San Francisco Zoo
At the area between Grizzly Gulch and The South American Area
Little Puffer is believed to have been built by the Cagney Brothers’ Miniature Railroad Company around 1904. Herbert Fleishhacker purchased the train in 1925 and installed it at the new Herbert Fleishhacker Zoo, where it remained for 53 years.
The history of Little Puffer is somewhat ambiguous, and if you would like to read the “stories”, you can do so here on the San Francisco Zoo website.
I will pick the story up here. After many years of service at the zoo the train sat in storage for over 20 years and suffered greatly for it. In 1997 the Zoo staff decided to put Little Puffer back in service on newly laid track. The cost to renovate the train was $75,000, and the addition of the new depot, plaza area, track layout, landscaping and storage barn brought the total cost to $700,000.
While I truly enjoyed my twice around 4 minute ride on the Little Puffer, I question if it was worth the $5.00 admission (this is in addition to your zoo entry ticket), that is a lot of money for a family of four.
I am sure conductor Johnny Sala would disagree, you can read his story here.