PORT ANGELES – In March the City of Port Angeles was made aware that the landmark Rayonier Locomotive #4, on permanent display along Lauridsen Boulevard, had begun to shed bits of asbestos, and the City declared an emergency to have it removed as soon as possible.

City officials hired a contractor to remove the asbestos at a cost of about $38,000.

The containment tent that was installed while the work was being done has been removed, and the train looks a lot better than it did, but is it safe?

We checked in with Parks and Rec Director Corey Delikat to get an update.

“The company came in and removed all the asbestos that was airborne. So I think what people need to realize too is that not all the asbestos was removed. Only the stuff that was airborne. So they’re still sections of the train that have asbestos on it. So one thing we want to do is make sure that, one: what’s that going to entail? But two: also the most important thing is, okay, we need some really hard firm numbers about, you know, what it was really going to take to refurbish this train if people are really serious about it, and if we can start raising money or funds to do such a project.”

Can the remaining asbestos be stabilized, or does it have to come off?

“Just talking to some of the experts is, if it’s going to be refurbished it’s going to have to be really taken apart and a lot of all those panels that would have asbestos under it, all would have to be kind of redone. That’s the what the process will we’re doing right now is kind of evaluate it and say, okay, for x amount of dollars we can have a Cadillac version. But you know, I’ve heard anywhere from sixty thousand dollars to six hundred thousand dollars. So we need to kind of need to figure out what that range is and kind of go from there to make sure that, one: we can do it. And how can we do it?

Delikat says another subject of conversation is the question of location. Is the train in the right place if we’re going to invest more money? Should it be moved to a location that would give it a higher profile and have some parking?

Delikat told us to check back in a month or so for more answers.