It took some maneuvering, but a caboose, a tender car and Engine 209 have now been relocated from a downtown Gainesville corner to a new home on the Midtown Greenway.
City of Gainesville officials announced plans earlier in the year to relocate the train cars in order to make way for a new development at the corner of Jesse Jewell Parkway and West Academy Street. The cars had been part of Engine 209 Park since 1991.
Friday evening, crews began the job of loading the caboose and the tender car on trailers, and those two cars were moved to the new location at Grove and Davis Streets first on Saturday morning.
Frankie Chambers, a Hall County native, was part of a small crowd that watched the process. He said he knew change was inevitable, but it will take some time to get used to not seeing the train engine at the corner.
"I use it for a landmark," Chambers said. "[I tell] everybody to go by the train to get to certain places, so I'll have to change and get something else for a landmark."
Chambers said he works for a bridge company, so he was interested in watching the mechanics of the move more than anything else.
He said he remembered when Davis-Washington Lumber Co. occupied the space that will soon be home to an entertainment venue.
Ric Williams, his wife Mitzi, and their two sons also watched as the train cars were slowly transferred from one spot to the other. They said they were aware some people were unhappy about the move, but they didn't have a problem with it.
"It's just exciting to watch, so we brought the boys out to watch it all go down," said Mitzi Williams. "I don't know that I have strong feelings about it - it's cool either way. We enjoyed coming up and visiting it here and we'll enjoy visiting where it goes."
Ric Williams said he grew up in a house on the Midland rail line between Gainesville and Athens, so trains are a big part of his childhood memories.
"I do remember this spot when it was actually an active train line," he said. "My mother told me stories when I was growing up about her seeing the last powered run of this engine before they retired it."
Engine 209 was loaded onto a self-propelled trailer and was the last car to move from the site, making its way around the corner from West Academy onto Jesse Jewell just after 9 a.m. Saturday.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2021/8/1030622/engine-209-move