A lawsuit settlement has cleared the tracks so Fillmore & Western Railway can move ahead. Railway President Dave Wilkinson said that the four-year legal battle over a right-of-way dispute with the Ventura County Transportation Commission depressed attendance for the tourist rides the railway gives and the company couldn’t do as much marketing because of uncertainty that the railcars would be operating. Last month, the suit ended with a settlement and the railway will continue to operate through the end of its lease with the county commission in 2021. After that, Wilkinson said he would like to re-negotiate a new lease to continue using the Santa Paula branch line railroad tracks owned by the county. “I can live with it,” the 69-year-old Wilkinson said of the settlement. “I am not pleased that it happened whatsoever. A lawsuit is not any fun except for the lawyers.” Wilkinson has owned the railroad since 1996, operating it with a staff of about 35 employees. Its business model is based on revenue generated from the tourist rides from Santa Paula to Piru. That includes popular holiday-themed excursions at Halloween and Christmas. The railroad also leases trains, equipment and props to production companies for feature films, TV shows, commercials and music videos. In 2001, the railroad signed a 20-year lease with the transportation commission to operate and maintain the nearly 30-mile Santa Paula branch line. Wilkinson declined to state what the railroad’s revenue is. Darren Kettle, executive director of the transportation commission, said that a good chunk of the revenue from that branch line comes from land leases for agriculture and oil pipelines. “That would come to us whether we have a railroad running on it or not,” Kettle said. With a reported ridership of between 50,000 to 70,000 people a year, the railroad is a key business for bringing visitors to the area known as the Heritage Valley. With a rolling stock of railcars and locomotives dating back decades, and in some cases more than a century, the railroad recalls an earlier era when small towns like Fillmore and Piru relied on rail as a lifeline to the outside world. Fillmore City Manager Dave Rowlands called the railroad the biggest tourism draw in the city. While the lawsuit was active, the city took a hands-off approach but with the issue now resolved, it plans to move ahead on partnering with Wilkinson to have the railroad reach its full potential, he said. “We are ready to get back on the train so to speak to help him to make this a tourist destination, especially for Fillmore and all of Ventura County,” Rowlands added. Legal journey The legal saga began in summer 2013 when the county commission notified Fillmore & Western that it was evicting the railroad over not generating enough revenue and not maintaining the line to industry standards. Fillmore & Western then took legal action against the commission, claiming breach of contract for terminating the lease. That lawsuit was later resolved. “We went back and forth, back and forth,” said Kettle, the executive director. “That is what we have done for four years.” The settlement of the case calls for the commission to pay Fillmore & Western $2.5 million to cover past maintenance costs during the years the suit was pending. It is also paying attorney fees and interest, according to David Van Etten, the attorney representing the railroad when the case was settled. “There are four years left in the lease and everything is resolved, all past disputes and hopefully there won’t be any future disputes,” said Van Etten, whose practice is in Westlake Village. Going forward, the commission will pay the railroad $450,000 a year for the remainder of the lease for maintaining the line. The county had been paying the railway $312,000 a year at the time the lawsuit was filed. “They are paying us and we are not paying them,” Wilkinson said. “I guess that is what you would call a win.” The commission will use money it gets from CalTrans’ State Transit Assistance program to pay the railroad, Kettle said. Key to settling the case was the fact that a trial would have started early next year. Having that cloud no longer hanging over it is a big relief to the commission, Kettle said. “It is a positive outcome in that regard,” he added. For his part, Wilkinson said the lawsuit sucked a lot of energy out of the company, causing ridership to drop because the company did not do as much publicity as it usually does. Bus companies bring many visitors to Fillmore to catch the dinner train, and those reservations as well as other rail tours reservations can be made a year in advance. Additionally, stories in Westways, the magazine of AAA affiliate Automobile Club of Southern California or lifestyle publication Sunset need several months of lead time prior to publication, Wilkinson explained. “The lawsuit kind of kills all that stuff, until you get it resolved,” he added. Beware of zombies For the tourist excursions, Fillmore & Western’s season runs roughly from March through the end of December. January and February is when the company conducts much of its maintenance and repair on its locomotives and railcars, such as changing wheels or cylinders, Wilkinson said. The scenic excursions last three to four hours. On weekends they take place aboard a 1928 dining car with stops at the Loose Caboose, in Santa Paula, and Bennett’s Honey Farm, near Fillmore and in Piru. There are also year-round Murder Mystery dinner and lunch trains. This month is the start of the annual Halloween Pumpkinliner rides to a pumpkin patch. October is also when the Zombie Hunter trains run, in which riders are armed with paintball guns to take shots as the undead approach the railcars. “We have been working on our pumpkin patch and our zombie field for the last three weeks,” Wilkinson told the Business Journal. New this year for the railroad is a steampunk weekend in early November. It consists of one day for school groups and two days for the public. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that takes inspiration from 19th century steam-powered technology. Wilkinson admits that he didn’t know much about steampunk when approached by a group requesting the event. “It is a Jules Verne-type deal and it really looks fun,” he added. “We want to do another steampunk (event) in March.” Following the steampunk event, the railroad’s staff will have a two-week period in which to prepare the trains for the big Christmas season that starts Thanksgiving weekend. The North Pole Express includes milk and cookies, carol singalongs and visits with Santa Claus. “It’s all-hands-on-deck getting this stuff torn down, put back up and keeping the trains running. And of course the film people show up and they have to have it on the days that are most inconvenient for us sometimes,” Wilkinson said. “But we make it convenient for them because that is the business we are in.”
Aboard in Fillmore
