Greyhound buses disappeared last month but there’s a faster way to get out of town if you can catch it. Amtrak’s California Zephyr doesn’t seem to slow much, if at all, as it rumbles through downtown Lovelock right past the historic Lovelock Train Depot where passengers used to wait.
The last time an Amtrak train stopped for passengers in Lovelock was in May 1997 according to an Amtrak spokesman.
Pershing County resident John Heizer wonders if Amtrak could restart that service. Otherwise, he joked that a red lantern near the tracks could force the trains to stop. He pointed out that taxpayers help subsidize Amtrak train service elsewhere in Nevada and the rest of the country.
The company was contacted last week for a response to Heizer’s inquiry. What would it take for Amtrak trains to stop once again in Lovelock? Amtrak Government Affairs and Corporate Communications spokesman Marc Magliari responded from the Amtrak Chicago Union Station and said a train stop would be a “lengthy” but not impossible project for the Lovelock community.
“Here’s the process. The first step is someone official should contact me,” he said. “Some elected official from the city, county or state. It could be the mayor, the state legislator, it could be your member of Congress, including one of your Senators or your Congressman, or it could be the Nevada Department of Transportation. Either way, an elected official would contact us.”
After high level discussions with leaders, who could raise funds for the project, the company would then decide if Lovelock could reappear on the Amtrak train schedule, Magliari said.
“We would respond and have some discussion about a business reason for us to stop,” he said. “In other words, does it make sense to stop the train there because there are people there to bring to Lovelock and take from Lovelock?”
If Amtrak decides to stop trains in Lovelock, the community would have to decide where.
“You guys would go through a process for determining that and you’d come to us and say, ‘here are our top choices for a stop,’” Magliari said. “It could be this intersection or that intersection. Once upon a time, a very long time ago I believe, we used to stop there but I don’t know if that’s the location the community would have in mind. You folks would tell us.”
The owner of the railroad tracks would have to agree to the project, Magliari said.
“We would go to the folks that own the tracks, in this case Union Pacific, and say Lovelock has contacted us and we think there’s a good reason to stop here,” he said. “Here’s where Lovelock thinks the stop should be and we would get UP’s review of that.”
A platform accessible to handicapped persons would have to be built alongside the tracks. Platforms can be uncovered and at or near a train station such as the Lovelock Train Depot.
“Once all of those things were done, once we found there was a business reason to stop there, once a location was determined, once the UP said yes, you can stop there, then someone would have to build a platform,” Magliari said. “Platforms are not inexpensive and this process can be very lengthy. I’ve seen this process take more than 10 years.”
The process sounds daunting, but Magliari said other rural communities have succeeded in building platforms to nail down Amtrak services or they are going through the process. State and federal transportation funds have helped other communities with platform costs, he said.
Even though it’s across a road, the Lovelock Depot could be part of the project, Magliari said. Built in 1880, the Depot has been renovated since it was moved off Union Pacific property.
“We have situations like that with train stations that are set far back from the tracks,” he said. “I can think of a place in Colorado where the waiting area is on one side of the street and the platform and the tracks are on the other side but it’s not a very high-volume street.”
Magliari said the “gateway question” is would a Lovelock train stop make economic sense.
“How fast we’re going through there already, how many passengers are at stops nearby, where we believe those passengers are coming from,” he said. “The figures vary based on all those kinds of factors. These kinds of ideas are not uncommon but that’s why there’s a process.”
Arcadia, Mo., and Hope, Ark., are examples of success stories for Amtrak and other projects are pending in Culbertson, Mont., and Flatonia, Texas, Magliari said. There were local and state funds available for the projects, some of which are also on Union Pacific tracks.
“We were able to start stopping in Arcadia, Mo., a year or so ago but it was a long process, at least five years. It took the folks in Hope, Ark., more than 10 or 20 years,” he said. “Once the decision is if it makes sense to stop, the rest of it is coming up with the money.”
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Arcadia, Mo. — a town of about 600 people — received $600,000 in grants and contributions, including $420,000 from the Missouri Department of Transportation and $113,000 from the Iron County Economic Partnership, to build a new platform for the town’s renovated train depot and establish a new Amtrak stop.
Magliari found old photos online of the Lovelock Train Depot where Amtrak trains used to stop.
“Here’s a train enthusiasts’ site with some old pictures,” he said. “There’s a picture taken in July 1973 of the Lovelock station, a lovely color yellow, and there’s others in white and green.”
Patty Burke grew up in Lovelock and enjoyed short caboose rides thanks to freight train crews. In 2001, she rode Amtrak’s California Zephyr for the first time from Reno to Washington, D.C. It didn’t stop for passengers in Lovelock so she had to go to the Reno station to board the train.
Trains offer a new perspective on the land and a more relaxed way to travel but you can’t be in a hurry, Burke said. She slept “like a baby” on the train and met other train buffs in the dining car.
“If I could, I would travel only by train,” she said. “It’s peaceful and you get to see the country.”
Burke believes a train station could benefit Lovelock especially if local points of interest were promoted including the Lovelock Train Depot, the round county courthouse and lovers’ locks.
“People could lock their love or take a quick tour of Lovelock,” said the small business owner. “That would be a positive impact for our community. More promotion means better business.”
Magliari seemed to agree that Amtrak might also benefit by stopping in Lovelock.
“If there’s a business reason, we’d love to be there, too,” he said.
