Time Out for a Train Ride

Gosh, I was doing so well at blogging regularly. Then? Well then a whole darn week went by and now it’s the 17th. September is flying by folks!

I wanted to take time out from the Hawaii pictures to post about a recent play date with Cupcake Girl. We took advantage of the recent Tennessee Valley Railfest. This was the 51st Anniversary celebration of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. The Museum is the largest operating historical museum in the Southeast. We had the privilege of riding round-trip on a 21st Century Steam engine from Grand Junction Station to Cleveland, Tennessee.

It was so cool hearing that steam engine whistle blowing and seeing the steam puffing out the smokestack. As we rounded a corner you could catch a glimpse of the engine pulling the passenger cars. It was hard to capture with the camera but awesome to look at!

The view from the back was just as breathtaking. See the steam in the picture on the right?

I wandered around the train cars taking in all the little details. Crossing from car to car was a little intimidating at times, even though it was all enclosed. Yes, some of the crossings had openings. Crazy!

I was amazed to find out that the former “kitchen car” actually housed military personnel. I’m sure there would be some great stories about this car.

A couple of times we crossed paths with a freight train. Golly trains sure pass close to each other. I absolutely love the graffiti on trains. I realize that I don’t know the meaning behind some of the graffiti and may not want to know, but I do think it is beautiful art. Compiling a Graffiti Train book is on my photography bucket list. I’m sure it’s probably already been done, but I would still love to create one.

The happenings inside the train were quiet and relaxing.

And a little funny too!

I believe she was impersonating her Aunt Reb here. Not sure why. Just was.

One of the interesting things about this little train trip were the train chasers. I believe there are not many running steam engines around, so when there is an event, folks come from all over. The festival was a two day event and the steam engine ran twice daily. Folks would map out the route then go from crossing to crossing or any good stopping point in order to get a picture. There were some folks that just camped out at certain points. We saw lots of chasers!

It was difficult to take pictures of them taking pictures of us because we were moving so fast.

After the ride, there were a few things at the railroad museum for kids to do. Cupcake sure had fun!

What a great place to spend a few hours!