Serengeti Railway Train Bush Gardens Tampa Florida

[pennyf9]

That locomotive is so out of time! needs a valve timing! am i right or is it just me?

[JakeT7]

@pennyf9 I always thought BGT did that on purpose becasue its Africa and back then thier engines were always out of time. BGW they are perfect.

[pennyf9]

@JakeT7 oh really? my opinion it should get timed.

[JakeT7]

@pennyf9 It was my first thought too when i first vistied BGT for the first time in July of 2006. It very much bothered me the entire time. Then i talked to a fellow pr guy who explained this to me when he drove me back to the phyton after close because i left my cell phone on top of a locker and i was alone and my father was flying in that evening to meet me. So they were good enough to drive me back there.

[dylanflute]

The people in St. Louis would love to have our other train back and restore it to its original glory. Where is the caboose?

[288jh]

where were these engines built???

[dylanflute]

i think the people of saint louis would love to have the number five back, and repaint it the original green.

[sideslide23]

I remember the train ride back in December of 1988 and after the train ride, I rode the Elephant.

[BigMatt1225]

wow this engine is very out of time!! and i would just like to say, if busch gardens does get shut down, we at six flags st louis would like the yellow number 5 back please. thank and have a good day.

[spundeman]

it's the Serengeti Express douche nozzle. lol. I love the train. I work with at BG. the guy talking on the back in this video is alan. he's one of the engineers as well. he's really good tho at the spiel on the back of the train.

[JoMiFu]

Wow, now woulda ya listen to that think bark! It's out of time, but it's not often you hear a theme park locomotive sound so large!

[ruvef]

I love this place, Busch gardens is the best park I've been in my life

[adean1987]

Good looking little engine, but needs the valves re-timed. Busch Gardens also runs our former #5 from here at Six Flags St. Louis. Was the same color as the engine in this video when she ran for us, but is now the yellow engine at Busch.

[berks475]

I was lucky to ride behind that engine as well.

[SR722]

This may sound a little odd, but I'd really like to see those locomotives preserved. I know that they're Crown, and technically not "historic", but with more and more amusement parks dieselizing, it would be nice to see them operating somewhere "safe".

[railsrust]

There's a few Crown locomotives operating outside the amusement parks. I don't think a single Crown locomotive has ever been scrapped actually. If any crowns lose a home at an amusement park they'll eventually end up in a safe home.

[SR722]

True, I haven't heard of any scrapped either. So long as Six Flags doesn't continue their habit of gutting and dieselizing their operational steamers, I think the majority of amusement park steam has a fairly bright future, probably in operations like the Old Hickory Railroad and the Pacific Coast Railroad.

[railsrust]

One place I visited last year that had an operating crown was in Jefferson, Texas in the same state I live in. Its pretty old for a Being built in 1964 there is no fireman, just the engineer to take care of all locomotive duties. It is probably one of the oldest 36" crowns running. A family bought the railway which was built in the 1980s to provide a new home for it bye the city in 2002. They restored her back to operation at a cost of I think it was $10,000 which amazes me how cheap it was.

[railsrust]

For some odd reason she really didn't make any noise other than the clanking of the rods. The compressor didn't make any noise which leads me to believe the compressor isn't working because they filled the air tank up with an electric one before we were on our way. I sent a message to the owners of another crown that was for sale and they were interested, but they couldn't negotiate a price with the owner who wants way too much for it.

[SR722]

$10000 for the whole thing? That is cheap, it must have been kept in good condition when it was on display. Crowns are usually quieter than other steam locomotives, but that's odd that you didn't hear the air compressor. Then again, with a locomotive of that size, the thing could be so tiny that it was barely audible.

[railsrust]

Well the stack on her doesn't have a straight point at the top that constricts the exhaust like on the stack of this locomotive and allows chuffing. Actually the compressor wasn't on at all. She made very little noise other then the clanking of the rods. The only other real audible noise you could hear when it was sitting still was the blower. Apparently one year, as the engineer said, the injectors had water in them in winter so it makes them leak now. The locomotive is a cute little bugger.

[railsrust]

I have posted some video of the locomotive on the train. Mostly on board waiting to go and a bit going down the tracks. The locomotive is operated by the Jefferson & Cypress Bayou Railway. I think they blow about 54 gallons of liquid propane on each day.The round trip down the tracks is 5 miles. Tickets are pretty cheap between $8-$10 per person depending on age. One of the old cars at some point in the 1980s or 1990s before these owners was converted to be an enclosed car with A.C.

[SR722]

Lawl, very true, she is cute. And you're right, it's much quieter than I thought it would be, even for a Crown; it's almost like a diesel-hydraulic. And they do have an interesting operation there, it's looks pretty friendly and down to earth; I love railroads that use a lot of second-hand and home-built equipment. Pitty to hear about the injectors though, that's not going to be a cheap fix.

[Engineer5344]

i saw that engine, on a little kids train tape once loaned to me by neighbors little boy. and since then i have wondered where that engine was. and now i know.

[berks475]

Thats what they call the train now.

[marklester01]

I thought it was the Trans Velt RAilroad? why the change?it was in 2000 when i went there?