Monday, May 10, 2010
 
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Lincoln youth carries passion for trains

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[May 10, 2010]  A young David Helper stands in the middle of the Amtrak shelter in Lincoln. With a laid-back attitude, a smile and a gentle roll of his eyes he says, "My mom says I never made it through the Thomas the Tank stage."

It's a summary statement of how at 17 years of age, Lincolnite David Hepler III has known for well over half of his life what his future would be. In addition, for well over half of his life he's been a volunteer, working to preserve the history of that future, and loving it.

With his dad among those listening to him speak, there is a brief banter regarding who first dragged whom to the Monticello Railway Museum, but regardless of how he got there, once he saw the magnificent rail cars, cabooses and engines, the young man was hooked on trains.

Hepler recounted that at 7 years of age he landed a "job" at the museum, walking the tracks and picking up cigarette butts, and he's been there ever since.

However, over the years, his role as a volunteer at the museum has evolved, and today he says that he still picks up butts from time to time, but he's involved in a good many other tasks at the museum as well.

Exterminator

The museum is manned 100 percent by volunteers, who serve in a variety of capacities. The museum takes worn and rusted engines and cars and spends countless hours refurbishing them, returning them to their glory days.

Hepler said that Norfolk Southern offers a great deal of help to the museum, including taking the cars and having them professionally cleaned and topped off with fuel. They provide some financial support and on occasion bring some of their own trains and crews onto the museum grounds for the public to see.

Hepler said that those events are very special, as he gets the opportunity to talk with engineers and crews and learn what they feel as they cruise the tracks at 70 mph across the heartland.

In addition to help from Norfolk Southern, the museum has a spur line that they are not using, and they have worked out agreements to store rail cars for companies such as Archer Daniels Midland.

The companies lease space, and their fees are used to maintain the museum as well as work on restoration of the engines the museum receives and maintenance of those they are running.

Hepler said that there again, he gets opportunities to talk to engineers and hear their stories as he helps with the line switches for storing their cars.

He talks briefly about a conversation he had when the engineer spoke of having to slow his train down to 5 mph because of the poor condition of the track. The neighborhood folk would come out to the train and toss sandwiches to the engineers and crews as they crawled by at their slow pace.

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In addition to learning from those he admires, Hepler gets to work on the trains he loves.

He said he has been involved in working on engines and cars and is currently helping with the restoration of the museum's newest acquisition.

The museum has tentative plans for the firing up and testing of the Southern 401 steam engine this summer. Hepler said he has helped with this project and is looking forward to seeing it on the track later in the summer.

Hepler also serves as one of the train conductors on the weekend rides. He said he very much enjoys talking to the people who come to ride the train. Some learn from him, but there are also those who have stories of their own, and he always enjoys hearing what they have to share.

Hepler said he's known for a long while that trains are always going to be a part of his future. He loves his work with the museum, but it is a volunteer position. He hopes that his future will find him with a rail company, in the seat of his own engine some day.

Hepler is currently a senior at University High School in Bloomington. He is the son of David and Grace Hepler and is a lifelong resident of Lincoln.

[By NILA SMITH]

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