New paint job for Gainesville's old choo-choo

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville's tie with its steam railroad past has a new paint job which city officials say should last for several years.

Engine 209 got a full make-over four years ago, but the paint on the lomomotive's galvanvized boiler kept peeling off; it just would not stick.
Gainesville's Superintendent of Public Lands and Buildings, Jim Hamlin, says this time the city used special paint for galvanized metal that should not peel.

"We did all the proper prep work and primers, and this time we expect to get a good 12 years or so out of the paint job," Hamlin said.

Hamlin, a railroad buff, said Engine 209 is back to looking like it did when it once steamed to and from town hauling freight and passengers.

"I did quite a bit of research four and a half years ago," Hamlin added. "We matched some color pictures of the train as it existed in the mid-1950's."