Saturday, May 31, 2014
Today we all seemed to get up and going much faster than I was anticipating. It was a little odd, as this was the first time we had overnight guests in the Mammoth, so I guess we all didn't sleep as well as we would have at home. The kitties decided that mom and dad needed their love and attention overnight, but that was OK. They now have some stories to tell. We ate breakfast and had to head to Palestine to board the train, even though we are staying at the Rusk Depot. Why, you ask? Well, when I originally booked the train tickets, I picked the Rusk Depot because we wanted to ride the steam engine train, rather than the diesel engine train. I got a call a week before our arrival, telling us the engines had been swapped for the locations, so we could change our reservations and ride from Palestine, or keep the reservations at Rusk, and ride the diesel train instead. We opted to go to Palestine! Luckily, it's only about 30 minutes drive time.
We arrived 1 hour before departure, as they recommended, so we had time to mill around and take pictures and such. Just before we were to board, they announced that anyone could come and walk through the engine cab, take pictures and talk to the engineer. WOW! That was neat.
This side is the fireman's controls.
The cab -- looks complicated! Very intense heat emanates.
The boiler, when running can get white hot!
Us with the #7
Engine No. 7, a Baldwin 2-8-2, was built in 1917 for the Tremont and Gulf Railroad, who sold it to Magma in 1954. It was featured in the popular epic film How the West Was Won. The engine was purchased by the Texas State Railroad in 1974 and rehabbed in 1978. It is an oil-burning engine.
Mom and Dad, ready for their train excursion.
All 4 of us, on the 41 car
We boarded and headed towards Rusk at 11am.
For those interested in the typical scenery along the way, here's a video link, from earlier this year.
We got to Rusk about 12:30, and had about a 1:30 layover. We had brought our lunch with us and ate it on the train, so we just did some shopping and more picture-taking. We could have walked back to the Mammoth, but the excursion is a round trip!
Me and Dad
At the Rusk Depot
Dad and Tony
The engine backing into the opposite end of the train to pull us back to Palestine.
Riding the rails
We all agreed, the train trip was a step back in time, and its motion tended to lull you to sleep. I think we all dozed off a little on the way back to Palestine, but we all enjoyed every minute of it. You really appreciate the craftsmanship and history of this type of travel.
After we returned to the Palestine Depot, we loaded up and drove back to Rusk to the Mammoth. We ended up taking a short nap, then waking up to thunder, as a brief shower moved through. After it slowed to a sprinkle, Tony put out the awning and fired up the grill for some hotdogs and hamburgers. We had a great meal, relaxed and took it easy. It was a long day, but a good one!
No comments:
Post a Comment