Columbia Star Dinner Train facing legal troubles

The Columbia Star Dinner Train is about to be sued, and disgruntled employees and customers still waiting on money from the business said it’s about time.

The City of Columbia is in the process of filing a joint lawsuit with Mark Vaughn, the original owner of the dinner train, against leasee B. Allen Brown. They’ll be asking for $20, 287.06 for usage, storage, rental and utility fees the train acquired and didn’t pay for after suddenly shutting down.

The train will also be moved Friday after months of sitting empty on the railroad.

Several former employees who were never paid and customers who didn’t get refunds said they are glad action is being taken.

One man, Landon Magley, said he didn’t care what would happen to the train as long as he got one thing:

“I just want my money back,” Magley said.

What was supposed to be a nice Christmas present turned into an expensive headache for Magley. He purchased four tickets for friends in September of last year, and only three weeks later, the train stopped running.

“I asked them if the train closes, will I get my money back? And they told me yes, and that’s where they left it,” he said.

But they haven’t followed through on that promise, and months later, Magley is still out nearly $400.

It’s not for the lack of trying.

“I’ve texted them and told them I had bought these tickets and I wanted my money back, and I called them too, but never heard back,” he explained. “I’ve spent maybe 10 hours trying to figure this out.”

But he’s still holding on to his tickets in hopes of getting his hundreds back.

“I don’t think he went into this knowing he would do this, I think he thought he would have a good business,” Magley said. “But he ended up stealing from a lot of people.”

The Attorney General’s office said they’ve received two complaints that they are now investigating.

ABC 17 News reached out to B. Allen Brown, but he did not return our calls or emails.