City to return train to Thompson Family

Indications from an unofficial vote of Anacortes City Council members Monday night are that the custom-built Tommy Thompson train will be returned from city ownership back to ownership by the Thompson Family. This one-of-a-kind train was designed, built and operated by Tommy G. Thompson, who died in 1999. The family donated the train to the City in 2012 when plans called for a continued public presence, but efforts to run the train proved to be elusive. Thompson had operated the narrow gauge train in downtown Anacortes from 1979 to 1999. Special runs of the train included the Anacortes Arts Festival and a community event at Marathon Refinery (then owned and operated by Shell). Developments on the train’s future are pending.