Become a Railroad Baron: 1950 Tom Thumb Park Train
Once upon a time, kids aspired to be the drivers of trucks, flyers of airplanes, and engineers of locomotives. Some of the most popular toys of the twentieth century reflect these desires. Hundreds of thousands of Tonka trucks, airplane models, and Lionel trains found their way under Christmas trees across America every year. Seizing on this phenomenon, enterprising entrepreneurs and operators of parks, zoos, and other entertainment experiences ordered ride-on trainsets to both entertain the children and shake a few more dollars out of their parent’s pockets. If you are looking to become either a junior engineer or want to grab the first component of your retirement gig, then have a look at this 1950 Tom Thumb park train cab for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Lennox, South Dakota. This needy but fifties cool cab unit could be yours for a heady $3,000. Thanks to reader NW Iowa for the train-oriented tip!
Tom Thumb was the name given to the first railroad locomotive (stretching the definition of the term) in the United States. In 1829, inventor Peter Cooper used the locomotive to convince the owners of the new Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to convert from horse-drawn cars to steam power. This also included a race with a horse that the horse won after a mechanical failure on the steam-driven beast. The name “Tom Thumb” harkened back to a diminutive character in English folklore and soon thereafter became a staple in railroad history. It was this name that the Clark Manufacturing Company of Bradenton, Florida used to identify their park train.
What is a “park train?” Park trains are basically model train that is big enough to ride on and is often seen at family-centered attractions. For example, a zoo near my old hometown has agreed with a fellow who restored a whole trainset like this to operate his train just outside the zoo. Parents buy tickets for the train, and the whole family climbs on and rides a loop for a few laps. Ticket prices are cheap, the kids have fun, and the guy has a cool little side gig in his retirement. Other zoos, parks, and amusement enterprises have larger trains that visitors climb into to take them around the grounds. Despite a relative cooling off of children’s love for trains in the toy market, there are a few companies still in small-scale production of these diminutive railroad setups.
The one you see here was manufactured by the Clark Manufacturing Company in Bradenton, Florida. I wasn’t able to find any information about the company, but various websites that cater to folks who love trains have threads here and there on this type of train. It seems that their heyday was in the fifties and sixties, with a few stragglers still hanging on. Many whole setups ended up being sold to train hobbyists who laid the track in their yards and had their little home railroad to ride on and entertain the neighborhood kids. Now that those folks are getting too old to play railroad baron or have pulled out of the station for the last time, sets are popping up on forums and the occasional online sales page.
Which brings us to this ad. The seller tells us that the locomotive seen in the pictures is the only thing for sale here. No other cars or any special 15″ tracks are available with this sale. Selling this train, which closely resembles a General Motors-owned Electro-Motive Division F-unit, without the track will be difficult. There aren’t too many folks with the land, track, and facilities to run one of these trains spending their spare time perusing Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace ads. Thus, the cash price of $3,000 may be a bit of a reach.
Add to the challenges the fact that the Onan-produced powerplant is seized up. This unit does not look like a 1950s-produced engine. It looks exactly like the Onans sold by the thousands to power RV generators in the seventies and eighties. A quick search of the internet reveals a healthy number of companies selling engine parts. There are also multiple videos of how to rebuild these engines from top to bottom. It is unclear how the engine’s horsepower makes its way to the wheels to pull it around. Perhaps a reader can shed some light on how this might work.
Once you get it running and have restored the body, the only question is where will you run it? Maybe a bit of internet searching will reveal someone with a similar setup and a deal can be struck. Seems a shame to just use it as a decorative piece. A little engine like this needs to be run and there is something in all of us that still wants to be at the controls. Many of us never stopped being kids.
What would you do with this Tom Thumb engine? Do you have any experience with these? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
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Comments
Roundhouse Finds. The recent locomotive post indicates a lot of memories. I never knew the story of Tom Thumb. If you are reading this, you more than likely rode on one of these. In Milwaukee, it was “Kiddie Town”,( formerly FunTown), an amusement park set up in the then state of the art for shopping center, Capitol Court. A prearranged Crosley fire engine would pick up you and your friends, and take them to Kiddie Land. Can you imagine the liability of that today? They had a park train like this, naturally decked out as a mini Milwaukee Road. I read, most of these had V4 Wisconsin motors, and a conventional clutch, but not sure of the transmission. The Onan I believe is a later addition.
