HUTCHINSON, Kansas - A huge undertaking at the Underground Salt Museum, in Hutchinson, is offering visitors a ride through history.
In Dave Unruh's garage, sits his childhood toy, more than 50 years old.
“I still have my Lionel train, from when i was a kid.”
50 years later, he's got the big boy version.
“It’s a little bit bigger train,” Unruh laughs.
Okay, so it's not his train. It's his employers, and the newest addition to the Underground Salt Museum.
It’s the mode of transport on a ride through history.
“I wanted visitors to experience the raw mine in a way that we hadn't been able to show it to them,” said Linda Schmitt with the Reno County Historical Society.
“With the train route, the area that we're exploring is almost like an archaeological dig. You'll go past a trash pile and you'll see all the items the miners used,” said curator, Jamin Landavazo.
Riders also experience the geology in a new way when they pass a section of roof the has fallen onto the ground.
The museum bought the train from the Hutchinson Zoo for a little over $27,000. They cut it into three pieces and sent them down an elevator. The tracks? They were a different story.
“They said this is what we're going to do and now it's my job to go out and recover a few thousand feet of rail from out in the dark somewhere,” said Unruh.
Miles deep into the mine, Unruh had to find useable track, unbolt it, pull it up, take it miles back to the musuem site, and re-lay it, all with no prior experience.
“I'm still learning how track goes together and how we're going to maintain this. I just don't know how much I've bitten off on this one.”
Yes, it's a bigger project than his Lionel train, but one he's just as proud of.
The Salt Mine Express opens to the public Wednesday, March 16th. It runs every 20 to 30 minutes.
