IT'S A GOOD KIND OF CHUGGING.

In the Cold Spring Shops manual of style, references to "chugging" involving contemporary railroading are, shall we say, in bad odor, unless there's a steam locomotive involved.  That Superintendent's Note being posted, let us also observe that there's good news involving the Clarendon Model Railroad Club.

“I think the real benefit is that the Park District is saving a historically significant building,” said Scott Baumgartner, a member of the Garfield-Clarendon Model Railroad Club. “There’s still some remnants remaining of the original structure, and to be able to preserve that for generations down the road, I think, is very important. And the other thing is that had the building been demolished, the train club would no longer exist, quite frankly. We would have had to close down.”

The community center in question has some of that Prairie School influence about it, something else that is worthy of preservation, even though what goes on inside is what counts.

In a survey about program preferences, community members placed the “train display” second in importance, only after the gym. Concerns of community members also included building operation during construction, and what that would mean for programming like the youth arts and hip-hop organization Kuumba Lynx, and gardening programs outside the center.

If the railroad club had to relocate, members estimated it could take years to get the display, anchored at the center since 1963, up and running again. The club estimates the current railroad, with 1,500 linear feet of hand-laid track, to be one of the largest model railroads in the country.

Club members were also unsure about what would happen to their youth education program that melds the railroad with STEM education.

That's thirty HO-scale track miles or so, if anyone is keeping track, and getting youngsters in a rough neigborhood considering futures in mechanical or electrical engineering, or, for that matter, doing better on those "A train leaves Chicago ..." story problems, if there still are such story problems, is a useful community service.