House of David Train in Benton Harbor lives again!

[Eden Springs]

Were alive and well at Eden Springs Park the old House of David . Any questions you have just post them or send me a note.
Mike
President Eden Springs Park Preservationist

[Jochs]

The House of David train is currently on display at the Silver Beach Carousel in St. Joseph.

[OwlCaboose2853]

From Lou Mumford of South Bend Tribune


BENTON HARBOR — Remember the House of David Amusement Park, where children ate waffle ice-cream cones, rode ponies, gaped at lions, tigers and bears — Oh my — and took rides on a miniature railroad?

Yes, it’s gone, but its draw was such that it hasn’t been forgotten. And, this weekend, one aspect of the park will be resurrected: the miniature train rides.Earlier this week, House of David Eden Springs Park Preservationists Mike Lagness and Janet Keefer, Lagness’s fiancee, rolled out from the engine house in the park’s campground a miniature steam engine that from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday will provide the impetus for the $2 rides. The train will pull out of a restored depot, where tickets reminiscent of the originals will be sold beginning at 11 a.m.

The rides in handmade wooden cars built by park carriage makers in the early 1900s will take just 5 minutes but may spark memories for older passengers familiar with the park. The 1,200 feet of track painstakingly constructed by Lagness, Keefer and volunteers will circle the remains of the park’s Lion House, Stone House — as it sounds, a small house built entirely of stone — and what’s left of the park’s once popular vegetarian restaurant and flower shop.

What matters more than the length of the rides is that they’re being offered at all, for the first time in more than three decades. It also lends credence to the two miniature railroad train collectors and investors — a third has dropped out — who a couple years ago bought the amusement park grounds from the House of David in hopes of restoring the train-ride attraction.

"We have a 5-year plan. We’re at 2 and a half (years), so we’re doing good,’’ Keefer said.

Keefer and Lagness said it was Carey Williams, an investor from Chicago, who purchased the steam engine in Utah. It was built in New York in 1904, perhaps for use at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

Considering its history, the locomotive’s trip not only has been circuitous but time consuming.

"Carey went to Utah and brought it back here. It took 100 years,‘’ Keefer said, smiling.

At least three original steam engines from the park are known to exist but only one is on site. Lagness said No. 7, as he called it, was built in 1903, the same year the House of David colony was founded by Benjamin and Mary Purnell. An employee of Whirlpool, the 53-year-old Lagness hasn’t found the time yet to get the locomotive running.

The plan, he said, is to put proceeds from this weekend’s rides toward restoration of a 175-foot trestle that, once completed, would allow for a considerably longer stretch of track and significantly longer train rides. Some $30,000 is needed to restore the trestle, one of two that straddle park ravines.

Restoring the other, measuring 300 feet, would require $100,000 and isn’t likely to happen any time soon, if it does at all. But Lagness doesn’t close the door on the possibility, pointing out it was a tall order also to install the 1,200 feet of track.

"We’ve got a long way to go but we’ve also come a long way,’’ he said.

To access the park, visitors should pull into the entrance drive off Michigan 139, just north of Empire Avenue. Parking will be available near the engine house, across from a small entry building featuring a listing of campground fees.

Israelite House of David - Internet Presence (see history and photos)
http://www.israelitehouseofdavid.com/

[J T]

Thanks for the link, Owl. Good to hear that they're up and running.

[MQT1223]

Fun to see a bunch of old foamers on a train meant for a kid--This is why that bridge is falling over

This place is like 100 years old and hasn't seen any kind of maintenance until fairly recently.

I understand. Just still funney to see adults on a ride built for 5 year-olds

Looks like you need to take a trip with me, Jake and Stinky down to Hesston just over the state line in Indiana. The majority (keyword) of the equipment there was built for zoo's or theme parks that have long since closed, however is so old that is basically no different then any other restoration like down at the House of David.

They of course do have an expanding roster of 3 foot equipment and just about anything else that runs on steam so its definitely something worth checking out.

Does anyone have a link to a site or Facebook page that can fill me in on when they plan on operating this train? Definitely worth checking out...

[Jim_c]

Does anyone have a link to a site or Facebook page that can fill me in on when they plan on operating this train? Definitely worth checking out...

Here's one:

http://edenspringspark.org/trainrides.htm

[NS3322]

We shot a video of the train during Labor Day Weekend 2015.