What a great idea
– a railroad museum in downtown Gilroy. We’re enthused about the
prospect that Rod Diridon, former Santa Clara County supervisor,
founder of the California Trolley and Railroad Corp. and “father”
of Silicon Valley public transit, is considering putting a railroad
museum in Gilroy.
What a great idea – a railroad museum in downtown Gilroy. We’re enthused about the prospect that Rod Diridon, former Santa Clara County supervisor, founder of the California Trolley and Railroad Corp. and “father” of Silicon Valley public transit, is considering putting a railroad museum in Gilroy.
“There is a big piece of land (just east of the train depot) with a spur to the railroad tracks, and that’s very attractive,” Diridon told reporter Eric Leins.
What would it take to make the museum a reality in Gilroy? The city would need to donate a vacant lot adjacent to the railroad tracks to the California Trolley and Railroad Corp. We think that’s something the city should make happen posthaste.
A beautiful railroad museum would have numerous benefits to Gilroy and entire South Valley. It would add to the many tourist attractions – Bonfante Gardens, the Outlets, the wineries – already here and draw more visitors to our communities. Tourism is an economically friendly industry that will add to sales and hotel occupancy tax collections, and will bring visitors to a wide variety of area businesses.
The railroad museum also would be another step toward revitalizing Gilroy’s beleaguered downtown. It’s hard to quibble with transforming a vacant gravel-covered lot in a dubious location next to railroad tracks by building a handsome museum out of used brick.
“It’s going to be a beautiful facility … and it will undoubtedly draw visitors from all around into the downtown who will frequent the shops and restaurants there,” Diridon said. “But this is in the very early exploratory stages.”
A railroad museum fits in with Gilroy’s history as a crossroads – a fact not lost on Connie Rogers, president of the Gilroy Historical Society.
“We’ve always been a crossroads town with (Pacheco and Hecker) passes and being right along El Camino Real,” Rogers said. “Trains came to Gilroy just before we became a city (in 1870). This is a very historic spot.”
We can’t find a downside to Diridon’s proposal.
