BONITA, Calif. (KGTV) - A campaign is underway to repair flood-ravaged railroad track used for train rides at Rohr Park.
At Rohr Park, volunteered have collected piles of damaged railroad track.
Scotty Lewis, is a board member of the Chula Vista Live Steamers, the nonprofit that's been overseeing miniature train rides here for five decades.
“We're going to go through all this stuff and figure out what's salvageable and what’s not,” said Lewis. “It was all mangled, displaced, twisted like a pretzel.”
After floodwaters swamped the park three Mondays ago, half of all the track, some 4000 feet, was damaged. Some of the track was plastered along a fence. Another section smashed against trees. In one area, track was ripped out of the concrete.
Lewis hopes more than half of the damaged track can be saved.
“The plastic ties were pretty bulletproof. A lot of track made with this were not destroyed,” said Lewis.
The track with wooden ties didn't fare as well. Lewis says the ground beneath the track also has to be shored up.
“Once the dirt gets pulled up, the dirt falls in. You’ve got to go in and scrape it out. You have to re-level everything and make sure there are no humps, like a roller coaster. It's kind of like rebuilding a real railroad,” said Lewis.
Lewis says the cost to rebuild could run more than $60,000. The nonprofit didn't have flood insurance.
They hope to reopen one section of the track for rides in March.
The long track to recovery for the rest of the track, could take years.
“We're going to be back. It’ll be a nicer railroad when it's done,” said Lewis.
If you'd like to volunteer or contribute to the rebuilding campaign, go to the Chula Vista Live Steamers Facebook page.
