The Harry Meredith Special made its inaugural run last week at Iron Horse Square Park in Mineola. The miniature train will be a permanent fixture at Iron Horse Square Park on West Front Street. Among the first passengers aboard the train were members of the Meredith Foundation, which committed $129,942 for the project, and Brian Steck, whose ETAS Metal Roof & Wall Systems designed the train barn and donated materials for it. The engineer was Glen Thurman, a local contractor who supervised the construction of the track.

(Monitor photo by Hank Murphy).

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The city’s dedication of the Harry Meredith Special last week completed the parlay of Mineola’s early history into a heritage tourism attraction for years to come.

In its maiden trip, the little yellow passenger train left Steck Station, blared its horn, and circled Iron Horse Park with three carloads of dignitaries on Dec. 12. Three days later, the public at large got its first experience with city’s newest railroad.

“This is such an exciting day for our community,” Landmark Commission Chairman Jimmy Phillips said during last week’s dedication ceremony. “It represents so many people who have come together to create a place that is special to all of us. From our beginnings in 1873, people have always loved trains. … Both my grandfathers, W. Phillips and H.L. Malone, were engineers for the T&P, and we’re just all fascinated by this. … This is like getting a toy train at Christmas, and it’s just going to be great for our community.”

Bringing the train to fruition was a more than three-year effort that originated with the Landmark Commission in February 2015. Several months later, the initiative was OK’d by the City Council. The project received funding from the Meredith Foundation in February 2017, the train was ordered from Swanee River Railroad in April 2017, and it was completed in November 2017.

Work on Steck Station commenced in April of this year and it was finished in September. In October, volunteers under the direction of Glen Thurman began laying track, and the track was completed in December. Finally, the electrical work was completed on Dec. 7 through the generosity of Gordon Tiner.

Like it has in so many instances in Mineola, the Meredith Foundation provided the bulk of the financial wherewithal ($129,942) to complete the project.

Lou Wagoner, chairwoman of the Meredith Foundation, spoke briefly at the dedication, and she praised the many volunteers who spent time on the endeavor.

“It just proves that when we work together, we will succeed,” she told a crowd of supporters that packed Steck Station.

Project chairwoman Joyce Williams of the Landmark Commission took a moment to remember Harry Meredith, the man who made so many worthwhile additions to Mineola possible.

“He was a tremendous, community-minded man and his legacy will live on in Mineola for hundreds of years to come,” she said.

City Manager Mercy Rushing said the addition of the train is just one more element of the city’s overall commitment to improving quality of life. “We have a dream, and our dream is to better our place of Mineola. Our dream is to have a vibrant community, not just for now but for our future generations to follow and be proud to say I am Mineola.”

Switching hats, she also spoke as executive director for the Mineola Economic Development Corp. The train and the Iron Horse Square Park project represents “another economic development component to position Mineola as a destination city for heritage tourism for ages to come. That is our goal.”