Thursday, December 21, 2006

Chicago's Brookfield Zoo train. 1967 -1985.

I had taken this photo on location in October of 1984. This 2 ft narrow guage steam train was operated at the Brookfield Zoo from May of 1967, to September of 1985. The steam locomotive seen here, is a coal fired world war 1 era industrial steam locomotive from Germany. It was Americanized cosmetically, and painted to look like a Milwaukee Road 1940's era "Hiawatha" passenger train engine. The zoo railroad last ran on labor day weekend 1985, and was slowly dismantled in stages.
The 3 locomotives and open coaches sat in storage for 17 years, and in 2002, they were officially donated to the Hesston Steam Museum. The museum is located in Hesston Indianna near New Buffalo Michigan.

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