Resource Type
Years
Pegi and Bob Sanders of Scottsdale, carousel collectors, brought the park’s first carousel from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, then restored it and supervised its installation at the park. It was dedicated on September 26, 1987, charging 50 cents a ride. “Under a lease agreement, the city and the Sanders Carousel Company share the proceeds from ticket sales.” The carousel, built in 1929 in Tonawanda, NY by Allen Herschell (or was it Alfred Spellman?), had 30 horses and two ‘chariots’ that were outfitted as stagecoaches. “The ornately decorated and mirrored rounding boards that conceal the gear mechanism above the horses are from a Carlsbad, New Mexico carousel built by another famous carver, Gustav Dentzell, in the early 1900s.
DATE: November 18, 1980
The Pullman Company sold its historic Roald Amundsen Pullman Car to Minnesota developer Clifford H. Thomas. Thomas renamed it the North Star in 1967 (the name that was on the side of the car at the time of donation and move to the park) and used it for business promotions.
The City of Scottsdale accepted the gift of the Roald Amundsen Pullman Car, donated by Talley Industries’ Franz and Mae Sue Talley. Built by the Pullman Company in 1928 at a cost of $205,000, the luxurious and very secure car was used by several U.S. presidents (Hoover, FDR, Truman and Eisenhower) and visiting heads of state. The historic car was moved to the park on June 14, 1973 from a railroad siding in Mesa (20-mile trip), orchestrated by City Parks Superintendent Bill Ensign. Restoration was completed in 1990, when dedication took place on Aug. 17 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Ogdensburg Declaration, which was signed on board by President Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister King.
Pullman Car hoisted by two cranes
DATE: June 14, 1973
The French Gratitude (Merci) Train carried more than 3,200 gifts from the people of France in appreciation of American generosity in the postwar years. This boxcar was moved to the park from the Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum north of Phoenix by the 259th Engineering Company of the Arizona National Guard. It arrived in need to total refurbishment, but was welcomed at a public ceremony on Saturday, November 7th, 1987 at the park where Mayor Herb Drinkwater, French consul Claude Prosnier, Arizona National Guard Commander Major General Donald L. Owens and chief champion and fundraiser for the restoration Zina Kuhn each spoke.
In addition, after years of fundraising and getting help with restoration, community volunteer Zina Kuhn was proud to have the French Gratitude/Merci Train car dedicated at McCormick Railroad Park on Veteran’s Day, Saturday November 11, 1989. French Consul-General Gerard Coste was an honored guest at the dedication ceremony. In conjunction with the dedication of the French Gratitude Boxcar, Zina Kuhn started an annual City of Scottsdale tradition – hosting a Veteran’s Day Ceremony in front of the historic boxcar, where veterans, residents, students, as well as local government officials gather to pay tribute to Scottsdale’s veterans, past and present.
Zina Kuhn passed away August 15, 2005 at the age of ninety-one.
In 1989, the Scottsdale North Rotary Club donated $3,000 for a ramada to shelter the Gratitude Train Car at the park. The City matched the club’s donation. Club members also donated labor to build the ramada.
DATE: November 11, 1949
Once running on the tracks, this trolley car now sits inside the Model Railroad Building on display.
The Scottsdale Railroad and Mechanical Society saved a former mail/baggage car of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad from destruction. They paid to have it moved to the park on Monday July12, 1982 from a rail siding in Tempe (traveling dismantled on a flatbed truck up Hayden Road to Eight Street). The cost of the car was $2,000. The cost to move it to the park from Tempe was $6,000. According to a report in the Scottsdale Progress, “It is destined to become a classroom of sorts where school visitors will start a tour of the Railroad Park, watching a slide show relating to the park’s history.”
DATE:“The gift of the McDonald’s Cabooses (not moving expenses) along with the construction of the Park’s largest Ramada will provide a much-expanded facility for the birthday party program to better serve hundreds of children for one of the Park’s most popular programs. We wish to thank the Sunrise and Papago Rotary Clubs for their generous support to help fund the above caboose projects,” Chairman Guy Stillman wrote in his 1989 Scottsdale Railroad & Mechanical Society Annual Report. He also added that on the 20th anniversary of the formation of the society, three of its original board members were still serving: himself (Stillman), Bill Carvin and Eldon Rudd.
The two cabooses, which had been located on West Bethany Home road and used by McDonald’s as birthday party venues, were initially placed in the back of the park surrounding the birthday party area. The cabooses were relocated to the front of the park in 1997 for the new birthday party area. They were again relocated to the entrance of the park as a new monument in 2009.
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It had spent many years at Benson’s Wild Animal Park in Hudson, New Hampshire, a few years at a New Hampshire race track, and then was trucked across the country and restored for the railroad park by Brass Ring Entertainment/Dan Horenberger principal. According to Horenberger, he had to “pack” the carousel horses with special materials so that they would not be too hot to sit on during Scottsdale’s summer heat. The Scottsdale Charros and the Scottsdale Railroad and Mechanical Society funded the purchase, relocation and restoration of the carousel, which became a park-operated attraction (as opposed to a privately-operated concession as the previous carousel had been).
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