OMFG Trains!!!
Dec. 12th, 2005 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalSaturday we took Thomas up to Cumberland to take a three hour ride on the Western Maryland Scenic Railway, an old Western Maryland steam locomotive that's been restored and hauls some vintage passenger cars up to Frostburg and back. Now we knew that Tom likes trains. He'll willingly play with Microsoft Train Simulator for hours if we let him. But I had no idea how he'd react to a real one, particularly the idea of sitting in one place for three hours to state out the window.
Things didn't start out well, I'll admit. Tom woke up for no particular reason at 1:30 in the morning, and refused to go back to bed, leaving Daddy more than a little unhappy with him, I'll admit. Around 7:30 Tracy, Tom, Steve and myself stuffed ourselves into Steve's Tiburon for the two hour trip up to Cumberland. Fortunately Tom napped along the way, though I didn't manage to. After various pit stops we got to the train station at about 10:30, and had to wait another hour for the train to show up. It was crowded with kids (did I mention Santa Claus was going to be onboard?) and very noisy, and Tom was Not Happy. He went into a full meltdown crying jag, which we hadn't seen for quite some time.
Than the train showed up... :)
I'll tell you, when that big steam engine came chuffing around the bend, Tom's face lit up like a sunbeam. I wasn't far behind him, because while modern diesel engines might be bigger and more powerful, there's something elemental about a steam engine coming round the bend, on a snow covered track, that just hits you in the gut.
We'd gotten first class seats ($41 dollars for adults, about $21 for kids, and well worth it), so we had a nice table in the dining car, and a quite tasty meal of roast beef for the adults and a PB&J for Tom. Not that Tom ate much, for he was far more interested in what was going on outside the window. The actual trip to Frostburg was a little less than and hour and a half, with an hourlong stopover. That wasn't as interesting as it could have been. The main visual treat, of the steam engine being rotated on a turntable, didn't happen because the snow and ice jammed the mechanism, and all the little shops that would have normally been open forth etourists were closed for the winter. But I did take Tom for a walk through the Carriage Museum, and the train cars were towed back back a diesel engine, making for a shorter return trip. I'd recommend it to anyone who's even slightly interested in trains.
Things didn't start out well, I'll admit. Tom woke up for no particular reason at 1:30 in the morning, and refused to go back to bed, leaving Daddy more than a little unhappy with him, I'll admit. Around 7:30 Tracy, Tom, Steve and myself stuffed ourselves into Steve's Tiburon for the two hour trip up to Cumberland. Fortunately Tom napped along the way, though I didn't manage to. After various pit stops we got to the train station at about 10:30, and had to wait another hour for the train to show up. It was crowded with kids (did I mention Santa Claus was going to be onboard?) and very noisy, and Tom was Not Happy. He went into a full meltdown crying jag, which we hadn't seen for quite some time.
Than the train showed up... :)
I'll tell you, when that big steam engine came chuffing around the bend, Tom's face lit up like a sunbeam. I wasn't far behind him, because while modern diesel engines might be bigger and more powerful, there's something elemental about a steam engine coming round the bend, on a snow covered track, that just hits you in the gut.
We'd gotten first class seats ($41 dollars for adults, about $21 for kids, and well worth it), so we had a nice table in the dining car, and a quite tasty meal of roast beef for the adults and a PB&J for Tom. Not that Tom ate much, for he was far more interested in what was going on outside the window. The actual trip to Frostburg was a little less than and hour and a half, with an hourlong stopover. That wasn't as interesting as it could have been. The main visual treat, of the steam engine being rotated on a turntable, didn't happen because the snow and ice jammed the mechanism, and all the little shops that would have normally been open forth etourists were closed for the winter. But I did take Tom for a walk through the Carriage Museum, and the train cars were towed back back a diesel engine, making for a shorter return trip. I'd recommend it to anyone who's even slightly interested in trains.
