness said.

The regular weekend service begins May 5 and continues through the end of September.

The train was created by Ken Johanning, who also manages the fishing derby, as a tribute to Washington State Patrol Trooper Jim Saunders.

Saunders was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in 1999. The train that bears his initials consists of a motorized "locomotive" cab pulling five open-air passenger cars.

Rides are typically offered from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and cost $1 a person. Volunteer engineers and conductors operate the attraction.

Nordness said more than 11,000 passengers rode the train in 2017.

It is also used as a shuttle during the Tri-City Water Follies in August, adding thousands more to the ridership.

Kiwanis is considering several options for short-term storage.

In the longer term, it hopes to build a new building in Columbia Park. That will take three or more years and involves securing approval from both the city of Kennewick and the Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the local shoreline.

The Corps gave approval to fabricate a temporary garage using shipping containers. Nordness called that a last-resort option.

It would take three 40-foot shipping containers to house the train at a cost of $8,000 apiece. The containers would have to be welded together and would not be viable for resale.

Nordness said Kiwanis prefers to raise money to cover the cost of future construction.

Anyone with suggestions for housing the train is asked to contact Nordness at RNordness@hotmail.com.

This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Kennewick's Columbia Park choo-choo is homeless."