Keeping Travel Town’s Rail Cars on Track

Re “Park’s Train Hobbyists Get Their Walking Papers,” Feb. 1: It’s a shame that the city has seen fit to get rid of the people who were stopping the deterioration of Travel Town’s priceless rail car collection. Thanks to the city, the 75 or so cars and locomotives have turned from operable, beautiful examples of antique rail technology into stripped, vandalized jungle gyms. Unfortunately, it’s not apparent to most visitors that the rail cars and locomotives were operable when they arrived at Travel Town. Virtually all were donated directly out of revenue service by the railroads. The city’s answer to their decay has been to (badly) spray a coat of paint over the equipment once every decade or so and leave the broken windows broken.

Rather than driving off the volunteers, who only want the rail cars to look as they once did so future generations can enjoy them, the city should take a page from the L.A. Zoo’s playbook. I remember when the zoo was a rundown, dirty place full of decaying concrete pens. Now, thanks to great leadership, it’s a beautiful, world-class institution I’m thrilled to visit.

The city should consider turning Travel Town from a city park into a museum run by a city-governed, nonprofit foundation. Travel Town could then solicit donations and use a combination of volunteers and employees to restore the equipment and act as docents and turn itself into the world-class institution Los Angeles deserves.

Robert Greeley

Sunland