To show their appreciation for improvements to a bumpy railroad crossing, a grateful group of Garlanders threw a small “thank you” party for a crew of BNSF Railway workers last week.

“Our only goal was to truly thank those guys,” said Johanna Cubbage, who lives not far from the Road 4 railroad crossing. “They said to us, ‘We aren’t doing any more than our job,’ and I said, ‘Oh, to us, this means a lot.’”

Cubbage organized the Thursday, Nov. 3 afternoon event, joined by about 10 friends and family members. She handed out some homemade pumpkin cookies to the BNSF crew, while her daughter-in-law Anna distributed Gatorade.

One of the railway workers, Nick Borders, said the gesture restored his faith in humanity.

“It’s really touching (and) appreciated,” Borders said between sips of Gatorade.

After back-to-back 12-hour days of work, “it’s nice,” he said. “You know you did some good.”

The Garland crossing, which lies a stone’s throw from U.S. Highway 14-A, had been in rough condition for several years.

“When you’d come across this thing, you’d come off the pavement onto the rails and across — bump, bump, bump — and back on the road,” Garland area resident Mike Parker explained, adding, “We ruined a couple tires.”

Parker said some people had started driving around the crossing to avoid the bumps.

“It’s kind of been a long time coming, and it’ll definitely improve that intersection there, make it safer,” Park County Engineer Brian Edwards said in a later interview.

Edwards said crossing upgrades are handled by BNSF, which will “gradually try to work on some of those problem intersections” a couple at a time. The county’s role, he said, was limited to shutting down the road last Wednesday and Thursday so the BNSF crews could do their work.

“Do you know how many phone calls I’ve made and been told it’s going to be next month?” an appreciative Marjorie Parker, Mike’s wife, told the BNSF workers on Thursday, Nov. 3. “So thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Cubbage said she and her late husband Warren threw a similar event many years ago, when the county replaced a nearby bridge; they invited the Park County commissioners and others for a “new bridge party” with punch and cookies.

“We kind of set a precedent (and) why not?” Cubbage said. “Gosh, there’s so much negativity today. We decided we needed to do something positive.”

BNSF worker Tye Brown confirmed that the thank you party was “not normal.”

“Usually you get more people (upset) because you’re blocking the road,” Brown laughed.