The railroad provided a ride of more than 1 1/4 miles in the Park. The station was close to the bathing beach and tennis court area. "The right-of-way proceeded west along the Niagara River through the picnic area, over the trestle at the lagoon and then through the woods and tunnel located on Beaver Island," an article in the local paper stated. Robert D. Beach, chairman of the Rotary project said at the time that the train station reflected the 1860 era to harmonize with the old-time 70-passenger steam-type train. The train required about eight minutes to travel the layout.
Extensive grading and the filling phase of the scenic railroad right-of-way was a big part of the project and included 400 tons of stone ballast put into placed. A 65-foot, all steel trestle was built over the lagoon entrance and a 120-foot tunnel was also part of the project. More than 15 tons of steel rail were delivered from Detroit for the track which was installed by a full crew of Rotarians under the supervision of Island resident Christ L. Kruse. The six-ton train was delivered to Beaver Island on May 20, 1964.
The local weekly paper reported on July 30, 1964, that, "Since opening day May 31, 1964, the Rotary's miniature train in Beaver Island State Park has carried 45,000 passengers." All profits went towards the Rotary Club's civic projects on Grand Island. Jack Houck, manager of M&T Bank at the time, was instrumental in securing a $30,000 M&T loan for the Club to help finance the $55,000 project. Additional funds were obtained by personnel loans. Dr. Norman G. Courey was the financial chairman of the project.
According to Bob Beach, this was the first train to be installed in a state park in the United States. Bob was a sales representative for Allan Herschell Co. in North Tonawanda who manufactured the train. A very active member of Rotary at the time, he said that almost all Rotarians had a hand in this train project, either in financing, construction or actual operation. "I devoted a two-week vacation to supervising the track layout, construction of the station and storage tunnel and installation of the train," Bob said. "Time has dimmed my memory but there were many individuals involved," he said.
The train continued to operate in Beaver Island State Park for several years and was eventually sold to Fantasy Island where it is operating today.