WELLINGTON, Kan. — It’s not your average playground.
“I think it’s a good experience for little kids to go play on,” says one Wellington teenager. “It’s cool to see how it works inside.”
A landmark in the heart of Wellington—fun to play on, in need of repair.
Kids running around, twisting knobs, playing with the bell—it’s just a regular Sunday afternoon on this 100-year-old steam engine.
“This is our favorite place,” says one little girl, who plays there with her friends regularly.
Though some children love to explore this small piece of Kansas’ history, Perry Wiley worries the engine’s slowly losing its place in the community.
“It’s sad to say vandals have destroyed this old engine,” says Wiley who works next door at the Wellington Panhandle Museum. Without repairs, “you would have to dispose of it because it would become such a liability just sitting out here.”
When the city couldn’t fix this train, Wiley says he had to do something.
With community support, he’s helped design and sell T-shirts in a fundraising effort to save the train.
He estimates it’ll cost about $25,000 to restore the steam engine, but what’s being offered just might be better than money.
The community’s “been quite supportive, and I’ve had people say when you actually get into it, I’ll donate money or something,” he says. “It means a lot to a lot of people.”
Now the town’s pulling together, saving a beloved train.
“It built this town and was the main lifeblood for years,” Wiley says. “We’ve let a lot of the items from history disappear from history throughout the years. You don’t realize what’s important until you’ve lost it.”
For an engine that runs no longer, running in the hearts of those who cross its path.