While Tom McLaughlin’s front-page piece about the potential resumption of passenger rail service to the Gulf Coast was indeed welcome coverage, there were a few inaccuracies and omissions which I would like to bring to your readers’ attention.
Totally unmentioned in the story was the fact that DeFuniak Springs Mayor Bob Campbell, accompanied by this writer, boarded the Amtrak inspection train at Crestview and rode to Jacksonville, in an effort to call attention to the possibility of a potential train stop at DeFuniak Springs in Walton County. Aboard the train, the Mayor met with Amtrak, Southern Rail Commission and CSX officials, and also with former Meridian Mayor/Transportation for America chief John Robert Smith.