to pay for the repairs. However, donations resolved this problem, and the locomotive was overhauled and returned to service on April 2, 2004. Nowadays, No. 1 is normally only scheduled to operate on a few busy weekends per year, including Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend, but is also brought into use, as needed, to meet demand for train rides on weekends that have a particularly high number of visitors to the zoo. It is also normally used during the annual "Zoo Lights" event, held between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Oregon Express The train now known as the Oregon Express is the only one that is not a copy of a real train. Its diesel locomotive is WP&ZRy No. 5. It was built in 1959 by Northwest Marine Iron Works/H. Hirschberger and originally was made to look like a steam train. It was later rebuilt to a relatively more modern style, with a slanted front end. The color scheme and decorative motif of the train have been changed a few times, as has the train's name, which has gone from the Circus Train to the Orient Express to the Oregon Express. Other locomotives Locomotives 3 and 6 are small industrial diesel locomotives, not normally used for passenger service. They are used for track maintenance and switching, but if needed can haul the passenger cars of the Oregon Express or Oregon trains as a substitute for those trains' regular locomotives (Nos. 5 and 1). Both were acquired secondhand from Weyerhaeuser. No. 3 resembles an early EMD switcher. Mail The line carries U.S. mail and was one of the first recreational railroads to have its own postmark, and is the last railroad in the United States to have continually offered hand-cancelling and processing of mail. The postal cancellation stamp was issued to the railroad by the U.S. Postal Service in 1961. The locomotive of the Zooliner has a postal mail slot on the side of the cab, and mail boxes are located at the Zoo and Washington Park stations. Gallery See also Railway Mail Service References External links Washington Park and Zoo Railway page at Oregon Zoo website Washington Park and Zoo page at trainweb.com Portland Zoo Trains at pdxhistory.com (including photos taken at the Oregon Centennial Exposition in 1959) 1958 establishments in Oregon 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in the United States Articles containing video clips Culture of