LIBRARY: OLD RIDES: Pioneer Village Railroad
1976-198_
Location: Pioneer Village
Manufactured By: Crown Metal Products?
HISTORY & INFO
The route of the P.V.R.R. began behind the station at the south end of Main Street and travel north down the length of Pioneer Village, behind all the buildings. The Lagoon Miniature Railroad circled a smaller, separate track on the north end of the village and the P.V.R.R. traveled on the outside of that track as it curved around that end. It then turned east across Farmington Creek and around the Log Flume. The track curved back around near the pedestrian bridge and continued south between Pioneer Pavilion and the creek. It crossed the creek again behind the Blacksmith's shop and returned to the station.
The station was relocated from Kaysville, Utah. The track was 24" gauge which is the same as the Wild Kingdom Train that circles Lagoon Lake. It's been said that the engine named Merriweather now operating on the Wild Kingdom Train was originally used on the Pioneer Village Railroad.
In preparation for the addition of Lagoon-A-Beach, stretches of track were torn out near the old Swimming Pool. The intention was to keep the railroad, but the track would be modified. In 1989, a park representative told the Deseret News about plans to connect the Wild Kingdom Train and P.V.R.R. tracks to make one long train ride around Lagoon Lake and Pioneer Village. Lagoon-A-Beach ended up using more space than planned and the ride closed for good in 1987 or 1988. The station was closed to visitors until it opened as the David E. Sperry Model Train Museum in 2002.
I've received emails from people who insist the train was once named Old Ironsides and that they even remember a sign near the station with that name on it. Others don't remember that name at all. It's possible that Old Ironsides was just a nickname for the engine itself such as Houston and Merriweather on the Wild Kingdom Train or No. 999 used on the Lagoon Miniature Railroad. It's been suggested that the ride opened in 1972 and that the train circled an old Ghost Town area before Pioneer Village opened. If that's true, maybe Old Ironsides was the name of the ride in the first few years. Of course this is all speculation. The only fact I know of is that Old Ironsides was the name used in the AAA Guide To North America's Theme Parks, printed in the late 1980s.
PHOTOS
The old P.V.R.R. station as it appears today.
Click here for more photos of the Pioneer Village Railroad...
SOURCES
Lagoon
Deseret News
AAA Guide To North America's Theme Parks
Website Visitors
Updated 15 Aug 2007
