Down at the station...

The B&O Railroad Museum offered dollar admission this weekend, so we took Samson to see some cool old trains on Sunday. For those of you who don't know, this is a child who loves trains. Also buses, trucks, and lately, bicycles. But he really loves trains. And while he no longer has any interest in singing "Down at the Station" --- indeed, just singing the opening lines gets you a firm "no" and then a dismissive "buh-bye" --- he still insists on calling the trains puff-puffs. Needless to say, in a museum situated on the site where the famed Baltimore & Ohio railroad was built in the 1820s, he spent a lot of time looking around, pointing excitedly, and alerting us to yet another puff-puff.

It was crowded and a little cold for some of the outside exhibits, but we had a great time. The museum is a really interesting place for non-Lionel aficionados --- people like me who, while not anti-train, have probably only thought about trains when riding them (if then).


That said, this is also a place for those guys who have rooms in their homes devoted to model railroad routes and all the bells and whistles (pun intended) that come with them.

It's also a really interesting place to people watch. There were more than a few couples where one (usually the man) was a train enthusiast and was painstakingly explaining to his wife/girlfriend/blind date(!) the significance of this or that piece of equipment and eyeing the trains with a kind of familiarity and respect. There was even one guy, who I'm pretty sure was not an employee or volunteer, in overalls and an engineer's cap.

Part of me wanted to go up and thank him for helping me learn an important part of speech when I was a kid. But I thought better of it.