Last month, Milwaukee County Zoo's North Shore Bank Safari Train got its first new engine in more than 30 years.
Engine No. 2025 – a 15-inch Tier 4 diesel hydraulic locomotive built by Swanee River Railroad Company in Lufkin, Texas – arrived at the Zoo on Aug. 8.
The engine, which is 20 feet long and 45 inches wide was delivered to the Zoo by the Texas company, which tested the engine to ensure smooth sailing on the zoo's tracks.
The locomotive is the first at the zoo to have been built outside of Wisconsin. It is modeled after an F40-PHL style engine.
The cab seats two, which is useful not only for operation but also for training new engineers. It also has dash-mounted air conditioning, a camera system, digital engine readouts and controls for the air bell, horn and sanders.
According to zoo officials, the engine's design cuts criteria pollutant emissions by 70 percent and meets the cleanest diesel standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The last steam engines rolled out of the Zoo in 2024.
The engine's inaugural ride departs at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, and is open to the public as part of the Trains & Tracks event on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The first to ride will get a first-ride commemorative button, a free cookie from the dining car and a Polaroid photo taken in the train car before departing the station.
Saturday's event also features:
- Conductor hats – All riders during the event will get a conductor hat
- Engine button – The first 500 riders get an Engine No. 2025 button
- Photo station with a giant "Inaugural Ride" ticket
- Train crossing trivia with correct answers allowing entery to win a ride in Engine No. 2025
- Train car coloring sheet
- And most exciting, a Train Shop open house from 10 until 2, so you can see where the zoo trains are maintained
For more information visit milwaukeezoo.org.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
