Iowa State is still grateful that a three-car train in Ames did not live up to its name.

The Dinkey, a steam-powered train, became the main source of transportation in Ames in the 1890s and had a huge impact on both the university and the city. It was an essential means of transportation between the ISU campus and Ames and a well-loved feature of community life.

The Dinkey was built in 1891 to replace the horse-drawn bus that had been the only public transportation to campus. At the time, enrollment at Iowa State was increasing so much that many students who lived in downtown Ames needed a better way to get to campus.

“It was a little guy with big duties,” said Ames historian Farwell T. Brown.

The train, officially named the Ames and College Railway, was designed to carry passengers, mail and supplies.

But ISU students developed additional uses for the Dinkey.

When beer was banned on campus, students decided to smuggle a keg in on the Dinkey’s engine, according to an article in ISU’s historical archives by Judy Zajec.

Apparently, an authority learned of this plan, because when students went to retrieve the keg from the engine, it wasn’t there. Legend has it that ISU President William Beardshear himself confiscated it.

Another story passed down about students’ fascination with the Dinkey is that they enjoyed harassing the engineer. The Dinkey was small, with engines said to have been used in coal mines, and it sometimes had difficulty going up steep hills.

Students would sometimes grease the uphill tracks “for the fun of watching the little train slip to a stop and the engineer grow red with anger,” according to an article by Frank Remde.

The small size of the Dinkey plays a large part in local interest in it today, said Kathy Svec, president of the Ames Heritage Association.

“It’s the same as a doll house almost,” she said. “Anything that is miniaturized has special appeal. I guess looking back, it almost seems a little bit playful.”

Local interest in the Dinkey comes and goes, but every once in a while people express interest in creating a scenic railroad that runs on the Dinkey’s original route.

“I don’t think it would be practical to re-establish it,” Svec said, because the original route now has buildings and other features on it.

Even though it probably will never be recreated, the Dinkey will always hold an important place in Ames’ and Iowa State’s history because it was an integral part of daily life.

The train ran approximately every hour or two from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Archival records differ on the details of the timetable, but all say passengers only had to pay 5 cents to ride – a bargain even then.

The Fort Dodge & Southern Company bought the Dinkey in 1907, when the equipment fell into disrepair. The company replaced the train with an electric streetcar, which ran until buses replaced it in 1929.

Brown, whose father graduated from Iowa State in 1898, said he doesn’t remember his father mentioning anything negative about the Dinkey – only nostalgic memories.

The new electric train did not occupy the same place in the hearts of Ames residents, however. A scathing letter from ISU President Albert Storms to the new electric railroad company in 1909 reflects a very different level of service.

“It is stated by a number of faculty members who use the car line daily that 50 percent of the cars are late or irregular at the crowded hours,” Storms wrote. “A cause of frequent complaint is the filthiness of the vestibules and the fact that tobacco using is not prohibited . This is so offensive to many as to be disgusting.”

The railroad’s general manager replied that he was “greatly surprised and disappointed to learn of so many alleged irregularities.”

Although the modern streetcar replaced the steam-powered train, the Dinkey did not die. It simply rested in Boone until it could be of further use.

In World War I, Iowa “threw the Dinkey at the Germans,” Brown said. The little train was taken apart so its metal could be used in the war effort.

Brown said the train remains a physical symbol of the ties between Ames and Iowa State.

“It united the town,” he said.

The Dinkey lives on in Ames today. It is portrayed on a brick pier in downtown Ames and is also honored by some of the buildings at Iowa State.

Iowa State’s Hub, originally the Dinkey’s campus depot, was reconstructed in 1983 according to its original 1892 design.

The Dinkey can still be seen in the stained-glass windows near the north entrance of the Memorial Union – a gift back to the little train that gave so much.