LAFAYETTE, Ind. – For the past 52 years, the Columbian Park Zoo Express has carted children, parents and anyone other riders all around the park. With those years and many, many loops around the park comes wear and tear, and thus, the train engine and its three cars will be receiving a fresh coat of paint thanks to a partnership between DeFouw Automotive, the Lafayette Parks Foundation, J&T Recovery and the city of Lafayette. Friday morning, the train engine was loaded up and taken to DeFouw Automotive for repainting. Once ready, it will be returned and reassembled at Columbian Park. The train is an Allan Herschell Iron Horse train with a locomotive and three attached passenger cars, a mini replica of a post-Civil War, wood-burning steam locomotive. It first arrived at Columbian Park in 1968.