The city of Port Arthur continues to toil over remediation issues related to Kansas City Southern Locomotive 503, located in Bryan Park.

Gaylyn Cooper, assistant city attorney, said Wednesday that tests for the presence of oil passed muster with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality at the Gulfway Drive site where the locomotive has rested for six decades. But the city continues to deal with unsatisfactory results in tests for lead.

Cooper said lead levels pose no imminent threat to the public health.

“As far as we know, there is no environmental impact,” he said. “It’s just a little bit high.”

TCEQ asked the city to test farther into the park to determine if the lead levels are the norm, or if the site where the locomotive was displayed was too lead laden. He said if the tests are unsatisfactory, the city may have to remediate the site one more time. He said the city has spent roughly $50,000 in addressing TCEQ mandates.

The city had intended to scrap the deteriorating locomotive, a gift from the Kansas City Southern in the 1950s, in the wake of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey, which occurred in August 2017. Flood-affected neighbors expressed concern that oil or lead from the locomotive might adversely affect nearby housing.

But Jason Sobczynski, a Kentuckian who reclaims old trains, initiated a GoFundMe account to raise money for the engine’s repair and reclamation. He had been working on a project in Texas when the 503’s planned demise had been reported.

Some $67,000 was generated. His plan was to eventually send the train to Florida, where it could be restored and put back into use. He said it would cost about $400,000 to fully repair the rusting engine and build an appropriate shelter to save it from exposure to the local salt air.

City Council members rejected that plan, insisting that the train should remain in Port Arthur. Former Councilman John Beard volunteered to raise funds locally to preserve the train, but Cooper and interim City Manager Rebecca Underhill said they have heard nothing about Beard’s fund-raising effort or a new plan to save the engine.

They said the city’s primary concern is site remediation, as it faces TCEQ orders.