Washington Park and Zoo Railway
| Washington Park & Zoo Railway | |||
|---|---|---|---|
The Zooliner, shown arriving at Washington Park station, is one of the railway's two primary trains. | |||
| Overview | |||
| Owner | City of Portland, leased to Metro (Oregon regional government) | ||
| Locale | Portland, Oregon | ||
| Service | |||
| Ridership | Approx. 350,000 annually | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | June 7, 1958 (officially June 9) | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) | ||
Portland Zoo Railway Historic District | |||
| Location | Portland, Oregon | ||
| NRHP reference No. | 100005018 | ||
| Added to NRHP | March 5, 2020 | ||
| |||
The Washington Park & Zoo Railway (WP&ZRy) is a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge recreational railroad in Portland, Oregon's Washington Park with rolling stock built to 5/8 scale. Opened in three stages in 1958, 1959 and 1960, it previously provided transportation between the Oregon Zoo, Hoyt Arboretum, International Rose Test Garden, and the World Forestry Center. The extended line through Washington Park, now out of service but still in place, was about 2 miles (3.2 km) long. The service is currently operating on a 1⁄2-mile (0.80 km) loop completely within the Oregon Zoo grounds. As of around 2012, the railway was carrying about 350,000 passengers per year.
The railroad is operational year-round when the Oregon Zoo is open, except in January and part of February, when it is closed for required maintenance. Special events occur during the winter holidays. A separate ticket is needed to ride the 6-minute internal loop within the zoo grounds, but zoo admission was also required.
In 2013, a temporary closure was necessitated by the construction of the zoo's new Elephant Lands exhibit, which will also include remodeling of other parts of the zoo grounds. A new section of track was laid to replace the short loop. After construction the train operations began running on the new Zoo Loop line within the Oregon Zoo.