Say what you will about him, he's a very useful engine. I spent most of the day handing out maps and schedules to incoming visitors, and answering questions. We all need to make ourselves useful in some way or other, and this was it. And it was quite enjoyable, I must say, compared to checking compressor oil. The weather was excellent, and as usual everybody seemed to be having a great time. Off-topic rant: these stupid weather reports on the TV nowadays are killing us. They always want you to think the world is coming to an end, unprecedented disasters are around the corner, you'd better stay inside and watch TV instead of getting outside and doing something active, and as a result I think attendance suffers. So there. End of rant.
For us old-timers, Day Out With Thomas can perhaps seem a little monotonous, but for all the new visitors, it's very exciting. One thing I don't remember seeing before is this inflatable Thomas blocking Central Ave.
And here we have the star of the show, along with two Chicago streetcars, only at IRM.
And I certainly don't want to ignore Percy.
Once Percy has gone by, the train looks entirely normal.
And here is the Percy train in the station, with the Thomas train passing in the distance.
Dept. of Civic Improvement:
There are lots of things to do with small children. Get in line to have your picture taken:
Ride a small engine around a circle of track:
Bounce down a slope:
Play in a sand pile:
Watch a magic show:
And get your picture taken, again and again:
Later in the day, Nick informed me that we have a fairly large crowd of something over 200 visitors coming Monday. It's a club of Lionel collectors, and he wanted to operate the Zephyr and a two-car wood train in the morning for them. I naturally agreed, and so I took off from handing out maps to checking compressor oil, main journals, and disconnecting the 36 from the 308 and 319 so we'll be ready to go Monday morning. Henry Vincent will be the conductor. And if YOU happen to belong to a group of any sort that want to have a good time, you can always charter a trip at IRM!
6 comments:
Randall,
You said Only at IRM; I just thought you'd like to know there are two standard gauge Thomas the Bank Engines. During these last two weekends the other one was working at the Northwest Railway Museum in Washington State. Then there are three foot and two foot narrow gauge Thomas the Tank Engines.
The one I like best is the real 0-6-0 ex Brooklyn Eastern District Railroad which belongs to the Strasburg Railroad. I saw him at Railfair 1999 in Sacramento. Maybe the IRM can spend some extra dollars some year and have that one come for a visit. Three steam locomotives at the same time; that would be something special!
Ted Miles
Actually, if you look through the thread that Ted started on RYPN about how many Thomas engines are out there, you'll notice a response from Kelly Anderson that there are FOUR unpowered standard gauge Thomas replicas. Plus the standard gauge real steam engine.
Yes yes yes. What I meant was that only at IRM would Thomas be appearing next to two operating Chicago streetcars. You can't argue with that.
Randall, you caught me! I was working for the photo company that works these events, I'm the blue shirted photographer on the left side of Thomas in the last picture. Fun times!
Don't worry, Josh, we won't charge you extra.
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