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Park Trains
- The earliest miniature railroads could be found in amusement
parks. Companies
- such as Armitage-Herschell and Cagney Brothers pioneered
the “park train” industry. Cagney Brothers, New York
City manufacturers, were the biggest suppliers of miniature railroads
to Coney Island, New York. These minature railroads came various
sizes, from the very Small Scale (3.5"-7.5" gauge)
and Large Scale (12"-30" gauge). The first park railroad
gauges were 8" and 9" but 10" and 12" gauges
soon followed. None were to prove large enough for park railroads.
The demand for larger amusement park trains brought about the
15" gauge, one of the most common of the larger gauges today.
- For more information, you can't beat The
Original Parktrains Website*.
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- Light rails in operation in the United States today include:
- a 22" Cagney at the San Francisco Zoo
- The Whiskey Railway - several 1/3 scale steam trains at
Little A-Merrick-a*
in Marshall, WI
- Little Railroad Funny Place Steeplechase of Coney
Island, NY
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- Venice Miniature Railway of Windward Avenue, Venice,
CA
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- Riverside & Northern Great Light Railway built
& operated by Elmer Sandley at Riverside Park in Janesville,
WI; For more information on Mr. Sandley's trains, please visit
Karen
Taylor's article* and the current Riverside
& Great Northern Railway site*.
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