Zube Park is Harris County's Railroad Park with a major model railroad system built and maintained by an organization of railroad enthusiasts doing business as Houston Area Live Steamers, or HALS.  Members of this organization build and operate miniature locomotives and cars about 1/8 the size of actual railroad equipment.  The late Jim Jackson and 23 other railroad buffs organized HALS in 1991.

Two or three of the original HALS members had tracks on their own property.  But theirs is a hobby that requires more space than most people have at their homes.  The HALS leaders started looking around in 1992 for a place where they could build a track system big enough to accommodate their trains.  They began talks with Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack's office and those talks produced an agreement in 1993.

The Precinct 3 Park Department was just beginning development of Zube Park.  The county agreed to set aside an area in the new park for the use of the HALS members.  HALS agreed to lay the tracks and maintain them and carry appropriate insurance.  HALS members got a place to pursue their hobby and the county got a special attraction.  Park visitors can watch whatever activities may be going on:  HALS members running their trains around the track or working on their engines in the elaborate roundhouse area.  Also, on designated days, visitors can take free rides on the rail line called the Cypress Creek and Southern.  At the present time, the free rides are scheduled for the third Saturday in each month, which the HALS members call Public Run Days.  View the Public Run Day Timetable by visiting http://www.hals.org/timetable.html.

The trains travel about 5 or 6 miles an hour and the rides last 10 to 15 minutes.  HALS is operating about a mile of mainline track and a branch line the group calls K.D. Loop.  The K.D. stands for killdeer and the loop has that name because the railroaders had to curtail their operations there somewhat in the spring of 2001 to avoid disturbing a nesting killdeer.

The HALS Cypress Creek and Southern Line got a major boost in 1997 when  the historic Browning Plantation at Chappell Hill was sold.  The plantation had been owned by the parents of HALS founding member David Hannah III's wife.  Hannah had built a two mile model rail line on the property.  He had to dismantle that.  He donated the track and a number of accessories to the Zube Park line.

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