I was at the V&T Railroad answering phones one day, something I normally don’t do. I was delighted to respond to a message from Johnny Larkins of the Save Protect Foundation in Dayton, NV. He was handling the case of Victor Sciarrotta, a six year old who is battling terminal cancer. Mr. Larkins told me that Victor was a big Thomas the Train fan and hoped he could ride the Thomas train in Virginia City. I explained to him that the Thomas 2017 Friendship Tour wasn’t coming around until October. At the same time I assured him we could make a very special day for Victor.
Ken Marty of the West Coast Railroaders Group (WCRG) jumped into action. At Tom Gray’s direction I talked to Ken about Johnny Larkins’ call and Victor’s needs. We were at a BBQ one evening and I described the situation to Ken. Right in the middle of dinner Ken called Johnny! They began to craft the plan that culminated in Victor’s wonderful visit to the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.
Save Protect Foundation, West Coast Railroaders Group and the V&T went all out to make Victor’s visit memorable for everyone involved. Thanks to all who made this possible; good work!
As of the day I posted this, the WCRG website has photos of Victor as well as other work they have done through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Reno’s KRNV Channel 4 sent a news crew to cover the event. They ran a 2 minute news story on TV but I can’t find that they posted it on their site. KXRI Fox Reno Channel 11 ran a story on their website as well.
Below is a link to the KRNV story supplied by a fan:
If you really want to dig into more stories about Ken Marty & WCRG’s work with similar cases through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, you can see page 16 of Amtrak Ink, a publication “by and for Amtrak employees.” In that case, Ken, who is an engineer for Amtrak, was able to give a child from Missouri a cab ride over Donner Pass! Great work, Ken!
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