Happiness is a Train Ride

I remember when I was young, the joy of going to Old City Park. I think the park has another name, maybe Graham park, but to us it was always Old City Park. The reason, you may ask, is because we had a new city park called The New Park. This may lack in imagination but everyone knew the difference.

Allow me a brief aside to describe the parks. Wright Park was the New Park. It had tennis courts, a golf course and butted up next to one of the nicer neighborhoods in Greenville. Old City Park was, well, old. It was in a failing part of Greenville but for a child, it had much more to offer.

Old City Park had a lake with ducks, a bear, the oldest house in Greenville, and a motorized boat and car ride the usually worked. But the thing that set Old City Park off from any other park was the train. We’re not talking a full sized train though. It was simply a gasoline engine that was mounted onto a miniature train frame. The track ran around one of the playgrounds and as you rode it you couldn’t help but laugh and wave at all the people on the slides, monkey bars, and merry-go-rounds (not the motorized kind, you had to push).

For a kid, it was possibly the neatest place in Greenville.

The lake had a small island in the middle. We would dare each other to swim to it. In the end we were all too chicken to try. Some of those ducks looked mean and rumor had it there were snakes in the water.

The oldest house in Greenville had all sorts of antiques inside but we never got to go inside. It was always locked. We had to placate ourselves by looking in the window and making up stories about the ghosts that lived inside.

The playground contained all sorts of equipment that would send a modern OSHA inspector screaming into the night. It’s amazing how many things are dangerous these days. When I was growing up, it was called fun. Today they’re called law suites waiting to happen.

The boat ride was some boats sitting in a tub of water attached to arms that went round and round. As I recall the best thing about them was a bell on each boat you could ring. All four passengers had a steering wheel.

The car ride was much the same except, of course you were in a car not a boat. We all still had stirring wheels but it lacked the cool bell on the boats. Eventually both these rides went away but the trained remained for years afterward.

It was a special occasion to go to Gram Park. The bear was cool. The ducks were fun. The hokey car and boat rides were good for one ride. But the train was the best part. Something about it just made you smile.

I remember when they took the train out. It was sad. Still, as we get older, those sorts of things don’t matter like they used to.