Lansford is still years away from seeing passenger trains stop at the former Lehigh and New England freight and passenger station along Dock Street, its borough council president said last week.

Bruce Markovich reported he and others met for about two hours with officials from Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad late last month to discuss future plans for the borough-owned train station.

“It was a very good meeting,” he told council members. “We took them through a tour of the station. We discussed future plans. They discussed what it’s going to take to bring the train back into town.

“We’re a long way away from that at this point,” Markovich said.

Lansford needs more attractions for visitors, he said. The No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum can only handle about 60 people an hour, Markovich said.

A train would bring in 250 people at one time, he said.

“What do we do with the people once we get them here?” Markovich said. “So, if we’re only going to take them down to the No. 9, they’re going to sit there four hours.

“Needless to say, there aren’t too many people who are going to come on that next train trip, if they have to sit at the mine for four hours to take the tour,” he said.

Likewise, what is there to do in Lansford’s downtown, if they dropped off 50 people in town, Markovich said. More attractions are needed, and plans include taking people to the No. 9 mine, the old Welsh Church, the old jail and the Lansford museum, he said.

“Then, we do a Molly Maguire tour,” Markovich said. “That went over very well. I did one of those maybe four or five years ago that sold out in a matter of minutes. That was a very good tour.”

But Lansford isn’t ready yet, he said.

“That’s the problem. We’re not ready for a train yet,” he said. “We only have one chance to get this right.”

Markovich noted if the first train excursion goes badly, it’ll be all over social media not to come to Lansford.

“We have to get it right the first time, because we aren’t going to get a second chance at it,” he said.

Attending from the railroad were Matt Johnson, vice president of government affairs, and Matt Fisher, senior vice president and general manager of the Passenger Division.

They offered suggestions on what the borough needs to do and how to go about doing it, Markovich said.

“They were so helpful to us,” he said. “We’re going to have meetings on a regular basis with them as we start to move this project forward. We’re looking forward to that.”

Also attending the meeting were Kathy Henderson, of the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation; Marilyn Kissner of the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau, and Dale Freudenberger, of the No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum.

Residents asked how long before the borough could see passenger trains again, and Markovich said about seven years, depending on how things move forward. Some expressed an interest in attending future meetings.