Railroad speeders return to provide fun, fine views

Train enthusiasts immersed themselves in nostalgia while helping raise money for the Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway History Preservation Group this weekend at the Potlatch Depot.

Speeders, small vehicles once used by railroad employees to inspect tracks and reach trains to make repairs, were arriving and departing throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Area model train clubs also offered displays of their intricate creations and the depot's museum provided historic artifacts and photographs of the railroad.

"We've been wanting to do this for a very long time. It's a great way to spend a Saturday," said Ella Roberts of Clarkston, who was at the depot and had just finished an early-morning Speeder ride. "I've always wanted to be up front with the engineer and I was up front."

"This was a bucket-list item," said Tom Roberts, her husband.

Speeders are upgrades from the original human-powered pump cars, but still move slower than autos and trains. The leisurely pace of these vehicles provided riders with views and bridge crossings not visible from area roads, said Jim West, executive director of the organization that goes by WI&MRyHPG.

Roberts said she saw a deer cross the track during her ride.

Speeders went from the depot to Wellesley Road or O'Reilly Road - and back. Riders traveled twice the distance this year though the ticket prices only increased by 50 percent, West said.

It's a popular event for families, though children must be at least five years old to ride.

A variety of other special train-related items were at the depot for people to enjoy while they waited to board the speeders and allowed those with children too young to ride something to enjoy while they waited.

"I loved it," said Ida Wohleter of Potlatch, soon after exiting one of the speeders. She was with her grandsons watching model trains running inside the depot.

"It was good," said Hollice Wohleter, 13.

His favorite speeders were the red ones. There also were some painted yellow and others orange - the color favored by his brother, Jack, 11.

"You see the light in their eyes," West said about the people of all ages who come to ride the speeders. "They can't wait to get on."

Stephanie Pollack, also from Potlatch, was carrying her son, Tayson, 3.

She looked at the toddler and said to him, "In two more years we'll go together on a ride."

They were carefully watching the models.

"The more you look, the more you notice the little details," she said. "This is something worth going to, even if you don't ride."

Dan Wise, roadmaster of the Lewis-Clark Train Club, was operating an N-scale, L-shaped model. He was using controls to sound train whistles and bells.

Two tiny trains run tracks that snake through two imaginary towns.

A train tunnel appears to have caved in. It's filled with boulders and a piece of heavy equipment is parked on one side, positioned to add more fill to close off the tunnel.

There was a community college, gas station, hotel, tavern, livestock pens and buildings among the community features as well.

A vehicle had been mysteriously submerged in a lake where tiny recreators were fishing, swimming, frolicking and hunting.

The River City Modelers brought an HO-scale model with two trains running around a rectangular model. Each train would roll by and emit puffs of smoke because these were replicas of steam trains.

This model landscape featured an array of tiny people, animals, vehicles and structures as well. A carefully handmade backdrop set off the model community with a blue sky and puffy white clouds.

Not far from the small homes, post office, gas station and garage was a factory with a variety of little workers and busy-looking model trucks. It was named "Hoffa Cement."

Occasional funny, sinister touches are common in the model world and are supposed to be subtle additions meant for alert adults, West said.

Seeing the speeders and the rest of the items makes older Potlatch residents feel nostalgic. It's as if "they're going back to their times riding on the bug," West said.

Potlatch had a railcar that began running in the 1930s. One ran until 1955 and people still remember it. Even though there were two different passenger railcars used during those years, the service was still known as the "Bug," he said.

"It's how they got to games, got to Palouse. It was part of daily life," he said.

People who own the speeders brought to Potlatch this weekend are from the region. They and the members of the model train clubs "are terribly, terribly generous. They spend their weekend making money for us," West said.

The Potlatch group received an Idaho Gives award of $2,500 this year for having the most unique group of donors for a small nonprofit.

Encouraging public interest in the history of the railroad and Potlatch Lumber Company is the goal of the WI&MRyHPG. The lumber company organized the railroad for logging and it also was used for mainline freight and passenger traffic throughout the region.

The group hopes they'll be able to raise $5,000 or even $6,000 as a result of the weekend's activities. That amount of money would pay for electrical work needed on the west side of the depot building, West said.

Those interested in donating to the group can learn how by visiting its website: wimryhpg.com.

The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational corporation.

Terri Harber can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to tharber@dnews.com.