Speaking of liability, it has all but closed all of these, and only traveling carnival midways remain. Many today not wanting that in THEIR backyard. Case in point. Our local river festival, that had a midway for years, this year, they set up on the usual area, a corner of which, now belongs to a new resident, a lawyer. He wanted the “carny” off his land( 3 feet, mind you) stating a liability issue. Well, the hot headed carny guy said, “up yers”, and packed up the whole shebang, and left town, not returning the money the city gave them. I couldn’t imagine the insurance costs, and it’s helped ruin a great part of America. Not these mind blowing creations of today that twirl you 8 ways from Sunday, I’d never get on. Again, when this was good enough. Milwaukee Kiddie Town shown, circa late 60s. Thanks to Jeff for a great post.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c6/2d/95/c62d957dc70c4156d2490d37dc441103.jpg
With the engine not running , the lower front sheet metal gone and no tracks there isn’t much to work with here. Lot of money for a bunch of nothing here.
“Pulled out of the station for the last time” is evocative indeed to this retiree. Ouch.
My friends dad is into these trains. Has a speacial trailer for it and hauls the train engine around to various train parks. And yep, he’s retired. And yep, his ’65 Chevelle SS sits in the garage, a lot.
I assume Clark was the same company that made forklifts and other industrial equipment? I wonder how much could be found and reused for this locomotive if needed.
Roland, the two companies are unrelated. I’ve been in the forklift business for over 30 years and can assure you that they are unrelated in any way other than by name. Clark Forklift is headquartered in Lexington, KY, and in 1998 merged with the Samsung Fork Lift Company of Korea. That merger was the key to Clark Material Handling’s revitalized efforts to become a world leader in the business, although Toyota is the world’s largest manufacturer. More of Clark’s history can be found here: https://www.clarkmhc.com/Company/History
There’s a train like this in operation at a museum in Colorado. The track goes around the perimeter of the museum. The kids (and parents) have smiles from ear to ear when riding on it.
We have one here at out city park. Everyone loves it.
There is one similar for sale on my local FB marketplace. Claimed to have original engine, all cars and a bit of track for an eye watering $28,000.
Makes more sense to replace the Onan with another running one, since FB marketplace is full of cheap RV generators with the same motor. With no track and in this condition, will only bring a few hundred in my opinion. Might do better in an auction setting, especially a railroad related one
I have a water cooled 2 cylinder opposed ONAN 6.5 KW generator in my boat and its rated at about 8-3/8 horse power. Lets call this 8-12 HP…
A major player was the Miniature Train Company of Rensselaer, IN (circa 1940-1963). Many of these trains have been restored and continue to operate in various parks today. It seems the MTCs primarily ran Wisconsin 4 cylinder engines. I was told as a kid that the one in my hometown used a Jeep engine. Most probably inline flatheads which the Onan does not appear to be. So the 1950 Tom Thumb may have originally used a similar engine, possibly a Continental. BTW, the one in my hometown was restored back in the 1990s and continues to deliver fun to this day. Probably for more than the 10 cents I paid.
You can expect just about anything to show up on Barnfinds if it has wheels.
Apparently the BF commentators like trains too as the responses on trains bring big numbers of comments. The “Big Boy”last year had over 70 comments before it was all over. The latest 4-6-2 engine had a large following also. Sounds like fun to me.
Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton, Virginia runs one now. I went there as a kid and rode it. And I’m 63 and it’s still going. Some things never go out of style.
Knobles park in PA runs these. The seller should contact them.
Is Knobles in Elysburg still open? Used to go there as a boy!
Very interesting. The Onans are around. Live steam rails are also available. I don’t know if it’s a bad price. Could be a blast for someone with a good sixed property. I’d make flat cars dor hauling people….
I hate to say it, but this would make great yard art and that’s about it.
I would love to own this. it is something I always wanted. Paint it up with proper colors and just look at it in my yard. But it is 1200 miles away. lets see f-250 SD V-10 pulling my 5X10 trailer………6mpg ……..1200 miles X2……!
I rode in the seat in a car about 3 cars back from the engine as a kid in Nobel Park in Paducah Ky. I have many great memories from those times. It had bumper cars, boats, etc. for us to ride. When it closed down one man from St. Louis Mo. bought all the rides. I hope he sat them up at his house.
We have a ton of guys in my area (Lake Co. Ohio) that have mini steam engines about this size. The craftsmanship in them is top notch. A friends dad was into them as he was a railroad man. He had one of these streamliners as his yard dog with approx a 3/4 to one mile track laid out in his property. It went through the woods, across creeks on tressels he built and meandered back to his shop. He passed away and I believe the family sold it all off.s
The Michigan Flywheelers Museum in South Haven Michigan is now the happy owners of this train. We are putting in 1 1/2 miles of track and already have a steamer. Check our Facebook or website for updates. Also any back history of the engine would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike
That’s awesome news, great to hear that it was saved!