Pursuits: In Amish Country, on the Train to Paradise

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 01 November 2013 | 17.36

Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

The Strasburg Rail Road steam train cuts through fields on its way back to Strasburg from Paradise, Pa.

The double hoot of a steam train jolted me awake. I peeked out the window above my bed. A wispy gray tuft billowed behind a massive coal-burning locomotive as it chuffed across fields of Amish farmland toward Paradise, Pa.

People come to these pleasant hills of Lancaster County for its countryside shops selling fruit and shoofly pie and its quiet, winding roads with the only sound the click-clacking of horse-drawn buggies. But we came for the rumbling, the soot and the clanging. We came for the trains.

The weekend trip was only half over, and already we had waved at them, climbed up them, rode on them and eaten inside of them. And yes — I recalled that morning as I looked around the narrow room with small, crisply curtained windows where I woke up — I was actually sleeping in a caboose.

We had managed to do all this in Strasburg, Pa., a town in Lancaster County that has been building a following for decades with its historic railroad that operates excursion steam trains, a railroading museum and a motel made up of 39 cabooses and railcars, in addition to two other model train sites in the area. With events for every season, there are plenty of reasons many families from New York to Washington make Strasburg a destination — and being able to get there in under three hours is not least among them.

It seems absurd that I questioned whether this railroading enclave would interest both my husband, Michael — a card-carrying rail fan — and our trainiac toddler sons, ages 2 and 1. The earliest indication, the moment we got out of the car parked in an open field near the Strasburg Rail Road and they ran in three different directions, suggested that yes, it would. But another question remained: Would there be enough quirky authenticity to hold my interest, too?

Our first stop was the Strasburg Rail Road, a tourist railway for more than 50 years, and a working railroad since its charter in 1832. Beyond its regular excursion rides, it offers themed outings linked to the era of steam power and catering to all manner of visitors. There are wine-and-cheese, murder-mystery and first-class dinner rides. There are rides celebrating hobos, Santa Claus or the Easter bunny. There's even a steampunk festival. On Nov. 16 and 17, the railroad will host its first "Steampunk UnLimited," with musicians, artisans, authors, tours of the mechanical shop and even an absinthe cocktail tasting aboard the first-class car. (Baby sitter, please!)

At the other end of the spectrum is the reason we went there: Thomas.

For those who don't have a train-crazed, pre-school-age child in their lives, that would be Thomas the Tank Engine, a fictional steam locomotive from the books by the Rev. Wilbert Vere Awdry, now featured on DVDs and in toy-strewn playrooms everywhere.

The railroad's "Day Out With Thomas" events, held in June, September and coming up Nov. 22 to 24, are its biggest days. The event drew 31,000 people over nine days last June. We were among the 5,500 wild-eyed, Ergobaby-wearing parents in a stroller derby vying to get close to Thomas on one of those days.

"Look!" Michael and I exuberantly called out to our boys when we saw the retrofitted 1917 steam train with the bright blue shell, red trim and moving eyes twinkling above the sweetly doughy cheeks chugging down the tracks. The excitement was too much for even me. "It's Thomas!" I screamed.Our boys were nonplused. If they had said anything, it would have been, "Yeah, Mom, obviously Thomas is here. He's Thomas the Tank Engine. And this is a railroad. Duh."

But that didn't mean they were not excited to ride on Thomas's train. Clutching toy versions of Thomas and chunks of pizza in their hands, they clambered onboard and called out, "All aboard!" Thomas pushed us backward down the track — away from the scrum of parents jostling for photos and the clanging Thomas theme songs — and into a brief reverie of farm-fresh air and the country quiet of cornfields before bringing us back into the thronging railway station.

We took a break of sorts to explore some of the permanent children's attractions at the railroad (like a pump car, hand-cranked train cars and a miniature steam train giving rides in a loop) before a relative and her school-age children joined us on the railroad's classic 45-minute steam train ride to Paradise and back.


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