Dinky the Train
Fennimore, Wisconsin
"Dinky" trains were the buses and trucks of Wisconsin before there were buses and trucks -- or roads for them to drive on. The trains ran with scaled-down locomotives and rail cars on narrow-gauge tracks, and were built as a way for the railroads to save money hauling local freight and people. The one in Fennimore, which operated for nearly 50 years until 1926, wound its way through several nearby towns, delivering everything from livestock to logs to schoolchildren.
According to Dinky's historical plaque, Wisconsin once had many Dinkys and 150 miles of Dinky-scale track, but it's all been abandoned for nearly a hundred years.