TrainDad

Today our little guy, Jonathan, turned three years old. The biggest adventure centered around “Day Out With Thomas” at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. This event hosted the “real” Thomas — the live steam Porter-conversion brought in from the Strassburg (In case you don’t know, the majority of these events use non-powered versions that rely on local power). I’ve not planned on participating in one of these events, because the price is crazy for something that you don’t even really get to experience. I mean, if you could actually ride on Thomas himself, that would be something special; but riding in a passenger car behind Thomas is no different than riding in the same car behind any other locomotive. And doing it with 400 other screaming toddlers isn’t exactly my idea of a “day out” — a day out of my mind, more like it. In any case, a loving uncle bought tickets, so there we were.

The ride was about what I expected; Jonathan enjoyed it, though, and I’m glad we had the opportunity. We got much more excitement out of watching Thomas drive. If you go to one of these events, I recommend asking right up front where the best viewing location is to see Thomas start up. That’s the exciting moment, as he belches smoke and steam and the driving wheels slip. We also watched him from above, standing on a bridge. He tooted his tinny English whistle once as he went under, his engineer leaning out the window and waving.

One of the things Jonathan enjoyed most was the Norfolk-Southern engine on a side track. They allowed visitors into the cab, let them sit in the driver’s seat and handle the controls. With the engine running, it was a great experience to push the throttle and hear the diesel roar. And it’s always a delight to blow the horn!

Other highlights included rides on a “caboose train” and a large HO-scale model railroad set up by a local club.

Finally, Jonathan received a GeoTrax Grand Central Station set as a birthday gift. This is the “expanded set” with extra cars and a DVD. JB was so excited he just didn’t know how to express it. Aero is his new favorite — he asked if he could sleep with Aero tonight.

Lots to talk about over the next few days… notes on Thomas and Geotrax and TrackMaster and more. Stay tuned!