All aboard again: Forest Park Miniature Trains return near Fort Worth Zoo after 18-month hiatus
Fort Worth, Texas – After an 18-month hiatus precipitated by debilitating mechanical issues, the iconic Forest Park Miniature Trains in Fort Worth are poised for a resounding resurgence, resuming operations this Friday. Originally unveiled to the public in 1959, the locomotive’s five-mile journey—distinguished by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest miniature railway globally—has captivated generations in the Fort Worth community for an impressive span of 63 years.
Forest Park Miniature Trains stopped operating in 2022 due to mechanical problems
The miniature train’s mechanical malfunctions reached an exigent level in the spring of 2022, necessitating its complete shutdown. However, beginning this week, residents and tourists alike will once again have the opportunity to revel in the leisurely and picturesque sojourn along the Trinity River, nestled inconspicuously in the verdant shadows of the Fort Worth Zoo.
Spearheading the train’s operation is Mary Talley, president of Forest Park Rides, a company whose lineage in the miniature train sector is as storied as it is enduring. Talley, who is also the great-granddaughter of Bill Hames—the visionary entrepreneur who inaugurated the railway in its infancy in 1959—expressed palpable delight over the railway’s imminent revival.
Forest Park Miniature Trains launch on Friday will bring back the joy and excitement to young riders
She waxed eloquent about the immense joy and unfettered excitement etched on the visages of young riders, an effervescent tableau she has sorely missed since the railway’s unceremonious suspension a year and a half ago.
“I hope people who hear that the train is back open] tell all of their kids and their grandchildren to bring them out here to continue to create the memories,” Talley said to NBC DFW. “We have had so many families for generations come and ride this train.”
The nostalgia-infused enterprise not only holds sentimental value for the local populace but also exemplifies a kind of intergenerational continuity that the Talley-Hames family is elated to sustain. Through the train’s recommencement, Mary Talley anticipates the resurrection of a cherished communal tradition, while fervently hoping to rekindle the incandescent smiles that once illuminated the faces of children and families aboard the Forest Park Miniature Trains.
Click the link to see what is working and what is closed in Fort Worth for Labor Day.
