Bradford's Birthday Train

The boy loves trains. So his birthday gift was a train ride with his family! He didn't guess until he was in line with Scott at the pre-paid ticket window. As we parked and got out of the van by the railroad tracks--with the train waiting, he kept saying, "It's a passenger train! Can people ride on that train?"


The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway is about an hour and a half drive from our house with a scenic drive and mountain views. Each train car has a different history which is framed and at the entrance to each car. The car we were in was new in 1963 and used on Long Island, New York. Scott and the boys walked through the train and checked out each car, some of which were open-air cars. The car behind us (or in front of us on the way back, as the train had an engine on each end) was a first class car, originally built as a couchette, that had been used by Florida East Coast railroad around 1949. When that line no longer ran, it was sold to Canada. There were no passengers in it today because their weren't enough volunteer guides. We were still able to walk in it--and even use the washroom. Bradford and McCance checked out the view of the engine from the first class car and spent a lot of time looking out the open space between cars.

We spent an hour riding the 26 miles north to McCaysville, GA/Copperhill, TN, 2 hours eating lunch and walking around the twin towns, and another hour back to Blue Ridge, GA. The view of the Toccoa River was wonderful, especially with the fly fisherman and other locals waving to the train (as you can see in the video). Cora and I hung out a lot on the way back while the 3 boys explored the train. She spent time looking out the window, entertaining our guide, Wanda Kay, resting on the train seat, snacking, and wiggling to get down.

I'm anxious to hear what Bradford's reaction will be the next few days. He tends to take about 24 hours to fully process an adventure like this. I told him to start thinking of train stories to tell me. I plan to write them down and share one or two here.

Bradford and McCance stand with the engineer, Edmund,
in front of the diesel-electric engine.