"A Day Out With Thomas"

I've finally had time to sit down and write about the trip to the Orange Empire Railway Museum on Saturday. It's about an hours drive from our house, but worth the trip. They were running a special day with Thomas the Tank Engine, a favorite character among the preschool set, and the place was crawling with parents, grandparents, and very young children.

One thing about children in the 2-5 age range is they're rather short on patience. Each person had a ticket to ride the Thomas train at a specific time, but try explaining that to a 4-year old who wants to ride NOW! Everywhere you looked there were parents and kids going through meltdowns. It was rather entertaining for someone who doesn't have little kids anymore.

The star of the show can be seen over my shoulder as the train approached:
I had originally thought it was a working locomotive, but in fact it's just an unpowered car with a generator in it that creates the steam for the whistle and the smoke that comes out of the smokestack as it goes down the track. Behind Thomas was eight vintage passenger cars (including two which are currently appearing in the new movie, The Changeling), followed by the real power behind the Thomas throne, a Santa Fe FP 45 locomotive: By the way, for $285 an hour they'll teach you how to drive that one.

We had a little advantage that most of the folks there didn't have. I was invited to attend by Norm, a volunteer at the museum and a reader of HolyCoast. Norm took some time away from his day off to meet us and give us the grand tour of the facility. He was really a big help as he showed us some areas that we probably wouldn't have seen without him. He didn't want his picture on the website, so I'll just have to say thanks for the grand tour and the information!

The museum was apparently started by people who had an interest in vintage electric street cars, and they have quite a collection of them. All day long two were running a circular course around the property and giving rides:

The museum houses a number of pieces of historic rail equipment, including this small steam engine, originally built for a Hawaiian sugar plantation, and later restored and owned by Ward Kimball, one of the original Disney animators. Ward used to run this engine and the passenger car on his own property. He dubbed it the "Grizzly Flats Railroad".

I shot some video for the railfans in the audience of some the trains that were running that day, and a couple of the rides we went on (including the famed Thomas train). Here you go:

As we left the museum at the end of the day two things became obvious - we were the only ones in the place who had come without children or grandchildren, and we were the only ones who left without buying any Thomas merchandise. The Thomas tent was selling stuff like crazy.

The event continues on Tuesday, November 11th, and again on Saturday and Sunday, Nov 15 & 16th. You can get your tickets here.