Under a revised deal, the nonprofit museum group would not be controlled by the Newport Dinner Train and be allowed to continue to operate its scenic railroad trips.

By RICHARD SALIT Journal Staff Writer

NEWPORT -- Old Colony Railway group, state reach tentative agreement  -- "Watch your step," cautions ticket-taker Brian Coelho, standing on the stairs of the train car and wearing a black suit, conductor's cap and an old-fashioned pocketwatch and chain.

Passengers climb past him and enter the vintage coach, warmed by the cast-iron pot-belly stove they pass on the way down the aisle. Then they sit in the faded green upholstered seats, put their arms on the wooden rests and await the "All aboard!" call.

With that, the bell rings and the train carrying adults and children gently lurches down the scenic rail corridor, just as the Old Colony & Newport Railway has been doing for the past 25 years.

Yesterday afternoon's rides -- and their continuing tradition along the historic Newport Secondary Line -- almost reached the end of the line before the weekend.

But at the last moment, the volunteer-run Old Colony seemingly won a reprieve in its dispute with the state Department of Transportation, which owns the railway. DOT had threatened to shut down Old Colony on Friday if it didn't sign an agreement placing it under the control of the Newport Dinner Train, the only other operator on the Newport Secondary Line.

The nonprofit museum group refused, skeptical that it could legally work under the auspices of a for-profit venture and fearful that the Dinner Train would severely restrict its time on the tracks.

Yesterday, Old Colony spokesman Peter Martin said the support of the community and lobbying by city officials and Newport's delegation of state legislators helped persuade the state to back down from its demands. He said a revised agreement, still being drafted, would allow Old Colony to continue operating independently.

The Dinner Train, however, would serve as the railway's sole dispatcher. For safety reasons, that's perfectly acceptable, he said.

"We pulled the community together to rally for something that we value," said Martin. "It's about children, education and history. It's not a commercial enterprise."

Yesterday, as the special effects-laden Polar Express played on movie screens across the country, families taking a ride on the Old Colony got to experience the real thing. Adults paid $6 to $11 and children either $5 or $6 for an 80-minute roundtrip ride narrated not by Tom Hanks, or a computer facsimile of the actor, but a real conductor.

"We're a nonprofit," conductor and railway founder Donald Elbert tells the passengers, and "we're required to give you an educational presentation."

He and the other Old Colony volunteers, all dressed in conductor garb, take turns pointing out the sights as the train departs the quaint downtown depot and bumps along, at 10 to 15 mph, the railway line that hugs the western shore of Aquidneck Island.

Along the way, they talk about historic Cardine's Field, the Narragansett Indians, explorer Giovanni di Verrazzano, sea birds and the growth and decline of Naval Station Newport. The train passes right by the mothballed aircraft carriers Forrestal and Saratoga, resting under battleship-gray skies and floating on tranquil waters.

The 10-mile ride offers breaktaking panoramas of Narragansett Bay and the train comes so close to the shore that at one point, while crossing a small trestle, it feels as though it could topple into the water.

"You get some great views. We're crossing over one of the few surviving stone arch viaducts," Don O'Hanley, Old Colony's historian since the railway's inception, tells a visitor.

"I've been interested in railroads my whole life," he says, removing from his pocket what looks like a round brass coin, with the initials of the railway and a number. "Here's a little bit of history -- a 100-year-old baggage tag," he says.

Several dozen passengers are along for the ride, having boarded either the 1904 coach or the luxurious 1894 parlor car, with its wicker chairs for seating. Some hail from Massachusetts, some are visiting Newport from as far as Missouri and Wyoming.

"This is probably one of the few attractions where parents with children can give them something of interest," says O'Hanley. "Most kids aren't interested in mansions or fancy restaurants. But riding on a train is something special."

On the return trip, the locomotive's engine is thrown into reverse and children take turns going to what was previously the rear of the train. There they peer out a window at the oncoming track and at a conductor just outside the door, standing lookout.

"I like this part. You can see everything in front of you," says 9-year-old Blade Leavenworth, of Cape Cod.

His parents bring the family to Newport every year at Thanksgiving time, nd they have been aboard the Old Colony quite a few times.

"We do trains everywhere we go," says Paula Leavenworth. "It gets them away from the Game Boy."

After the train returns to the depot and the passengers have disembarked, Elbert, a retired lawyer from Tiverton, says Old Colony's rescue is good for the public and the volunteers. Some have been serving for decades as brakemen, conductors and engineers -- all for the love of trains. Even Coelho, the 18-year-old ticket collector from Warick, has been volunteering for years, starting out washing train car windows when he was just in fourth grade.

"The crew was elated" when it learned its two customary Sunday trips would not be canceled after all, Elbert said. "We finally have . . . the support of the state behind us. It's very difficult for a volunteer organization to operate in an unwelcome atmosphere . . . This last week has been such a turbulent time."