MACON, Ga. — Driving into Central City Park near downtown Macon, you can see a lot of trains, tracks, and one old steam train that sits in the park.
The old steam train has fallen into disrepair and that's why Chico Scott is on a mission to make sure the county doesn't forget about the piece of history.
"My dad had just made some great strides with the Norfolk Southern railway, Scott said.
Benny A. Scott spent more than 40 years of his life working on the railroad in Bibb County.
"He shoveled coal to the coal box in the steam engine in order to keep it going," Scott said.
He says his dad retired in 1979, and Macon honored him about five years later with this plaque.
"I couldn't help but just smile and just gleam because I knew what we went through just to get to that point," Scott said.
He says it's a day he will never forget, but as time passed, the train started to get rusty and now he feels like the city has forgotten about the train his dad once worked on.
"Every time I come by here just to drop by, just to check it out, and see if any progress has been made on it...there has not been any progress," Scott said.
Bibb county recreation director Robert Walker says three organizations came to town to fix the train, but none were successful.
"Of course we are looking for some people who could possibly restore the train. That is not something we have explored, but like I said, we have had several people come to us about restoring it in the past," Walker said.
Walker says the county commission would have to give the recreation department money specifically for the train to fix it.
"Money we have in our budget now is for the maintenance for our facilities and our parks, nothing for actually restoring the train," Walker said.
While the county figures out the next step, Scott hopes to see the train the way his late dad remembers it.
"Show some dignity and respect for a person who really cared about this town," Scott said.