Old must be trendy

Nov 26

When was the last time you rode in a coal-fired steam locomotive? Friday morning, as the adults were trying to come out of our turkey induced food coma, the grandboys were starting to bounce off the walls. My daughter’s motherly instincts kicked in and she realized that if we didn’t find an activity to distract them with, well, let’s just say that a direct hit from a tornado might have done less damage to the living room.

At 4 and 6 years of age, they are at that age where they are fearless, have limitless energy but yet lack forethought. For example, they just don’t understand the ramifications of stacking the footstool on the glass table to be able to jump to the couch because the floor is lava.

However, at those same ages they think trains are cool. Really cool. So when my daughter found that you could get tickets to take a ride on an old steam engine, it seemed like the perfect way to kill a few hours.

We bundled the kiddos up and headed to Strasburg, PA for this little adventure. As soon as I saw the parking lot I realized that approximately half the population of Pennsylvania must have 6 year olds. We were directed to the second overflow lot and jumped into the stream of parents & grandparents awash in little humans between the ages of smelly diapers and “Can I have hot cocoa too?"

Before we could get to the ticket booth we had to wait for Engine 89, pictured above, to cross in front of us. This was the real deal. Billowing black smoke from the stack it clanked on the rails as it slid up to the passenger cars that we would be riding. The kids were vibrating with excitement as they led us to the rail car they wanted to ride in.

As we climbed aboard I was surprised by a couple of things. First there was a coal stove in the middle of the car that made it incredibly toasty inside. And the second surprise was just how beautiful they had restored this coach to be. The woodwork on the ceiling was accented by stained glass skylights giving it a warm colorful glow. The original seats were velvet lined and could be swiveled to accommodate two or four passengers. I then noticed all the little details that went into making this a true production. The ticket taker looked just like in those old movies and he played the part well. Everything was time period correct and it really was like a step back in time.

Which got me thinking. All these people, hundreds of cars worth, were all here to ride on a train that has been obsolete for decades. Think about that. We stopped riding horses when the train came. Then we stopped riding trains when the car came. But now, this old steam train was cool enough again for hundreds of people to line up every half hour to see what it used to be like. We are curious and want to experience what those that came before us did as part of their normal everyday life. Old, really old, is cool.

Here is just one last thought I’ll throw out there for all of us that use the prefix “grand-” … the last steam engine retired from use in 1975. 1975. Sigh.