Yes it's true folks.....Chicago's Brookfield Zoo once had a genuine 2 foot narrow guage operating steam train many years ago.The Brookfield Zoo had it's own in park railroad from May of 1967 to Labor Day weekend in September of 1985. Seen here on an October 1984 visit, is a cosmetically Americanized meter guage world war 1 era 0-8-0 steam locomotive from Germany. This view is looking east near the north gate.
The zoo's Brookfield, Salt Creek & Western narrow guage railroad closed for good on Labor Day Weekend in September of 1985, and the track and roadbed were dismantled in stages over a small period of years afterwards. The 3 locomotives ( 2 steam and 1 diesel replica.) and coaches, sat in storge for 17 years. In the year of 2002, the locomotives and equipment were donated to the Hesston steam museum located in Hesston indiana. The open coaches are in use today at Hesston, but the three locomotives are currently undergoing restoration efforts. See their web site www.hesston.org
2 comments:
Boy do I remember this train. I grew up in Brookfield and spent many hundreds of hours there.
By the way, found this post and your blog while Googling for Zoofest '84 with the Beach Boys and Three Dog Night. :)
as of 2010, both locomotive 242 (goose) and the CB&Q diesel are up and running at Hesston
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