PORTS.
The train first began chugging around City Park in May 2011, replacing an older model shut down in 2005 over safety concerns. But it has broken down five times since then in different locations.
On several occasions, the rear wheel truck of the coach car came off the track, Deputy City Manager Brannon Godfrey told the City Council in June. The train closed weeks after it opened last year and ran only a few days this year, according to city records.
The fix, Godfrey told the council, is to replace the entire track.
The three-quarter-mile track is made of donated 90-pound rail - a type used by full-size trains.
However, Pokey Smokey II is a standard model train designed for a 20-pound rail, according to documents obtained by The Pilot. Rail sizes are measured by the weight per yard.
The new track will be made of 20-pound rail.
The council approved money for the project in June. About $45,000 will come from the general operating budget and $80,000 from the capital improvement fund. The city spent almost $30,000 previously to make other repairs to the track.
According to documents from October 2010, the purchase agreement between the Southeast Virginia Community Foundation, which raised funds for the train, and Chance Morgan, the manufacturer, do not mention that the train must fit a particular rail type. It lists only the C.P. Huntington locomotive and its coach for a purchase price of $215,970.
The track installation guide provided to the foundation a month later by Chance Morgan states: "The C.P. Huntington will operate on 12-, 16- or 20-lb rail. However, it is recommended that 20-lb. rail be used whenever possible."
City leaders said they believe the train doesn't fit because the track is old.
Regardless, Godfrey and former foundation director Judi Luffman said it was their understanding that all three parties had conversations and thought the train would fit.
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Luffman said she was surprised and befuddled to learn that the train didn't fit the tracks. She rode on it several times when it opened on May 14, 2011, and said it felt fine.
Jeff Roth, vice president for administration for the manufacturer, said that any sales associate would have known to mention the rail size that the miniature train needs.
The C.P. Huntington train is not a custom design, Roth said. Pokey Smokey II is the 365th model the company has built and is the same model that is in use at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk.
Pokey Smokey II was supposed to be a gift to Portsmouth, a reminder of its namesake, which had chugged its way into the hearts of locals over several decades. City leaders had thought it would be easier and more cost effective to replace the original Pokey Smokey than to repair it.
Biz Carson, 757-446-2443, bizcarson@gmail.com