Where is Omaha Zoo Railroad. located?

Omaha Zoo Railroad. is located in Omaha, NE.

How do I get tickets to Omaha Zoo Railroad.?

Tickets and current schedules are available on the operator's official website at http://www.omahazoo.com/hours-and-admission.

Photo by John Workman, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Omaha Zoo Railroad.

Omaha, NE

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Upcoming Events

No ticketed events are currently listed for Omaha Zoo Railroad.. Many heritage operators publish schedules seasonally or run on regular open hours instead of dated events.

Check the operator’s website for current hours and special runs, or subscribe to event alerts and we’ll email you when something is scheduled.

About Omaha Zoo Railroad.

Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium operates a narrow-gauge sightseeing train on a loop through the zoo grounds; small additional fare on top of zoo admission. Active seasonally with the zoo.

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History

The Omaha Zoo Railroad was among the first major attractions added after the zoo's 1963 re-incorporation as the Henry Doorly Zoo. Union Pacific, marking its centennial, sponsored construction of the 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge line, supplying rail from its Encampment branch in Wyoming and lending its own track crews; operation commenced on July 22, 1968. The hilly riverside grounds demanded grades up to 6 percent and very tight curves, and the ride was first themed to UP's transcontinental route — passengers boarded at an 'Omaha Depot' and rode to 'Promontory Junction', climbing a grade nicknamed Sherman Hill. A second steam locomotive and extra coaches arrived in 1976 as attendance surged, and Kenefick Station opened in 1981 to put boarding closer to the main entrance; its latest incarnation opened in 2015 after the African Grasslands exhibit reshaped and shortened the line. Today the trains circle the park clockwise over roughly 1.8 miles, a 15-20 minute circuit, the season generally runs from March into October, and annual ridership tops 200,000.

The Trains

Two steam locomotives share the work. No. 119, custom-built for the zoo in 1968 by Crown Metal Products of Wyano, Pennsylvania, is a 4-4-0 'American' decorated to evoke Union Pacific's ceremonial engine from the 1869 golden-spike completion; after a 1996-1999 rebuild it emerged in maroon and blue with a new wooden cab, and it regularly hauls five open-air coaches. 'Riva', No. 104, is an 1890 Krauss-built 0-6-2 tank engine from Linz, Austria, that worked an Italian railway, wartime military field lines, and finally Romania's state railways before Plasser & Theurer donated it to the zoo; restored in Union Pacific's Omaha shops and converted to oil firing, it entered service in 1976, and with nearly double 119's tractive effort it typically pulls six coaches plus a caboose. Rounding out the roster is 'Virgie', No. 6035, a 40-ton Plymouth diesel of 1957 that arrived in 2008 and serves mainly as a switcher for the coaches.