All Aboard the Train at the St. Louis Zoo

We're taking a short break from our usual focus on freight trains and instead turning our attention to train rides. In this video, we visit the St. Louis Zoo in St. Louis, Missouri.

Located in Forest Park, the St. Louis Zoo offers free general admission, but some special attractions do require paying a modest fee. One such attraction is the Zooline Railroad, a narrow-gauge passenger train that circles the entire zoo in a counterclockwise direction, stopping at four stations along the way. Not including stops, a ride around the full loop lasts about 15 minutes. Given the length of track, multiple trains can operate simultaneously on busy days. And while the train is certainly fun to ride if you like trains and also a convenient way to travel from one section of the zoo to another, keep in mind that it's not particularly good for actually seeing the zoo animals along the way because only a few of the exhibits are visible from aboard the train.

At 0:30, we watch a train go through one of the zoo's many pedestrian crossings (each of which includes working gates and signals) just after departing Discovery Corner Station, which is near The Living World and the zoo's North Entrance. At 0:59, we watch a train cross a long wooden bridge over the edge of a lake in the zoo's Lakeside Crossing zone, as seen from the south side of the pedestrian crossing between Dinoroarus and the Insectarium. At 1:37, we watch another train cross the same bridge, this time as seen from the north side of the same crossing with a better view of the whole bridge. At 1:59, we watch a train go through a pedestrian crossing in the southwestern corner of the zoo in the River's Edge zone. And at 2:26, we watch a train pass by some of the foliage in the River's Edge zone, as seen from the Animal Nutrition Center.

At 3:20, we begin a four-part full-loop first-person ride-along at Discovery Corner Station, rumbling across the Lakeside Crossing bridge and passing the elephant habitat before stopping at River's Edge Station. At 8:34, our ride continues with a 17-second stint in a short tunnel and a minute-plus stretch through a longer tunnel before stopping at Red Rocks Station. At 12:20, we depart Red Rocks Station and immediately enter an even longer tunnel (for about a minute and 20 seconds) before emerging to pass the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Flight Cage, the zoo's oldest exhibit that was (at the time) the largest bird cage ever built; the aviary is not visible in this video because it is on the right side of the train. And finally, at 16:08, our trip around the zoo concludes as we leave The Wild Station, pass the carousel and flamingos, and return to Discovery Corner Station.

All clips were recorded in September 2021 and June 2022.

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HANDICAP ACCESSIBILITY NOTE FOR DISABLED ZOO VISITORS:

Some of the zoo's trains are equipped with a covered flatcar immediately behind the locomotive, offering a safe and secure way for folks in wheelchairs, ECVs or motorized scooters to ride the train. You can board or depart the train at any of the zoo's four stations, each of which features an ADA-compliant access ramp. Zoo employees are happy to help disabled riders get on and off of the train, and wheelchairs/ECVs/scooters are strapped into place for safety before the train moves. The flatcar also has a single standard bench seat, allowing up to 2-3 people to accompany the disabled rider. (It just so happens that our first five clips all showcase trains that do feature a wheelchair car; also, all four parts of our ride-along were filmed from aboard a wheelchair car.)

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AND A WORD FROM THE WISE FOR PARENTS VISITING THE ZOO:

As you can see in Part 2 of our ride-along, the first two tunnels are fairly well-lit but still a good bit darker than the "outside" world. However, as seen in Part 3, the third and longest tunnel is considerably darker, including a brief stretch that is nearly pitch black. If you have a child or children who aren't big fans of the dark, it's probably best to avoid the tunnels by boarding the train at The Wild Station and then departing the train at either Discovery Corner Station or River's Edge Station, or by boarding the train at Discovery Corner Station and then departing the train at River's Edge Station.

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