Down by the Station
Oct 3rd, 2008 by Alicia
We went on a field trip Wednesday to see “Challenger” No. 3985, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive.
It’s on a publicity tour from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to St. Paul, Minnesota, and back. Along the way it’s stopping at tiny cities all along the route, including a couple near us.
There was already a crowd when we got to the old train station so we parked in a gravel lot a block before the station, facing the tracks. Then we waited. And waited. And waited.
The kids scoured the rocks for treasures and found several railroad spikes. They banged them together and sang “I’ve been working on the railroad.” Daryl talked to them about trains and he even let the kids put pennies on the tracks. He almost felt guilty until he noticed every man on either side of us doing the same thing. 
An elderly couple was parked next to us and the woman smiled and said “When I was little we used to lay our ears on the tracks to tell if the train was coming.” I laughed and told my own kids “Don’t you ever do that!”. Ack!
The train was due at 10 a.m. but it was nearly 11 before we finally caught sight of the puffs of steam way off in the distance.
We stood far back from the tracks as the giant machine thundered by and slowed down. Uniformed men on the train smiled and waved as it went by. The noise was exciting and a wee bit scary, especially for the unsuspecting one year-old in my arms! He decided he liked it too, though.
After the train came to a stop, the kids ran up to see their pennies. They were impressively squashed, one with a faint imprint of Lincoln still visible. At over a million pounds, Challenger No. 3985 will do a number on a penny!
We walked up to the station and stood in line for an impressive amount of time for our shot to go up onto the train. I didn’t know what to expect, but was not expecting a little train tourist shop! Clever, I must say. The car was filled with railroad memorabilia, hats, magnets, DVDs, puzzles and such for sale and a long counter where ladies worked the cash register and answered questions. There was also a cooler of snacks and coffee. We grabbed some free handouts and made our way back down the giant stairs.
All in all, it was a neat experience. I kept thinking back to the days when people relied on the railroad to bring back loved ones, take trips and transport goods. It’s impossible to watch a train approach a station and not get caught up in the excitement. Maybe it’s the noise or the size or the way the ground shakes just a bit beneath you, but it’s awfully cool stuff.
This week, of course, we’re working trains into our homeschool. Thanks Union Pacific!
That same train parked in front of the old train depot in our town on Tuesday. There were hundreds of people lined up to see it so we didn’t get to go inside. Someone had thought to bring their beautiful yellow biplane out and fly over when the train came in and it also followed alongside the train as it made its way west. We checked out the train downtown then drove west and met hubby on a country road and got some good pics and video of them traveling together. Very cool.
My fil was amongst the crowd downtown and told us about being only 2 years old at the time but remembering his mother bringing him along to see his uncle board a train there to go off to the war. And that this uncle gave him a quarter and how they waved to each other for as long as they could see the train. He still has the quarter. His uncle returned after the war but lived with shrapnel in his back and had a pretty tough time. He got teary telling it (the emotion that was in that crowd 65 years ago seemed to have left a deep impression) and I wondered how many other people in the crowd were feeling some really old emotions seeing the Challenger pull in.