The San Antonio Zoo's train is for the first time offering a discount pass. For $25, people can get unlimited rides for a year.
Formerly known as the Brackenridge Eagle, the small scale Zoo Train chugs out of the station near the zoo entrance.
“We have a mini train, and we actually have two different locomotives that exist on it. But this is a railroad built in 1956, so it has quite the history in it,” said Cyle Perez, director of public relations for the zoo.
That history includes the very last train robbery It was July 18, 1970, when a pair of soldiers stationed at Fort Sam Houston stopped the train just after the tunnel. People thought it was a joke, but the gun one of them held let everyone know it wasn’t.
11 year-old Greg Hargis was there with his family celebrating his birthday.
“I remember hearing the gunmen yelling for people to get back on the train,” he said. “Our father took the cash out of his wallet and held up his wallet and showed the bandits that it was empty, and they passed him by.”
They got away with about $500 in valuables and cash, but not for long — they were caught. Train robbery is a federal crime, and they were sent to federal prison. One received a 10 year sentence and the other one received a 20 year sentence.
When TPR asked Perez if it’s possible highwaymen will play a return engagement, he laughed. “Well, I mean, there is a tiny chance — I guess nothing's impossible!” he said.
In fact, the robbery was re-enacted in July 2020 as a fundraiser to buy a new train. The “robbers” used bubble guns to “hold up” passengers, and donations were taken from those who wished to support the purchase. The fundraising campaign was successful.
“Yes, they're both in different styles of engines, which is pretty fun," Perez said. "So the streamliner engine is from the 1950s, 1960s. Both are diesel trains.”
The $25 pass is a digital pass that visitors may present at the terminal where passengers are loaded. Each pass is good for one person for one year.
Perez said the train ride is one of the cooler outdoor summer activities in San Antonio.
“The train does get a good breeze going too. But just with the tree coverage, you get to go over the San Antonio River on that bridge,” he said. “You get to go through a tunnel. It is a pretty dynamic ride of two miles of track. So that's a lot of fun. Much cooler than you'd think.”
The train runs seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
