Train cars and other railroad equipment for the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad have been vandalized in the past, but not to the extent they have been recently.
The railroad, an excursion railroad operating vintage equipment out of the small town of Yacolt, has fallen victim to multiple instances of vandalism, including broken windows, graffiti, and other damage, over the last couple of months.
“The deputy that handles the area, Deputy Charles Harris, did track down who the problems were,” Chelatchie Prairie Railroad President Randy Williams said. “They’re all under 18. All the witnesses are under 18. So that’s all juvenile court. There is a case that’s been filed with charges, but it’s our understanding that those were wrong because they’re all first offenders and juvenile offenders, and the prosecuting attorney didn’t want to follow up on it.”
Williams and a volunteer brakeman for the train, Shelly Green, said they feel like the lack of juvenile prosecution has failed them and the community. Green, a mother herself, is disappointed to see the work she and her colleagues have put in get abused by local youth.
“It starts with the parents first, and if it doesn’t happen with the parents, it’s just not going to happen. So parents need to start stepping up and being involved in their kids’ lives, plain and simple,” Green said.
The issues didn’t just stop at petty vandalism but at turning railroad cars into a hangout spot.
“One of the cars, the third one back, was covered with a tarp, but it was kind of turned into the clubhouse,” Green said. “I mean, there would just be snacks inside of it, there’d be condoms inside of it, just all the general stuff you don’t want in there.”
Ramps that connect the railroad cars were damaged by being moved back and forth; one of the windows on a caboose was completely shot out by a beebee gun, Green said. The windows on a railroad tie crane car were completely busted out, with spray paint additions to the body, and other equipment with similar damage.
Additionally, wiring and hoses were cut, almost as if an act of sabotage, compared to the other vandalism that occurred.
“We’re a volunteer organization,” Green said. “We don’t have the money to spend to be doing [repairs], and all of our hours are volunteer. I do all of this on my off time. I spent nine hours down here one day. It’s a lot of work, and we take a lot of pride in what we do. We love seeing the community and the smiles, as well as the relationships we’ve built with everyone. However, the problem is that people aren’t telling their children, ‘Listen, this is history, this is part of our town, and this is what brings in revenue for us.’ This is good for us.”
The replacement costs for the windows aren’t cheap, with the parents of previous vandals ghosting the railroad when they received an invoice. Williams said the caboose windows would pack a total replacement cost of $500 each.
“We just got done redoing one of the cabooses and to come and get ready to work, volunteer work, and get so excited and then you see broken glass all over the place and your heart just breaks,” Green said. “Like literally, I must have sat in tears because I just had spent so much time … It’s heart-wrenching because we do this for other people. We don’t do it for ourselves; we do it because it makes people happy. We do a lot of stuff with the elderly. We take them on rides. We do a lot of stuff with special needs children and that is worth it to us. And when other people are damaging stuff, they’re taking away from those people and that makes me angry.”
The Chelatchie Prairie Railroad is self-funded through ticket sales, with over half of that coming with their Christmas train excursions between Thanksgiving and Christmas. To view the train schedule and learn more about the railroad, visit tickets.bycx.org.
