MARS — The Mars Shortline Railroad will offer family fun to young and old alike each Friday this summer.

John Watson, president of the Mars History and Landmark Society, has announced the miniature train will run on its 700 feet of track from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Friday and from 1 to 4 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month, from June through September, weather permitting.

The unique train has an engine, four cars that are 2 feet high and 15 inches wide, and two cabooses. On average, three adults and two children can ride on each car.

The train, which is at the society’s property at 1 Brickyard Road at the restored train station, boasts the smallest track on which a passenger train can travel, at 7.5 inches wide.

“It’s fun, and it’s just a way for residents to enjoy themselves, do something different, and pick up some local history at the same time,” Watson said.

He said the Railroad Museum will be opened if requested by riders, as society members are always busy working on some project at the shop that is also on the property.

Donations are requested for train rides and admission to the museum.

The Mars Shortline also is available for parties, where residents can rent the train for three hours for $300.

The train was dedicated just before the town’s Applefest in October, when the final, one-inch spike was driven into the track and the gasoline-powered engine sputtered to life. Rides were given at Applefest and after last year’s Halloween parade. More than 500 people rode the train during the two events.

The train was the idea of society member Bob Lang, who read a newspaper article at his home in Largo, Fla., about six of the small-scale trains operating in that state.

Lang visited one of the tracks near his home and joined the 70-member Largo Central Railroad. He said there are more than 600 of the small-scale trains across the country.

“There is just a huge group of these people around the United States,” Lang said.

When he returned last summer to his hometown of Mars, he thought a small-scale train would enhance the society’s existing train-themed property.

“It just seemed like a natural for that community to have a train like this and have the availability for people to ride,” said Lang.

Society members soon built the track and founding member Bill Swaney bought the engine, which was manufactured in Michigan. Society members George Lazzo and Al Zamba built the cabooses, and Lang bought the riding cars from the Largo club when they ordered new ones.

Regarding feedback from riders, Lang said children love the train.

“Kids don’t want to get off,” Lang said. “At Applefest, we had one little boy, his mother and dad literally just had to drag him away.”

Lang said the train benefits the community and the society.

“It brings people in who don’t realize what we have down here,” Lang said. “There are a lot of things the historical society has collected and restored and done that nobody knows about.”

He said the society may pursue an expansion project that would continue the Shortline’s tracks across the nearby Breakneck Creek and onto additional property it owns.

“If we could get the money and approvals, we might do it,” Lang said.

For now, he hopes families will turn out to ride the Shortline.

More information is available by logging onto www.marshistory.org.