CORINTH — It was the combination of his love of children and of trains that led the late Gordon Mishio of Corinth to build a very special festival attraction for area youngsters eight years ago.

Mishio’s “Little Engine That Could” has delighted thousands of youngsters since it came chugging onto area festival grounds in 1986, bringing joy both to the miniature train passengers and, in the latter part of his life, to Mishio.

Mishio died in 1991, but his Kiwanis friends, neighbors and family remain committed to keeping Mishio’s dream train project on track. Together, they work each year readying the train for use at area festivals and summer events. The train will be at the Garland Days summer celebration Saturday and Sunday, and at the Charleston Days celebration Sept. 17.

Mishio’s wife of more than 30 years, Ruth, remembers her husband talking endlessly about the train project in the years before its construction.

“The train was an obsession for him. He was always talking about it. For years he talked about building it, but he couldn’t quite get a picture in his mind of what he wanted it to look like. Then we were at a yard sale while in Florida and there was a copy of the book `The Little Engine That Could’ for sale. Gordon took one look at that picture on the front cover and cried, `That’s it! That’s it! That’s what I want my train to look like.’ ”

Back in Maine, Mishio and neighbor Don Godsoe, a carpenter and cabinetmaker, set to work, with Mishio footing the bill for the train’s construction. They built the decorative front of the train out of plywood and detailed it with pieces of chrome furnace duct work. The collapsible frame was then fitted over the top and sides of a diesel lawn mower. Piping was welded from the exhaust system of the mower to the smokestack to give the train a realistic working look. A headlight from an antique car was centered on the front and a bell was hung from the top of the lookout window.

The passenger compartment of the train was built on a snowmobile trailer with seating for 12. Mishio had long planned to add a second trailer for the caboose, but never quite found the time.

The train has, since its construction, been used as a fund-raising activity to benefit Kiwanis projects, with riders charged a quarter a ride. But the real payoff for the group over the years, members will admit, has been the smiles of passengers, both young and old.

Engineer Al Haney of Corinth says he gets a real kick out of steering the train around festival grounds.

“I probably enjoy it more than the kids. I just love seeing the smiles on their faces. If you took a lawn mower and put a trailer behind it, no one would look at it. But boy, when those kids see the train pull in, they just come running and pile right on.”

The train keeps the memory of Mishio and all he did for his friends, family and community alive.

“He’d do anything for anyone,” Ruth recalls. In 10 years as foster parents, the couple helped to raise more than 180 children, and Mishio was always there to give a friend or neighbor a hand. And, says Haney, it was Mishio who started the Kiwanian effort in Corinth and helped to bring success to the club.

Because of the ride’s success, the family and friends of Mishio urge other groups to consider constructing their own trains and all are willing to freely share plans for the project with others.

“There’s no patent on it,” jokes Godsoe. “The only thing that had a patent on it was Gordon.”

For more information about the train, call Ruth Mishio at 285-3506.