All Aboard! For a memorable train ride

Club members will ride train from Havre to Shelby and back

Elizabeth Doney Havre Daily News [email protected]

Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line members are gearing up for the ride of their life a Burlington Northern Sante Fe vintage train with 13 passenger cars is coming their way to take them on a journey of railroad adventure on Friday, June 15. The Boys & Grils Club of Havre has been selected as one of five stops in this year's “BNSF Railway Special,” a unique railway experience for members and an opportunity to raise funds for the youth organization. The club will receive a $10,000 contribution from the BNSF Foundation that will be matched by local sponsors Klabzuba Oil and Gas, Northern Montana Hospital and Schine Electric. Havre has 330 tickets available for the passenger car adventure, and club members will ride free. Twenty-eight of the tickets allow exclusive access to the Fred Harvey Dining Car, where the local club's youth of the year, Donald Cox, will speak at a sponsor-honoring engagement. “We were selected as one of four clubs in the region,” Krista Solomon of the Hi- Line club excitedly said of the fundraiser. “We've earmarked the money that we raise for our transportation fund. This special fund is going to help us allow kids to get to the club in the summer months. Our attendance drops from 200 to 75, and we know that it is because school buses don't run in the summer. Our goal is to go out into the communiity and pick up the kids, so they can enjoy club activities.” It's about a two-and-a-half-hour train ride that will take place a week from Friday. Riders will meet at 9 a.m. in the U. S. Bank parking lot, with everybody on board at 10 a.m. The Boys & Girls Club has named Lloyd Kaercher as the honorary train conductor for the Special Railway event. Kaercher has donated countless hours to the club, and the staff chose to name him honorary conductor to thank him for the years of dedicated service to youth. “I think it's neat that kids who have never rode the train will get to have this exciting railway as their first ride,” Solomon said. “It's also a neat piece of history this train is not like any other train they will ever ride. There are only 17 vintage trains in America, and the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line is very fortunate to receive this opportunity to explore the world outside the club.” The transportation committee also will be announcing a wonderful surprise at the BNSF event a secret that cannot be revealed until the day of the ride. The Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line opened on July 1, 2002, serving more than 1,600 members. The club provides daily access to a broad range of programs in five core areas: Education and Career Development; Character and Leadership Development; Health and Life Skills; The Arts; and Sports, Fitness and Recreation. The railway is a subsidiary of BNSF, which operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. There are a limited number of tickets for the general community. Club members should call and reserve their ticket at 265-6206.