Springfield has finished raising $85,000 to bring a train back to Forest Park, a decade after the beloved attraction rolled out of service. A $5,000 donation from Florence Bank, announced Monday, put the campaign over the top and clears the way for the city to order a new train that officials hope will carry children and families through the park once warmer weather returns.
The Florence Bank gift topped off the fundraising campaign, according to MassLive, and with the full amount now in hand, the city can move forward with ordering the new train. Thomas Ashe, Springfield's director of parks, buildings and recreation management, said the train will be ready for park tours when the weather gets warmer, the outlet reported.
The new train won't run on rails like its predecessor. Instead, it will operate on wheels and is expected to carry about 25 people at a time on tours through the park, per an earlier MassLive report from July. That same report had pegged the fundraising goal at $50,000, with donations at the time reaching $45,000 — just $5,000 short of that figure. The campaign's final total came in considerably higher, at $85,000, though the reason for the increase was not addressed in the available reporting.
A Decade-Long Wait for Riders
The original Forest Park train once ferried visitors to and from the Forest Park Zoo before it was taken out of service in 2016, according to WWLP. That train had a long history even before its retirement — MassMutual donated it to the zoo in 2001 after buying it for $190,000, and by 2017 it had been sold to Southwick's Zoo for $30,000 while undergoing repairs there, the station's earlier reporting on the train's history shows.
Friends of Springfield Parks has been leading the fundraising push to bring a new train to the park, the station notes. Officials marked the milestone with a ceremony at the Monkey House in Forest Park, where they unveiled photos of the new train, according to the same report.
Following the Swan Boats' Return
The train's comeback marks the second nostalgic attraction restored to Forest Park in recent years, following the revival of the swan boats on Porter Lake, the station reported. For longtime visitors, the pairing signals a broader effort to bring back the park's classic draws for a new generation of families. With the fundraising campaign now complete, the focus shifts to getting the new train built and ready, with operations expected to begin in 2027, per WWLP.
