THORNTON — When Jami Cartwright and her three children heard the train cars rumble past their home in unincorporated Adams County, they were thrilled.
“We waved to them; it was fun to see,” Cartwright said.
Then, the line of brown cars did a peculiar thing. It put on the brakes, shut down and hasn’t moved since.
That was more than a month ago. The train cars have since attracted pornographic graffiti, and some residents worry that a child will get hurt while scrambling around them.
“I cannot put a garage-sale sign in front of my house, but I guess the railroad can leave its property in the back of my house anytime it wants,” Cartwright said.
Thornton residents began complaining about the 3-mile-long string of rail cars stretching along the Union Pacific line just west of Colorado Boulevard. This week, Union Pacific and the city of Thornton came to an agreement and the cars will be relocated farther north.
Union Pacific would like those train cars to be hauling freight and other products across the country, said Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis, but with the economic downturn, there are no goods to transport and train cars remain idle on unused tracks.
“This is something we don’t like to do,” Davis said. “The rail cars are not doing their job, and if freight isn’t there, we have to place them somewhere.”
The empty cars are locked up, and railroad security — as well as local law enforcement — frequently monitor them, Davis said.
But now, Thornton will remove asphalt that has covered train tracks at 168th Avenue, allowing Union Pacific to move the empty cars north of Colorado 7 to just south of Weld County Road 6. Work will begin Monday.
“To move the train from a populated urban area to a more rural area is the best solution,” said Thornton transportation planning manager Gene Putman. “Having a train moving along is different than one that just sits there.”
But nearby residents will be happier when the cars pick up and leave, Putman said.
“We’re trying not to make the citizens of Thornton quite as angry,” he said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
