Say Goodbye to the Zoo’s Steam Engines

Milwaukee County Zoo Safari Train Engine No. 1924. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee County Zoo is set to overhaul its oldest attraction.

The zoo is selling its two historic steam engines to a museum and replacing them with new, diesel-powered engines that the institution says will be more environmentally friendly. The other two locomotives are already diesel-powered and will remain.

The zoo is selling engines No. 1916 and No. 1924 to the Riverside and Great Northern Preservation Society in the Wisconsin Dells. The nonprofit, branding itself “The Little Railroad,” is a living museum that maintains and operates small steam engines like the ones at the zoo. The museum runs the miniature trains, with a 15-inch-wide track gauge, on a 1.5-mile track along the Wisconsin River.

The zoo expects the first new diesel locomotive to arrive this fall. The engines should reduce particulate emissions by 90%, the zoo said, which was a primary factor driving the sale of the steam engines. The possibility of an electric or solar-powered locomotive has been discussed, according to the zoo, and officials aren’t ruling anything out, but for now, the diesel engines are the “safest and most efficient way to operate.”

With the switch to the new locomotives, the zoo train is expected to operate year-round. It currently only operates from March through November.

The first diesel locomotive arrived at the zoo in 1992, and since then the four trains have provided more than 400,000 rides annually. But the Safari Train system is as old as the zoo itself.

In fact, the system slightly predates the zoo’s move from Washington Park to the city’s western edge.

The first train, purchased by the Milwaukee Journal, began operating in 1958, according to a chronology posted by the museum. Visitors rode the 1.25-mile track during construction of the zoo and the profits from the tickets were used to build exhibits and purchase animals.

The No. 1916 steam locomotive was built in the early 1960s and bears the name of a former Milwaukee Journal chairman of the board, Harry J. Grant. The No. 1924 was built a decade later and began service in 1978. It was the last locomotive built by the Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, located at the site of today’s train museum in the Dells. No. 1924 train also bears the name of a Milwaukee Journal chairman: Irwin Maier. The numbers represent the years they began their employment with the newspaper.

Fans of the steam locomotives still have plenty of opportunities to ride one. The N0. 1916 is scheduled to depart for the museum in April and the No. 1924 is expected to leave in October.

The two organizations have a long-standing partnership. The original zoo locomotive, No. 82, was loaned to the museum starting in 1989. It was later traded, with the museum transferring a diesel locomotive to the zoo in exchange.

Several other zoo projects are underway, including one with a potentially far greater environmental impact. The parking lot entrance is being reconstructed to avoid extensive backups. New exhibits are also being developed for the penguins and rhinos.

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