Busch Gardens Steam Train

The Busch Gardens Railway is a 2.4km (1.5mi) loop of 914mm (3ft) narrow gauge track routed around and through Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, VA.The railway has three steam locomotives: American themed Alpen Express (No 17) a 4-4-0 built in 1972. British themed Balmoral Castle (No 661) a 4-4-0 built in 1974. And German themed Der Hochbeinige (No 238) a 4-4-0 built in 1974. All three locomotives were built by Crown Metal Products. The railway started operations in 1975 providing rail services to two stations within the park, Tweedside in Scotland, and Caribou in New France, where we are now.A third station, Festa, was added with the Festa Italia section of the park in 1987. The trip takes about 20 minutes stopping at all three stations. This is one of the reasons the Busch Gardens Railroad is my favorite among theme park or zoo railroads. In addition to being an enjoyable ride, it is also a means of getting around the park. We will be making a full loop of the railroad starting and ending in Caribou. While stopped at the Tweedside Station in Scotland, the engineer invited me up to the locomotive for a closer look and explained some of the controls!