Choo Choo!

This morning, the girls and I joined some friends for a ride on the Descanso, Alpine & Pacific Narrow Gauge Railway.  Roy - the mechanic, ticket man, conductor, engineer, and story teller extraorinaire - has this whole amazing railway set up in his back yard.  The little locomotive was built in 1935 by the Brookville Locomotive Co. out of Brookville, PA.  Roy runs the train only for donations (and his obvious enjoyment).  Its open to the public on Sundays, or by appointment.

When we first arrived, we were free to explore around the little depot.  We took full advantage to walk along the tracks and check out everything.  The section of tracks we are sitting on, has little wheels that connect to a  big circular piece of track.  It would've been used to turn the train around, though now it sits along side the driveway for the sake of nostalgia.

The girls checking out an old rusty car.  Audrey was especially curious about the wheels.

Walking down the tracks.

Everyone's favorite was the bright red caboose!

It was fun to climb up and down on the front and back.  The doors were open on both ends to walk straight through...

...but the best part, was climbing a little ladder up to look out the top window.  Audrey is saying "choo choo!"

Roy gathered all of us together to tell us a little about the train.  He also shared a story about how he had to walk 5 blocks, and take 2 different street cars to school each way when he was little.  He had his "conductor" hat on as he shared some other information about trains around San Diego.

Then it was time to get our tickets, so we lined up in the depot.  Roy put on his official "ticket man" hat and gave each rider a stamped ticket with a punch in it.

Tickets in hand, waiting on the platform for our turn.  Yes, Audrey is still saying "choo choo!"

Seated and ready to roll.  The round wheel next to Eliza is the brake - I had specific instructions to use it, if for some unlikely reason the engine became separated from the passenger car.

Though the railroad was in someone's backyard, it wasn't just a little round track.  We went over this scary cool bridge along the way.

A smaller bridge on the route - notice Roy is now wearing his "engineer" hat.

At one point, Roy turned to me and said, "I'm just going to hop off.  Don't worry."

Sure enough, he hopped off while we were coasting along, so he could switch the track.

There were actually a few track switches on the ride, but Eliza got to help him with the last one.  It totally made her day!  He stopped the train this time, helped her down, and showed her what to do.  She even turned to make sure I was watching while she was pushing the bar over - or she knows me well enough to know that I had the camera pointed at her, and she thought she'd give me a quick pose?!

After everyone took a ride, Roy let the kids sit in the engineer's seat.  They got to make the whistle blow and the horn beep.

I think Audrey wanted to take it out for a spin.

Three happy girls!  What a fun morning.  We all enjoyed seeing our friends, taking a fun ride, and meeting Roy - what an interesting guy.

Note:  Dad - I think when you retire, you should set up a cool train like this in your yard!