That little kid in the engineer suit

This image is me at about 4 years old. Even at that age I was a nut for trains. My parents obliged me by dressing me up in a railroad man’s outfit of blue striped denim, a billed cap (with the word “ENGINEER” across it), and red neckerchief.

The occasion was my very first visit to a genuine live steam locomotive. It pulled a short train around the Fleishhacker Zoo (in the late 1960s Fleishhacker was renamed “The San Francisco Zoo”). There is an interesting history of the 22” gauge train here.

For the record, as this photo was being taken, I was scared to death by the loudly hissing monster. Eventually I conquered my fear and I always enjoyed outings to the zoo, but my favorite part was always the train.