Train Vacation 2009
Rather than take a day
trip to see Thomas the Train with the boys again we chose to take a whole train
themed vacation.
We took the boys to the
heart of Pennsylvania Amish country and had a blast.
We stayed at the Red Caboose Motel. It is
a series of 46 remodeled train cars that sits next to an Amish farm.
Our Caboose was number 34 and
included bunk beds for the boys in the raised section.
Stairs were mounted in the
farm’s silo to allow a bird’s eye view on the playground and surrounding
farmland.
Spectacular views!
The next morning was pretty
cool so we bundled up to go see the little blue engine.
The main attraction!
The boys lined up with their
friends.
Grandmom & Pop Pop joined
us for our Day
out with Thomas.
Grandmom & Egan were all
smiles before the train departed.
Gwen & Quinlin were also
ready for departure.
We also took another ride on
one of Strasburg Railroad’s
other engines.
This train pulls you on a 45
minute trek through the countryside and dumps you in a
side track so it can uncouple
and reconnect at the other end of the train to pull you back.
Egan watched closely to make
sure the engine didn’t leave us behind.
This old steam plow train was
pretty menacing to look at as we came back into the station.
Pop Pop did his best to keep
up with Egan as he took the pedal cars for a spin.
We made a stop at the Choo Choo Barn. This is a series of train related stores that
includes
a huge model layout of the
area.
Model trains as far as you
can see!
This VIDEO from their site gives a
little more perspective on the size & details of the display.
This section depicted an
Amish barn raising. All of the little
people on the roof
had moving arms as they
struck the nails with hammers.
The fire truck was speeding
to the “A” framed house on the left that
was smoking.
We visited the Railroad Museum of PA
This museum boasts a
collection of trains indoors & outdoors would be over a mile
long if parked end to
end. The displays were everything from
old steam to electric & diesels.
Egan got to practice
shoveling coal into the firebox of one of the displays
and drove the locomotive
simulator.