Stillwater: Paradeau gets more time to move Zephyr locomotive [Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.]

Dec. 06--The saga continues for the Minnesota Zephyr dinner-train locomotive that was left on city-owned property in downtown Stillwater last summer.

The Stillwater City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night, Dec. 4, to give Zephyr owner Dave Paradeau until Dec. 18 to provide a certificate of insurance and a performance bond for the locomotive.

If Paradeau provides those items, he will be granted a 35-day extension to remove the train, which is sitting on blocks in the gravel parking area between P.D. Pappy'sMusic Bar & Grill and the Lofts of Stillwater condominiums. The locomotive was left there July 27.

If Paradeau does not provide the information, the council will reconsider the issue at its Dec. 18 meeting.

Paradeau, who lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., flew to Minnesota to plead his case before the council Tuesday. He said Wednesday that he needs a 35-day extension to hire a salvage company to come to Stillwater to break apart the locomotive for scrap.

Mayor Ken Harycki said he trusts Paradeau will make his deadline. "We want it out of there," he said. "He said he has a plan and a guy who is going get it out of there."

The train was moved from its original location to make way for the new Brown's Creek Trail. Paradeau sold the almost 6-mile train corridor to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last year for $4.25 million.

Paradeau said his plans to sell the six Minnesota Zephyr dining cars, which are being stored on Andersen Corp. land in

Bayport, and two locomotives over the summer fell through when a buyer from the West Coast defaulted on a purchase agreement.

On July 27, a main suspension beam on a 16-axle trailer snapped while crews were moving one locomotive, Paradeau said. Train movers left the locomotive right where it was -- on property owned by the city of Stillwater, he said.

City officials gave Paradeau until Nov. 29 to remove the locomotive, but Paradeau appealed the order. City officials say the locomotive must be removed soon because it is sitting where city crews build a berm each spring to prevent flooding.

Paradeau said he is sad that he will have to sell his locomotive for scrap, but said he has no other options.

"It cost me $8,000 to have them set it down on the road, it would cost $10,000 to move it (to Paradeau's property at the former train depot), and it would cost $10,000 to $20,000 to move it if I sold it," he said. "It's the law of diminishing returns. I'll have that thing salvaged -- end of problem."

Mary Divine can be reached at 651-228-5443. Follow her at twitter.com/MaryEDivine.

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