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Detroit Zoo train
https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9878
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Author:  Bob Yarger [ Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:53 am ]
Post subject:  Detroit Zoo train

Minature trains that formerly ran at the Detroit Zoo, rusting away in a storage area of the Detroit Historical Museum. These were gasoline-powered/steam outline locomotives, of fairly old construction.

http://www.glancytrains.com/php-cgi/gallery/album37
ryarger@rypn.org

Author:  Chris Jacks [ Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Detroit Zoo train

If I am wrong, someone please correct me: aren't these trains stored at the Ft. Wayne site? (That's a fort in the south side of Detroit, not the city in Indiana.)

Chris J.

> Minature trains that formerly ran at the
> Detroit Zoo, rusting away in a storage area
> of the Detroit Historical Museum. These were
> gasoline-powered/steam outline locomotives,
> of fairly old construction.


chrisjacks@chrisjacksnospam.com

Author:  Scott [ Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Detroit Zoo train

Too bad - it looks like it would have been fun. Anyone know why it was removed from the zoo? Also, if I'm not mistaken that's a '69 Camero parked beside the loco. Wonder why that's in a zoo storage lot. Perhaps a possible engine swap for the locomotive's engine? ;^)

Author:  Dave Sutter [ Sat Jun 05, 2004 10:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Detroit Zoo train

Is this the equipment that was involved in the derailment they had in the early 80's? I know they still run trains on their miniature railroad.

sutterd@hotmail.com

Author:  Aarne H. Frobom [ Mon Jun 07, 2004 9:23 am ]
Post subject:  Hydraulic MILW Hudsons

I haven't been back to the Detroit Zoo (actually in Royal Oak) since the middle sixties, but if they're still running trains they're hauled by 3 locomotives driven, I believe, by truck engines through automatic transmissions, and having the outline of Milwaukee Road streamlined Hudsons. I have a vague memory that they were built by Chrysler Corporation in the fifties. They are very showy pieces and each was named for a Detroit industrial magnate of the fifties, presumably big donors. The trains were a central feature of the "zoological park," which is large enough that a family with kids wouldn't want to walk round trip, but would typically take the train between the gate and the other side of the park, so I presume they're still running.

On one trip around 1962 I remember a nonstreamlined engine hidden in a fake "tunnel" and always wondered about it. I presume this was an earlier generation of motive power, and that it's the one in these photos.

- Aarne Frobom

Author:  Brian Austin [ Mon Jun 07, 2004 2:58 pm ]
Post subject:  There is a photo of one of these locos...

I thought you folks might want to know there is a color picture of one of those streamliners in a car magazine...the August issue of Collectible Automobile, which should still be on the newsstand. It is in a small picture on page 20, in the background, behind a 1961 Plymouth Valiant. The article itself is on the Valiants.

Funny how I had just finished reading the article and wondered about the train in the picture. The zoological park name on the tender was partially blocked so I didn't know where it was. Thanks for giving me some clues. BTW: the name of the pictured locomotive was named after Walter Chrysler.

.Brian Austin

> I haven't been back to the Detroit Zoo
> (actually in Royal Oak) since the middle
> sixties, but if they're still running trains
> they're hauled by 3 locomotives driven, I
> believe, by truck engines through automatic
> transmissions, and having the outline of
> Milwaukee Road streamlined Hudsons. I have a
> vague memory that they were built by
> Chrysler Corporation in the fifties. They
> are very showy pieces and each was named for
> a Detroit industrial magnate of the fifties,
> presumably big donors. The trains were a
> central feature of the "zoological
> park," which is large enough that a
> family with kids wouldn't want to walk round
> trip, but would typically take the train
> between the gate and the other side of the
> park, so I presume they're still running.

> On one trip around 1962 I remember a
> nonstreamlined engine hidden in a fake
> "tunnel" and always wondered about
> it. I presume this was an earlier generation
> of motive power, and that it's the one in
> these photos.

> - Aarne Frobom


raylrhodes@aol.com

Author:  Bob Yarger [ Mon Jun 07, 2004 4:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Walter Chrysler

...the pictured locomotive was named after Walter Chrysler....

Incidently, he began his work career as a machinist apprentice in the UP roundhouse at Ellis, Kansas.

Chrysler boyhood
ryarger@rypn.org

Author:  Howard P. [ Mon Jun 07, 2004 7:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Walter Chrysler

> ...the pictured locomotive was named after
> Walter Chrysler....

> Incidently, he began his work career as a
> machinist apprentice in the UP roundhouse at
> Ellis, Kansas.

And was a VP of American Locomotive Co. when he bought his first horseless carriage in 1910 (?) and took it apart to see how it worked. A year later, he was out of the railroad biz. And the rest, as we say, is......


hpincus@mindspring.com

Author:  Aarne H. Frobom [ Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Walter P's tube roller

"And the rest, as we say, is......

In the collection at the Henry Ford. Until recently at least, Walter P. Chrysler's tool box was on display, including a tube roller that would probably fit a Up 2-8-0, and several other boiler tools.

- Aarne Frobom

Author:  NVPete [ Fri Apr 08, 2022 10:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Detroit Zoo train

Here are three of the paint codes from a mid-fifties Ditzler/PPG fleet catalog I just received...

Zoo Train Blue, 10672
Zoo Train Apple Green, 40910
Zoo Train Yellow, 80413

You can see those three colors as well as the others here...

http://wpporter.worthygems.com/DetroitZooTrains.php

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