The location is near the Kapstone Paper Plant. As of 4 p.m., crossing over the tracks from Aulds Lane down to North Hickory Street was impeded by the sitting train. The train’s engine had halted between Hickory Street and Cedar Street.

Nisbet identified the woman as Joyce Lillian Brook, 54, of Summerville in a statement Tuesday evening.

Nisbet said Brook “committed suicide by laying on the railroad tracks.” The coroner’s statement verifies a previous statement from an EMS official to Patch. The official said the woman was waiting on the track with no one else around.

The impact from the train killed Brook instantly, but an autopsy is still scheduled for Wednesday, Nisbet said.

When it does come back, the engine which is nearly 100 years old itself will head for a new glass-enclosed display museum near Ann and John streets downtown, in an area known as the East Shed.

The site will feature more than 3,500-square-feet of museum space. The engine also will be lit up at night for after-hours viewing.

“It may be that the building may not be able to be completed until the train comes in,” said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley in reference to the physical effort required to move the machinery into place.

The city’s $1 million investment will go for the museum, bathrooms and renovation of some of the East Shed area.

The original Best Friend became the first locomotive line to offer regularly scheduled commercial passenger service by traveling a six-mile path of track from downtown to what today is near Dorchester Road.

The original engine arrived here by ship in 1830 in pieces, from the West Point Foundry in New York. Its inaugural trip came on Christmas Day, carrying 141 passengers. Six months later the locomotive was lost to a boiler accident.

The current replica was built in the 1920s from the original plans. It was meant to be a focal part in the 100th anniversary of the “South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company.” Southern Railway then took the replica on trips across the country, according to the train’s website.

In 1993, Norfolk Southern Railroad donated the Best Friend to the city of Charleston, where it went on display.

In 2007 the engine was moved to Atlanta to become part of a display inside the company’s downtown office building. In exchange, Norfolk Southern paid the city $250,000 and did a restoration.

Riley said the museum will add to the block’s draw, along with the nearby Visitor’s Center and Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.

Mary Lehr, who operates a museum dedicated to the Best Friend at Citadel Mall, said she is looking forward to the return, slated for around Sept. 15.

More than nearly 8,000 feet of total line will be laid once the project is completed.

The SCIP, centered on Poinsett Street in Greer, will utilize an existing overnight train service through Norfolk Southern, and is expected to help potentiate economic development seen through the Port of Charleston.

The South Carolina Port Authority is pursuing a deepening project at the Port of Charleston, which has been fully funded by the State of South Carolina for $300 million and is slated for completion around 2019.

While it is unfortunate that nothing could be done to keep and restore the cars here in Charleston, at least they are going to be saved. For a city that prides itself so much on history and historic preservation, it really shames me how little we do in some areas.

Read the full article at The Post & Courier.

The article by Prentiss Findlay is titled  ”High-speed trains, ferries, monorails a prescription for I-26 congestion?” and is available on the Post & Courier’s website.

In the rail deal, the city walks away from fights over condemnation at the Navy base, as well as a claim against rail access to the new port site from the north end of the Navy base.

We will post more details as they come available. There is a public discussion of this being held tomorrow night, Wednesday the 5th, and we will know much more then. All in all though this is excellent news for the Charleston area. The legal fights, and fees, should go away, rail growth can move forward which will also aid port growth, and North Charleston will hopefully see some good new jobs created.

To see the full report from the North Charleston Patch, check out their article.

Lionel also created an Angela Trotta Thomas Christmas boxcar collection 10 years ago that comes out every year and features her art.  “It just seemed like a natural progression. Ten years ago, I licensed them, and before they licensed me,” she said.

Lionel was founded in New York City in 1900 when the railroad business was booming and trains were a popular way to travel. Joshua Lionel Cowen was the company’s founder and the inventor of the toy trains.

Thomas said many of her paintings are not about the trains themselves, but about the emotional attachment to them. She said many of her paintings are about “capturing the romance of train travel” like in her painting, “Passing Train.”

For the full story please see the Post & Courier article.