Hesston Steam Museum and the Kiddieland Locomotives

Kiddieland, a popular amusement park once located in Melrose Park - a suburb of Chicago - closed permanently at the end of the 2009 season.  Happily, many of its iconic rides were sold and reassembled at other locations.  The beloved coal-burning steam locomotives and a few passenger cars found a new home in Hesston, Indiana.

Both engines were custom-built by Wagner & Sons Miniature Train Co.  The Hudson (4-6-4) was completed in 1941, but the larger and more powerful Northern (4-8-4) was delayed by the war and not delivered until 1950.  More information about the Kiddieland railroad may be found here:  https://www.discoverlivesteam.com/magazineold/145/index.html

This video opens with scenes of various steam locomotives and steam-powered machines operated by Hesston volunteers over Labor Day Weekend, 2010.  We then move on to the featured Kiddieland Steam Double-Header.  Note the engineers'-eye view of the Northern's controls (5:51) - they're surprisingly basic.  Yes, the coal does need to be shoveled by hand into the boiler!  At 9:26, a couple visitors oblivious to the oncoming train are about to step into its path and the whistle toots frantically.  Close call!

The accompanying music -- Puffin' Billy, by British composer Edward White -- was inspired by his 1952 visit to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.  Baby Boomers will recognize this piece; it was heard as the theme for CBS's long-running Captain Kangaroo children's show.

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