Alex Marinshaw, a Willow Glen resident and frequent park visitor, contacted city staffers and residents when she learned informally that Happy Hollow Corporation was considering selling the train.

"I wanted to help spread awareness about the demise of the train at Happy Hollow," said Marinshaw in an email sent out on a Willow Glen listserv. "I think of Kelly Park as our central park. I think it is one of the prettiest parks and San Jose doesn't really have another [miniature] railroad."

She said there are only a handful of communities with historic running trains, such as San Jose, Santa Cruz and Los Gatos.

Marinshaw said the train at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo was a great ride for youth. She brought her children to the park when they were younger and they loved the ride, she said.

Marinshaw's email reached the Willow Glen Extra, a blog written by David Keller, who forwarded the message to Marvin Bamburg, who then forwarded the message to Rod Diridon, executive director of Mineta Transportation Institute and chairman of the California Trolley & Railroad Corporation.

"Alex knew of our activities through the California Trolley & Railroad Corporation and sent over an email about what was going on and [asked] if we could do something about it," Diridon said. "We have always wanted to have a small locomotive," he said. "It seems logical if the city doesn't want to run it anymore, we could take it over and rebuild it."

The little train has run sporadically since the mid-1980s. It has had several mechanical problems and had become costly to maintain, causing the park to close the ride and put the train in storage in 2003.

The train was built by Richard Reid in his garage some 30 years ago. The city acquired the train from him in the mid-1980s and spend $60,000 to refurbish it.

"There is some validity to the rumor of the train being up for sale," San Jose Parks Manager Brian Hartsell said.

According to Hartsell, the rumor may have started because city staff was exploring ways to assist Happy Hollow Corporation with its fundraising efforts to expand the park. During that discussion city staffers suggested the possibility of allowing Happy Hollow the right to auction some of the park and zoo materials. City staffers thought that people would want some of these items for their sentimental value. Otherwise these items would be demolished or discarded during the renovation, Hartsell said.

Someone must have taken it a step further to include the sale of the train, he said.

He did acknowledge that staffers thought it would be more efficient to purchase a new train instead of fixing up the old one, but nothing had been determined.

Hartsell pointed out that the train was homemade.

"This is not a piece of equipment that began life as a train," he said. "It's something that someone retrofitted into a train. As a result, parts and materials are not off-the-shelf products. We can't go to a traditional parts maker because nobody makes ones like ours."

Because it wasn't professionally engineered, it has mechanical and wear issues that exceed those of a professionally manufactured unit.

Diridon said California Trolley & Railroad Corporation asked Happy Hollow if it wanted to relinquish the train awhile back when it stopped running and was put into storage. But the park said no.

"I think the proposal by the CTRC to buy the train is possible," Hartsell said. "We haven't really sat down and had enough time to analyze the situation, but we will be talking about it at our next meeting on Aug. 2."