Train Enthusiast Engineers a New Career

He always loved trains.

So when they offered Dave Wilkinson a railroad, it didn’t seem like much of a gamble.

He chucked his job as a movie projectionist, wagered a personal fortune on dozens of old railroad cars and engines and launched a new career as owner and operator of the historic Fillmore & Western Railway Co.

“I’m just a train enthusiast,” said Wilkinson, seated in a 50-year-old carriage featured in the “Wild Wild West” television series as the main character’s living quarters. “A model train lover who’s run amok.”

Wilkinson, who closed escrow last week on the transaction, declined to disclose the purchase price.

But with all those railroad cars, a solid business base as the famous “Movie Train,” and 40 full- and part-time employees, the company did not come cheap.

“There were lots and lots of zeros” on the purchase contract, Wilkinson said.

Already, Wilkinson and his wife, Tresa, have plotted a marketing campaign that they hope will soon translate to crowded railway cars full of hungry tourists.

The Ojai residents plan to continue capitalizing on train rentals and consulting to Hollywood productions, which explains the Movie Train name. But more important, they want to boost ticket sales on their historic passenger trains.

“We’re going to have much more of an emphasis on dinner trains and tourist trains rather than the Movie Train part of the business,” said Wilkinson, a 48-year-old Ventura County native. “That’s where the money is in the long run.”

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He plans to offer a wider variety of dinner and theater options, advertise in more regional publications and lure Southern California tourists from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Ticket prices now range from $12 for a two-hour train ride to $68.50 for dinner and a show.

Wilkinson said he is interested in trying new things. Among other ideas he is kicking around is a rolling magic show. He already has expanded the excursion train schedule, which had been closed for the winters, to run year-round.

“There’s 10 million people within a couple of hours of here,” said Tim Grush, hired by the Wilkinsons to promote the railroad. “The catch is going to be getting some of them to stop here on their way someplace else.”

The railroad company includes five engines and almost 40 passenger and dining cars.

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The cars have been featured in scores of films and TV shows, including the movies “Nixon,” “Money Train” and “Broken Arrow.”

Wilkinson’s trains rumble down miles of track recently purchased from Southern Pacific by the Ventura County Transportation Commission, which is upgrading the tracks and planning a Santa Clara River bike trail along the corridor.

In addition to a savvier marketing plan, the new owners of the Fillmore & Western Railway Co. are banking on support from municipal officials in Fillmore, Santa Paula and Piru, which share 30 miles of steel rails and wooden crossties.

Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell said tourism is a clean industry that benefits everyone in Ventura County.

Fillmore is not only committed to supporting the famous Movie Train, but also to promoting other projects that will prompt additional visits from out-of-towners, Campbell said.

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The city of nearly 13,000 already boasts a new City Hall and central square. Within weeks, a new winery will open downtown, and a nonprofit natural history museum is expected to open next summer.

“I don’t want to say any one thing is the key component,” Campbell said. “The train is important, but it can’t do it by itself. The shops and antique stores can’t do it by themselves. Central Park can’t do it by itself.

“But all these things, the combination of things to do and the friendly atmosphere of the people here is what’s making this a destination spot.”

Santa Paula Councilwoman Laura Espinosa said her city already has begun sprucing up its historic downtown.

Construction of a new tiled lot for a weekend farmers’ market is underway, and designs are being drawn up for a small shopping district next to the railroad depot, which is also scheduled for renovations.

“These are projects that are essential to bringing the tourists to the areas we’re developing,” Espinosa said. “And the railroad is a big part of that draw.”

Beginning this weekend, the Fillmore & Western Railway Co. will roll its annual Santa Claus Special, a round-trip excursion from Fillmore to a Santa Paula tree farm, where passengers can chop down their own Christmas trees.

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Wilkinson ran a first-class train car for the trio of former owners for several years before buying the company. He said the popular mainstay of events, such as the seasonal tree run, will provide a healthy business base.

But better advertising and a streamlined staff will also help turn a profit, he said.

“I never really expressed my opinion because it was their business to run,” he said. “Now I’m up to bat, and I hope I hit a home run. But I’ll settle for a base hit.”