This greasy little train has been a delight for Bay Area families for 70 years. Now its future is uncertain
The lovely and old-timey Filden Park Steam Train is in danger of being opened for history over a lease dispute between the railway and the East Bay Regional Park District.
Ellen Thomsen, a second-generation owner of the redwood grove open-air train operator, informed the district that she will be able to get all the rides under contract at Berkeley Hill Park and San Pablo Ridge.
The famous train Choo-choofo, has been officially named Redwood Valley Railway, as required by Thomsen for seven years, as Thomsen have been trying to find a long-term arrangement, said the public comment section of the District Board of Directors in Oakland this week.
“I’ve gone before the board twice in the last 30 years, when things are so readily available that I have to go to a meeting and be able to get their attention,” he told a reporter Thursday by phone. “Right now we don’t have an agreement with them. Month to month it doesn’t allow us to make the capital improvements we need to make to stay there.”
Representatives for the East Bay Regional Park declined to comment. An emailed statement confirmed that the railroad was on a month-to-month lease and that negotiations are ongoing.
“Steam locomotives are a beloved and treasured resource, and the park district is committed to their continued operation,” she said. “It is in the RVry’s interest to make capital improvements to the site, in the best interests of the park district to ensure they are safe and meet all fire code requirements.”
The working railroad was built by Thomsen’s father, Erich Thomsen, and opened in 1952 as a private concession within the park. The family-owned corporation lets 48 acres sit on the side of the mountain, and maintains a 1.25-mile narrow track and skin engines, which can carry up to 100 people on a 12-minute open-air ride. About 250,000 passengers ride every year, at a ticket price of $4 per ride, with discounts for families. It operates daily during the summer and on weekdays throughout the year. All machines are built from scratch and maintained by 30 paid employees, both full time. The park service is paid a percentage of ticket sales.
“Basically the Park District gets it for free, and it looks like they’re trying to get rid of it,” Thomsen said. “They say they want us to stay, but they don’t support any conditions to do that.”
The latest 10-year lease expired in 2019, and Thomsen said he started trying again a year earlier. “They think that delay will not hurt us but now,” he said. “We’re trying to make all the necessary financial improvements to keep up, so that the train will be around for many more years after I’m gone.”
Thomsen recently turned 70 and has no plans to retire. He said he hopes to establish a non-profit that can serve the ministry after his death.
“This kind of thing should be used by several generations of people who have been trained to do it, because it is something very special, a very historical kind of technology and it requires special skills,” he said.
Thomsen said they hope to secure the lease for 10 years with an option for another 10, which will see the railway line.
The increase has increased by 25% since the onset of Covil-19, he said. His two locomotives cost $500,000 each and he needs more of them, he said, as well as passenger cars to run multiple trains at the same time. He said he also needed more storage barns but was torn down to add those without a viable long-term lease.
“Our business is booming because families are looking for something to do that’s affordable and local, and county parks are big on that,” she said. “We need to keep building machines and we need legal protection for rent if we’re going to build something we can take with us.”
This article was originally published This greasy little train has been a delight for Bay Area families for 70 years. Now its future is uncertain.
