ABILENE, Kan. — The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad is launching a fundraising campaign to upgrade its former Rock Island track between Abilene and Enterprise, Kan. Abilene & Smoky Valley, organized in 1993, purchased the right-of-way from Union Pacific and has been operating excursion trains on the Abilene-Enterprise route since 1994. The railroad is best known for its restoration and operation of former Santa Fe 4-6-2 No. 3415.
A&SV General Manager Ross Boelling says the project will be in two phases, with $75,000 needed to complete the first phase and about $1.8 million to finish phase two. The organization is working with granting agencies and seeking contributions to fund the project. “This initiative will upgrade and protect our operation for another 30 or 40 years, Boelling says. “For the past 27 years, we have attempted to maintain our track ourselves with only volunteer labor, and while we work hard in this endeavor, it will soon require more work than our limited number of volunteers can complete. Many of the ties have outlived their useful life, and most other ties are approaching that condition as well. To that end, we have decided on a two-phase attack to upgrade our track,” he says.
Phase one is set to begin in February or early March 2022. A&SV has received a $30,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Dickinson County and hopes to match or double that amount with new donations and gifts to raise an additional $45,000 to complete the first phase. The railroad has hired a Nebraska-based contractor to insert new ties and stabilize about 3 miles track. “We have enough supplies on hand right now to complete about 3 miles. We will need to purchase another 950 ties to stabilize the remaining 2 miles into Enterprise. As a volunteer nonprofit organization, we need our community’s financial support to successfully complete the first phase,” he says.
Boelling says the second phase is a more significant endeavor that will require replacing all ties on the Abilene-Enterprise section, adding new ballast and stabilizing and leveling rails. That phase will cost an estimated $1.8 million, which will include the purchase of about 17,000 ties and 5,000 tons of ballast. “Once completed, our volunteers will be able to maintain the track as our physical infrastructure will be in much better shape,” Boelling says.
Since its founding in 1993, A&SV has provided rides to over 250,000 passengers. In 2021, the railroad attracted over 6,000 passengers from 48 states. During the normal May-to-October operating season, trains make a 2-hour round trip.
In 2009, the railroad restored Santa Fe 4-6-2 No. 3415 to service. Built by Baldwin in 1919, it was placed in Eisenhower Park in Abilene in 1955. It was moved to A&SV in 1996; restoration work began in 2005. During a normal operating season, the locomotive operates about once a month. No. 3415 was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 2012.
Donations to the maintenance fund can be made at www.asvrr.org or mailed to the railroad at P.O. Box 744, Abilene, KS 67410-0744. Donations are tax deductible.
