By Carl Helton, LC staff
I cannot recall ever riding the Huff ‘n Puff train but I do remember my dad telling me the story about the robbers jumping aboard and holding us up at gun point. At that point all the riders handed over a penny that was given to us when we boarded the train. Years later after we moved to Lakeland I remember seeing old remnants of the train track that crossed on Huff N Puff Road. In our series of previous history articles we go back to the Lakeland Current’s October 2015 history piece written by Alexa Tutor. Mrs. Tutor, her husband and two children live in Lakeland.
Note:
The LAMP summer concert series will recognize Lakeland’s 40th birthday at the Saturday (8.26.17) concert at IH Park. Featured bands will be Ted Horrell and the Monday Night Card (Dr. Horrell is the Lakeland school superintendent) and the Nick Black Band. Food Trucks will be Caliente, Memphis Mojo Café and Beakers Sno Cones. The concert runs from 7 to 10 p.m.
One of the many attractions at “Funderful Lakeland” was the Huff ‘n Puff Railroad, which went all the way around the lake. The train was added after the amusement park opened in 1962, and quickly became one of the top attractions. I had the opportunity to meet with Phillip Stafford, who has lived in Lakeland since the 1950s, and he shared his memories of working in the amusement park during his summers off of school.
After boarding the train and riding around the lake, taking in the beautiful scenery, you would come to a wooded area and around a bend to see an old still on the side of the track. While you were busy looking at that still, Rancid T. Butterball would hop on the train and “rob” the unsuspecting passengers! See, that was his still on the side of the track, and he needed to get it fixed up so he could get back to his business of making moonshine! He came prepared with a shotgun in case anyone gave him any trouble.
Although they were loaded with blanks, Mr. Stafford recalled them double and triple filling the wads with powder, causing a big cloud of smoke and quite a noise. In fact, one passenger was so startled, they took one of the other “robber’s” guns, and shot him with it! Even though they were only filled with blanks, it was at such a close range the actor was injured, and had to be taken to the hospital! He did make a full recovery, but it is not known if he returned to his job.
While Mr. Stafford wasn’t there for that infamous event (he’d left for college), he did recall taking a few cute girls off the train with him when he played the robber (don’t worry, he took them right back to the station to meet back up with their family or friends). The Huff ’n Puff closed with the amusement park around 1978, and the train sat abandoned in Mississippi for years. It was eventually purchased by Dry Gulch USA (an amusement park outside of Tulsa, OK), and is now lovingly known as “The Christmas Train”.
